The ride up was boring - straight up Interstate 5 past Sacramento to Mt Shasta, where I spent the night. I've learned that I'm good for about 6 hours of riding...after that, my butt is just screaming for relief. No Iron Butt awards for this wimp! Was so tired, I made the rookie mistake of covering my bike before the pipes fully cooled so I now have some patching to do.
Melted plastic on the pipes is not a good thing. Anyway, a hot shower, fresh clothes and a few beers with my chile rellenos that evening and I was feeling no pain. 
Next day, I get up, pack the bike, head for the local espresso shop and I nearly had a heart attack.
Smoke was pouring out from under my bike!!! Turns out, that plastic from my bike cover was cooking on my pipes. Not a great way to start the day but it certainly woke me up. Back on Interstate 5 North for a few more miles and then it was time to hit some of the backroads just north of Mt Shasta.Loaded down and headed north near the CA/OR border...that's Mt Shasta in the background. I brought enough gear so that if I needed to or felt like camping, I could. Turns out, I motelled it both nights...after a long day in the saddle, a hot shower was just too tempting! My ride from Mt Shasta to the southern entrance of Crater Lake was just 144 miles.
Crater Lake used to be Mt Mazama, a volcano that erupted 7,000 years ago and then collapsed, forming the 5 by 6 mile, 1,949 foot deep lake (the deepest lake in the US). This is a view of the (almost) entire lake. It's so big, that even my 14mm lens could not get it all in one frame. That's Wizard Island in the foreground, a cinder cone volcano that erupted a few hundred years after Crater Lake was formed.
The lake is so deep and the water so pure that the combination creates an intense blue that is difficult to convey in a photo. The white smudge you see in the water is actually a reflection of a cloud. I couldn't have asked for better weather on this trip.
The road around the lake is 45 miles long and often hugs the lip of the crater, 1,000 to 2,000 feet above the surface. One little push and my bike is in the water!
There were so many scenic viewpoints to check out that I ended up just taking my gloves off and kept the camera around my neck as I rode around the lake. Was easier that way.
And at each scenic viewpoint, there were these little well fed beggars to entertain the tourists.
The cinder cone on top of Wizard Island. That's water, not sky in the background.
And along the edge of Wizard Island are shallows reflecting all different shades of blue and turquoise.
This is the other island, appropriately named Phantom Ship Island. This is where I'll build my retirement cabin.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this little photo tour of Crater Lake. I definitely plan to go back and explore the area. I only spent a short afternoon there before I had to head back home. I spent the 2nd night in Ashland, Oregon (147 miles from Crater lake) and then home the next day (400 miles). A quick 3 day 1,000 mile tour but worth it and I lucked out as I was passing Mt Shasta on the return trip - saw this beautiful cloud covering the summit like a pancake.
