Farley Hits the Pac Northwest, Day Six -- Breakdown!

Today I called first thing to find out about crabbing.  When I found out it was best at high tide, which was six hours away, we decided to bag that idea and head toward Crater Lake.  

Myrtle Point, Oregon,
where I was born!

Along the way we saw a wayside (aka rest area) with a covered bridge.  We stopped and found the mother lode of ripe blackberries.  I had only a small container, but picked as many as that and my stomach could hold.  Our next stop was a fish hatchery.   And then a picnic and quick dip in the Umpqua River.  

Covered bridge.

I'm a freak for any kind of berries.

And there were lots to be had.

We ended up early evening at Diamond Lake, not too far from Crater Lake.  We hadn’t driven that many miles but it seemed like we’d spent a lot of time in the van and I was ready to be done for the day.  The first campground we stopped in had the meanest mosquitoes ever.  We decided to move on.  Farley was a little finicky about starting, which had also happened atop Mt. Rainer under similar circumstances:  hot, running a long time, lots of climbing, and tried to restart just minutes after stopping.  He did start and we continued on, and the check engine light came on shortly thereafter.  We debated driving on to Bend so we could be at a mechanic’s first thing but decided to hang out for the night and hope Farley started quickly in the morning (it had started just fine after our hike in Mt. Rainier).

Camping at Diamond Lake.

How a man camps:  Whiskey, ginger, and John Grisham.