Continental DIY ‘waffle machine’ breakfast at Klamath Falls’ Super 8 — started Friday B-I-G (ya’ll know, FREE is for me) 🙂 — then travelled north on Highways 97 & 62, today’s ‘bucket list’ destination: Crater Lake Nat’l Park.
Like No Place Else On Earth
Crater Lake has inspired people for thousands of years. No place else on earth combines a deep, pure lake, so blue in color; sheer surrounding cliffs, almost two thousand feet high; two picturesque islands; and a violent volcanic past.
It is a place of immeasurable beauty…
Started at the Visitors Center & tutored myself of everything Crater Lake before veering east on Rim Drive, travelling counter-clockwise ’round the Lake. Best view of this volcanic wonder? Less then 2 miles from the Visitors Center. Seriously.
Parked an hour+ & soaked in the landscape. Ponderosa pine, pristine blue water — trapped snow melt from thousands of years, no water inlet or outlet from the Crater. Natural, untouched by man.
Lunched in Rim Village. Stopped at Watchman Overlook to best view Wizard Island — organically created after Mt Mazama’s eruption 7700 years ago. Today was about taking it all in. Tomorrow I’ll be up-close & personal — marathoning the Rim from Watchman Overlook to the Pinnacles, including a 5 mile grind UP past Llao Rock. Will be my most challenging marathon to date.
Finished the day with a Wet Wubba at Wubba’s BBQ Shack. Early to bed, early to rise — tomorrow, my 36th state run 🙂
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- out of the desert, now surrounded by massive pine
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- check out that horizon – FAAANNNNTASTIC!
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- Wizard Island (foreground), created after the collapse of Mt Mazama
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- tomorrow I’ll run the height of Crater Rim (8,000ft+ elevation)
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- “Like No Place Else On Earth” – no words, stunning
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- trip highlight: pristine blue water & Ponderosa pine – WOW WOW WOW!
‘bucket list’ destination, Crater Lake
Best way to celebrate Colorado Day? Outdoors of course 🙂
On August 1, 1876, president Ulysses S. Grant signed a proclamation admitting Colorado as a state. Colorado Day was celebrated as a state holiday on August 1 for many years, and then was moved to the first Monday in August. The day no longer became a public holiday, but rather an observance, when the state started observing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a public holiday in 1985.
Started the day with an early hour-half drive to Estes Park. Rocky Mountain Half Marathon, my first Half in 18 months. 6am Gun time – something special about racing pre-dawn, settling into pace, then experience sunrise.
Circled Estes Lake. Mile 2 jammed up on the running path – lotta runners, maybe 2 across possible. Picked up pace & caught the 1:50 racers.
Mile 4 thru 8 – UP. Elevation AND incline – but no negativity this day. I dug in, held pace & picked off tens of runners walking the last mile up.
Miles 9, 10 & 11 – big smile. Ripped DOWN (rare for me, generally I pull up, hold back).
UP again at mile 12 to the Stanley, then finished flat to the Fairgrounds. (Kinda weird ending – passed a ‘3’ which we all assumed was mile 13…but that happened another half mile later, then the final tenth mile was actually .3 miles. Not a deal breaker but I went out fast, far too early.)
Good day. 13.1 miles, half the distance – nice to have some gas left in the tank.
Hills & altitude – my new favourite combo. Finding hills to be an age equalizer.
Bib Name City Chip Time Division Place
327 K R Haga Louisville CO 1:52:21 6
Rocky Mountain Nat’l Park – Planned to re-hike Black Lake, hadn’t been in 3 years (2012 challenge: 52 weeks, 52 hikes). 9am in the Park but couldn’t find parking, even RMNP’s Park N Ride advised to come back at 2pm. Seriously? (Easy to get frustrated with summer tourist season but learning to share the love. National Parks are OUR parks as Americans – all Americans, no discrimination.)
