Those who loved you and were helped by you, will remember you. So Carve your name on hearts and not on marble.
Fort Bragg, CA –> Crater Lake, OR (396 Miles)
The night before, Todd and Linda told me I needed to check out Glass Beach. It was originally a dump for Fort Bragg where broken glass from bottles had been turned into sea glass after years of erosion.
When I got to the beach it was nothing impressive, but I saw some people sitting in the sand collecting something. When I got closer I realized what looked like pebbles were actually smoothed pieces of glass. There were tons of clear and amber sea glass, but only small bits of green ones.
Glass Beach
Sea glass
My ride to Crater Lake was going to take me all day and I wanted to get there as early as possible so I would have a better chance of getting a camping spot. On the way up the coast I passed by an elk grazing in a field right off the road. As I drove by I thought how cool it would be to grab a picture. Then I realized that I was on this trip by myself and could do whatever I wanted, so I whipped my motorcycle around. When I got a better look at him I noticed one of his antlers was sagging so I decided to name him Droopy.
I got up close to the fence to get a better picture but Droopy started walking towards me. At this point I was a little nervous. He could easily jump over or bust through the barbed wire fence separating us. I slowly walked away, so as not to startle him and, hopped back on my motorcycle.
I made a stop in Crescent City and grabbed lunch at a small diner called the Family Pantry. Their special for the day was a Monte Cristo. It was like a french toast egg sandwich, but it was still delicious.
From Crescent City to Crater Lake I just rode as hard as I could. Partly, I wanted to get to Crater Lake early to explore, but it was also hot as hell. It was 60° when I left Crescent City and 94° when I got a half hour outside Crater Lake.
When I got to to the ranger station at Crater Lake they told me all the campsites had been full since 2pm. My stomach sank a bit because I was exhausted from riding all day and just wanted to know I had a spot to sleep for the night. I decided to head to Lost Creek, a walk up campsite, to see if anyone had left. Unfortunately, when I got there it was full. I saw a couple sitting at a large site and they had small tent. I would never do this normally, but I decided to ask them if I could share the spot and offered to pay the campsite fee. Drew and Heidi hesitantly agreed and I could finally relax.
After setting up my tent I rode around the rim road of Crater Lake. It was by far the most beautiful ride I’ve ever been on. At times it felt like I was on top of the world.
Crater lake itself is an awesome spectacle to see. The water is a beautiful deep blue and wizard island gives it a unique look.
After a long day of riding I figured I wouldn’t have any trouble getting to sleep — until I realized I had set up my tent right next to the bear locker. Luckily there was a creek nearby that helped me relax and fall asleep, as content as a young child being swaddled in its mother’s arms.
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