Crinklys Pacific NW jaunt (5/29-6/20/2021) Day 3 Memorial Day exploration of Crater Lake (5/31)

Happy memorial day!!! We get up early as we have a long day ahead of us. Hostel is lacking materials for breakfast again so we just make some tea and then head out. Drive down to Crater Lake in separate cars as Russell will continue on back to his home in SF. 

So beautiful and pristine.

2 dudes enjoying our country's natural splendor on one of its most important holidays.

snow gets pretty high in the winter

Do you see the footprints up there? Someone went walking just straight up this mountain of snow hahah not this guy

Look at how clear that water is.

View from the other side of the lake

Just enjoying all the reflections in the water.

This is where we turn around. the steepness of the mountain is hard to see here but not having snow shoes made this not worth the risk.

Banana for scale... :)

Picture of that hill someone walked up with the cabin on top

This view puts the slope a little bit more in perspective

One more pic of the island

View from in the brewery.

Such a great idea hahaha

Inversion beers inside their taproom

Back at Crux

Some of the take home bottles from Crux

Beautiful sunset :)

Hawk or falcon just chilling on a pole. 

Get in and its beautiful as there is snow everywhere (there are roads that arent open yet because of the snow). Water is beautiful and blue yet also clear; such an amazing view and park. The area is huge (much bigger than I was expecting it to be based on pictures I have seen). Got there early so it isnt too crowded yet, so we drive down to the Rim village while stopping at all hte overlooks to get different views of the lake. Then we go to hike up garfield peak but as we get near the top, there is snow blocking rest of the trail and I dont feel comfy going over it in my shoes as its a steep fall so we turn back and head down. Decide to try and hike some of the rim  trail and it is overtaken with snow everywhere and we plow on which was a huge mistake; hard to get footing in some places but not dangerous just slippery and hard to go fast (for me, Russ just goes hahah). Eventually we get back to the cars and go our separate ways. I get back to the hostel and do some yoga before walking over to Crux brewery which has amazing beers, an incredibly large patio, and amazing views overlooking the city/sunset (faces the mountains west of town from the east side of town). Walk over to inversion, which has decent beers but enjoyed crux more so I go back there to have another flight and some pizza before grabbing some bottles to take home with me and watching a beautiful sunset. After that is all done, head back to the hostel and get ready for bed.

Crinklys Pacific NW jaunt (5/29-6/20/2021) Day 2 Hiking in the snow(5/30)

Wake up and do yoga (Russell joins without a mat which is impressive) Have to walk around to eventually find a bathroom thats open (4 bathrooms for the whole place). Have breakfast at the hostel but theres no honey so having oatmeal without sweetener which isnt that great. We head out to explore cascade lakes as the road was just cleared and opened for the summer (closed for winter cause of snow fall). The drive up is beautiful with snow all over the place. People are still skiing (its almost June). 

This is memorial day weekend; either way, tis beautiful.

Playing with a half frozen lake. Recipe for disaster.

Nice shallow lake to wade through.

Thats me standing not far from a boat hahah

Just 2 dudes hanging out in the mountains

Some of the snow we were hiking through.

Hard to believe that this and the picture before were taken same day not too far from each other.

Launching boats to go enjoy the day

2 peaks... more mountains more beauty.

Little diner action to refuel from the morning jaunt.

Waterfall action!!!

Upper lake feeding the waterfall as we look out onto it from the bridge/dam.

Downstream view

Just looking at some waterfalls

Just one of the many black rocks we were walking among.

Surprised there is still snow down here, but alas there we are.

View from the top

Nature uhh finds a way

Another view of the lake

Another view of that boat and just how shallow the water is.

Russ chilling in nature

Is that a third peak? oooo la la

Another view of the lake feeding the waterfall

Loving the contrast in this pic

Really cool to see the obsidian flow from afar how it just wiped out where the trees were.

View from the balcony looking out over the city

Loving the transition of the colors in this flight. 

View from earlier but showing the path we were on (whether we were on the right path or not is another question)

Total view of the obsidian flow

Food accompanying the rainbow flight.

