We hit a milestone today of biking over 4,000 miles!!! No better place to hit that milestone than in one of the bluest lakes in the U.S., Crater Lake! It was a chilly day, with most of us riding in multiple layers as we got closer to the lake. We encountered swarms of butterflies, and Crater Lake did not disappoint!
quote of the day
“I didn’t know West Virginia was a state until very recently”
ride overview
Mileage: 87.4 Miles
Elevation: 4,566 ft.
Points of Interest: Mill Town Espresso, Crater Lake National Park
Ride Dedication: Tracie Barreca
tales of the trail
The morning started off frosty, with everyone riding in their sweatpants, under armor, and hoodies. This style continued on for half of our ride for the day, about 54ish miles out of the 87! Despite being on Highway 97 for most of the day until we got closer to Crater Lake, the smell of Pine was very strong. Everywhere you looked, bam, pine trees. This scent was nice in contrast to the smells we’ve had experience with in the past. To warm up from the cold, our first rest stop was at a drive-through coffee shop, where many chose to get a cup of joe. The day was comfortable with a larger shoulder to ride on, and once we got closer to Crater Lake, we started climbing.
Riding up to Crater Lake, there were many butterflies along our path, both on the ground and flying around! These are the California tortoiseshell butterflies, which are known to swarm in large numbers, which was most definitely true. We biked through masses of them, and at one point, it felt like there were millions of them surrounding us as floating orange spectacles. It created a great awe amongst our team. Getting up to the lake, our team had great expectations for how blue it would be since every person we met commented on that, and once we reached the lake, we were able to confirm that Crater Lake is very blue. Definitely one of the bluest lakes that our team has ever seen, it was astonishing. We took this opportunity to recreate a photo of an older team that had all the members lined up, facing the lake. This is where we also ended up meeting the friends of an alumni rider from I4K! It was crazy getting to meet these people in Crater Lake along our ride. The world can be a small place at times.
After spending a while admiring Crater Lake, we kept biking until we got to our campsite, with some teams visiting the visitor center beforehand. To Katie and Eli’s delight, there were bear boxes at the campgrounds! They are huge fans of the bearboxes and got really excited. We love a good bear box. Once the team got settled at the campgrounds, we got into the van to shuttle back to Crater Lake and watch the sunset. It was gorgeous, one side, we had the sunset amongst the mountains, and on the other side, we had varying colors from the sunset with the moon above the lake. We took this time again to admire the lake and appreciate where we were as it got colder and colder. To end the night, we started a campfire, roasting marshmallows and snacking on whatever else we had, sharing stories and laughing around the campfire. It was a good way to end a good day.
