Hammockeering Around: Volcanos!

After my rest at the lake house I quickly made my way to Crater Lake. I was excited to see it and it did not disappoint. The lake is in a caldera. A 12000 foot tall volcano erupted 7700 years ago then collapsed in on itself after expelling so much material. Continued activity within the collapsed volcano formed a second cone inside the great depression. That second cone now rises out of the lake as Wizard Island. The lake is the cleanest large body of water in the world and the deepest lake in the United States. It has no inlet or outlet so it's filled only by snow and rain, and it's nearly 2000 foot depth varies by only 3 feet year to year. I think the coolest thing about it is that the local Native American tribes still have an oral history of the event that matches what the modern day experts suggest had happened.

I spent a night in my hammock on the rim of the caldera. I had met another cyclist, Jesse, on his way to Montana to visit family, that I camped with. He too was packing a guitar. We watched a fantastic lightning storm move across the lake. It brought marble sized hail as I ate my dinner under the shelter of a tree. The setting sun dropped below the clouds and lit up the storm from the side in a vivid orange light. It was a magnificent sight.

Just two days later I found myself at Lava Beds National Monument. I knew nothing about it when I arrived, it was just on my way south. I shortly learned that it had caves and I was super excited to do some exploring. The first one that I went into held ice year round and from the frozen pond in its depths my headlamp could not light the ceiling 90 feet above. It was fantastic. The caves, there were around a dozen to explore, were formed during lava flows. An outer crust of rock formed but inside the lava continued to flow and then drain, like a stream flowing under a solid ice surface. The caves had no electric lighting and no footpaths or guard rails to guide visitors. I was free to wander and possibly get lost. Twice I entered caves and after traveling under ground, for as much as a kilometer, I emerged from a separate entrance. I could see my bike in the distance where I entered. I always chose the cave route to get back to it.

I spent an afternoon, evening and morning exploring the caves. I spent one night sleeping in the mouth of a large cave. The moon was nearly full that night and the white light streaked in as I fell asleep. Noises of bats from the black depths kept me from sleeping soundly. In the morning I put on my headlamp and walked into the cave as far as I could go, playing my guitar and singing softly as I went. It was kind of surreal.