Waterfall falling

Get to a place to hike and go for a nice hike through snow and eventually wind up at a frozen lake which was serene and peaceful, there was one other person up there with us. Eventually get back to the car and keep driving and stop at a few more lakes including Devil's lake which we find a grassy spot and I take my shoes/socks off and wade into the water which is really cold. The lake itself is shall so as I wade out it never gets up to my knee. There are people paddling around in little inflatable boats looking at us like were crazy (maybe they are right? hahah). The scenery as we drive all around is stunning. Get out of the mountains and back to the highway further south of Bend and stop at Gordys diner for a bite before continuing with our day. Theres like 1 main server serving the whole place and hes trying his hardest but hes just understaffed; so we had yet another bad hospitality experience. Food was ok for diner food but they had brunch options which was nice. The icing on the cake came that we were noticing people that came in after us leaving and we still didnt get our food; turns out the guy forgot to put our order in so we were there even longer. Eventually we finish there and head up to Newberry Volcano. The obsidian trail is cool as there are just different black stones all over the place creating a cool view as you walk around. Go see the Paulina falls which are huge and beautifully awesome. Then we go and try and hike the crater trail and get lost a couple times as the markings are not that great. The trail to Paulina peak was closed. Drive back into town and go to Monkless Brewery for dinner but they have a wait so Russ stays there waiting for our table and I go grab groceries down the road. Get back and order some beers/flights (i got the 8 beer flight) while we enjoy the sunset views from the balcony. Dinner was delicious; the place is great and to top it off, the service was pretty decent. Get back to the hostel once were done with dinner and we shower and get ready for bed. 

Crinklys Pacific NW jaunt (5/29-6/20/2021) Day 1 Getting into Bend (5/29)

Start off checking in a bunch of bottles in my checked bags to give to people as I travel around the state and they make it safely (always a question when flying with bottles in the luggage). Get picked up by my Turo guy and taken to the car. Take off and head straight to Bend through the Mt Hood pass. Such a beautiful drive with gorgeous weather; its impressive seeing the mountain in the distance. It is still snowcapped, the forest is lush and green, just feels amazing out. Then we get to the otherside of the mountain and its almost desert like. Stop at the black bear diner for an incredibly late lunch but hunger got the best of me. 

Some of the selection in the Deschutes taproom

Cheers to my baby, Black Butte Porter!

Look at that beauty peaking around the corner

So beautiful and such a pretty day to be mountain gazing.

View from the other side of the mountain

Food was ok but service was pretty slow. Maybe on me for not being more proactive in getting their attention but I was the only person in the place. Get back on the road and finally make it down to Bend and get to the hostel. Find the parking lots from their site and there are no spots anywhere. Apparently this hostel (Bunk and Brew Historic Lucas House) is a big gathering point for locals as well. I ask a random dude chilling outside if there are otherplaces to park. He says give him a minute and he moves his car. He returned soon to the hostel and I offered to buy him a beer to say thanks and he wouldnt take it. Great dude. Meet up with Russel who got there before me. Grab some drinks and listen to the music while catching up. One of the 3 musicians up there is just to do whistling and he is nailing it. We get to the point where we get hungry so we check in and take our bags to our rooms to drop them off and try to go down the street to the deschutes taproom but they have a 1hr wait so we put our name on the list and go across the street to Brother Jon's ale house for a drink. They dont have any space cause the kitchen is backed up but we tell the dude we are not eating so he lets us sit at the bar and order our drinks. Decent place with friendly bartender. A little bit after getting our drinks we get the text saying our deschutes table is ready so we pound our drinks and walk back across the street. Have some flights of many delicious beers and the food is delicious. Place looks awesome and the staff is incredibly pleasant. We stayed a bit after they closed and the staff wasnt kicking us out, just doing their close and letting us chill and finish our drinks. It was nice of them. Walk back to the hostel and have one more beer there before heading to bed.

Hostel review - decently nice back patio, don't really like their bathroom set up (essentially have to leave house to get a free bathroom and it's shared with the public. Food truck was decent. In non covid times I bet they have food activities. Friendly hosts. Great location. Very busy (potentially due to memorial day weekend or maybe its just always like that ). Nice breakfast considerations (2 eggs, juice, granola, e.t.c) but constantly out of stuff and not well organized.