I awoke rested to another great day. After a leisurely walk around Klamath Falls and a nice breakfast I loaded up and decided to go up to Crater Lake even though it was looking stormy.
It was a beautiful ride up with sections of rain now and then. After I entered the park the temperature started dropping, first into the mid 40s, then low 40s, then into the 30s. I had augmented yesterday’s outfit with a wool ski sweater and wool long johns so I was doing OK. Arriving at the park entrance kiosk it was maybe 34 and I was feeling nervous about hitting an ice patch on the road. The kiosk woman suggested I stop at the visitor center several miles further up the road for a more accurate assessment.
Arriving at the visitor center during a brief time of light snowing (32 degrees now) I noticed a BMW GS type bike with an Australian plate! Going in I chatted with the couple riding it who seemed to me about my age. They are going all the way into Western Canada, then over to Yellowstone, some of the Utah parks, etc. Very cool. I asked them the cost to have the bike shipped over and back and was told that it cost $3,000 US.
Opinions from visitor center folks were for no ice worries so I road on up to the rim. It got increasingly cloudy approaching the top, so much so that looking over the rim produced no sense of lakeness. It was then 30 degrees and the ends of my fingers were getting numb. I started the ride around the western rim road then, realizing that the 21 miles to the north exit would just take too long for my deteriorating fingers I turned around and backtracked the wiser and shorter 10 miles down to the mid 40 degree threshold where I knew I’d feel better.
Twenty five miles later I saw again a very scenic photo op of a picturesque barn I had noticed on my way up. After stopping I decided the best shot was about 80′ back. I had rolled the Suzuki back about 65 of those 80 when I lost balance and the bike fell over (moto nightmare #2). I took off all the stuff I could in preparation for a lift attempt when a friendly and helpful guy in a pickup stopped to see if I was OK, as one interpretation could easily have been that I had gone down at speed. I said I was fine and asked if he’d help me lift up the bike. He quickly helped me lift the bike thus my learning experience, i.e. do not backup the cycle for more than 10′ unless no other options exist, ended quickly and easily.
The rest of the day was spectacular, especially the 66 miles along the “The Cascade Lakes National Scenic Byway”. After 50 of those miles being in the mid 40s and somewhat higher things started to be a replay of the morning’s downward trend. It got to a low of 32 and I was wondering WTF about the time I rode by the entrance to the Mt. Bachelor ski area, checked the altitude and realized it all made sense.
Another wonderful day of adventure ending in the very interesting city of Bend, one of the best outdoor recreation areas in the country.