Snuck the Prius in Moraine Park campground & hiked the extra mile to Cub Lake trailhead. Not a lotta trees in the meadow (Fern Lake fire burned most in 2012). Temps soon soared near 90, warm day. Last mile forested, blanketed in wildflowers 🙂
Cub Lake – pulled off my shoes & soaked. Lily pads, 2 ducks, dragonflies, small blue fish. Nibble, nibble, BITE. Hey, that’s no fish – pulled off a blood-sucking leech attached to my foot. ‘Nough soaking, hiked back – 4.6 miles total.
½ marathon run followed by a Nat’l Park hike. Colorado Day done? Nope, not yet.
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- a well lived life
Othello
Colorado Shakespeare Festival (Boulder) – 8pm curtain time, biggest concern was sleep deprivation. Half-moon outdoor arena, center aisle seat, Flatirons sunset, temps in the low 70’s – yep, pretty much PERFECT.
From the opening dialogue, was hooked.
Iago couldn’t have been more sinister, nor Othello more tormented. Acting from these 2 overshadowed all other players. Othello a North African Moor, interracial marriage – and Iago’s sheer cunning to drive noble Othello mad.
NOT the Shakespeare of my youth. Far exceeded all expectations – I’ll be back next summer. FAANNN-frickin-TASTIC!
Colorado Day, day after? Sleep 🙂
What is the proper way to pronounce the word “Mackinac”?
The French Pronounced it “aw” but spelled it “ac”. The British heard it pronounced “aw” so they spelled it that way. Whichever way it is spelled, it is always pronounced “aw”.
Lasagna, 45 minute drive north & a quick 20-minute power nap after finishing marathon #33 – and I’m boarding an early afternoon ferry to Michigan’s Mackinaw Island. Berthed downtown on Main Street, bought a carriage tour ticket & hopped aboard within 5 minutes of arriving on the island. BAM – awesome timing (next tour not for 2 hours).
Traffic on Mackinac Island is limited to bicycles & horse-drawn carriages – automobiles prohibited…pretty cool, huh?
Targeted a visit to Mackinaw & its Grand Hotel because of a sappy 80’s movie starring Jane Seymour & Christopher Reeve, “Somewhere in Time”. Re-watched the movie last week online before marathoning in Michigan.
Don’t think the love story itself drew me in – it was the ability to go back in time & live another era. What would life have been like if I were placed in the early to mid- 1800’s in the American West? Hmm.
Mackinaw’s Carriage Tour hit all island highlights. Started downtown, rode past residences built in the 1910s & ‘20s, the Governor’s ‘Summer Residence’, and – the Grand Hotel.
Built in 1887, the Grand Hotel still looks much like it did a century ago. There are newer hotels with modern facilities on the island – but give me history & creaky wood planks any day. Nothing rivals the Grand Hotel’s long wrap-around wood porch, overlooking the Straits of Mackinac (Lake Huron). Spectacular.
Tour resumed at the island’s working stable (Surrey Hills) where we switched carriages & travelled thru Mackinac Island State Park, stopping briefly at Arch Rock (rest break for the horses).
Tour concluded at Fort Mackinac, built by British troops during the Revolutionary War. I hopped off at Fort Mackinac & walked the trip remainder, down historic Market Street, past “Somewhere in Time” gift shop & multiple fudge stores.
Beautiful day.
Ferried returned, hotelled the night across from Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse.
Early 230am start for the trip home – 4 hour ride to Grand Rapids, 8am Denver flight.
“Come back to me” – Elise McKenna, ‘Somewhere in Time’
I’ll come back to Mackinaw & the Grand Hotel.
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- early afternoon ferry to scenic Mackinaw Island
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- Mackinac Bridge, Lake Michigan
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- bicycle or horse-drawn carriage — automobiles prohibited
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- carriage tour down Main, thru historic Downtown, to the Grand Hotel
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- Arch Rock, Mackinac Island State Park
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- Straits of Mackinac (Lake Huron)
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- British outpost, Fort Mackinac
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- lighthouse sunset (moon visible)
“Somewhere in Time”
