It’s been since January that I’ve been able to check off one of the cities from the song (https://everywhere-man.com/2026/01/26/ive-been-to-chatanika-ak/). This makes 46 out of 79. I guess this isn’t really a city, it’s a place. And what a place!
My vantage points were limited because the Rim Drive is still closed because of snow. Crater Lake averages 41 feet of snow every year and at 7 to 8 thousand feet elevation, it takes until mid-June to July for the road to open. But there is about two miles of trail open around the Rim Village with great views of the water about 1,000 feet below.
Prior to the eruption that formed the crater, Mount Mazama rose to about 12,000 feet. Then about 7,700 years ago a massive eruption ejected an estimated 41 cubic miles of material and reduced the height of the mountain by almost a mile. While the current lake surface sits at about 6,173 feet, the maximum depth of the lake is 1,943 feet making it the deepest lake in the US.
I have to say, finding frost on the windshield in the morning was a bit of a surprise in June. But it makes the late opening of the Rim Road feel real.
Lava Beds National Monument
Wanting to hit all the major points in the newly discovered, to me anyway, Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway, after leaving Crater Lake I dropped down to see Lava Beds National Monuments. I had no idea what to expect.
It turns out that what I should have expected was caves! There are also lava beds. But the big draw is about 20 different visitor accessible caves. White-nose Syndrome has had a devastating impact on bat populations across the country. But it is not yet present in Lava Beds. To try and keep it that way, visitors must certify that they have been in no other caves in the last 18 months. And for that you get a Cave Permit. I don’t know what you have to do as remediation if you say “yes”.
I started in Mushpot Cave. The Park Service guide describes this cave as, “Recommended as an introductory cave, interpretive signs explain formations, ecology, and cave climate. the cave is lighted.” As a bonus, I got to share the cave with 50 ten year old students.
I chose Sentinel Cave next, after applying my recently revised estimate of physical capacity. This cave is still on the “Least Challenging Caves” list. It is not lighted or paved. I left the “Moderately Challenging” (requires stooping and have rough floors) and “Most Challenging” (crawling, all recommended safety gear, and “directionally challenging”) to those with helmets, knee pads, and gloves. As it was, I had to borrow a light from the Ranger Station.
Eruptions of Medicine Lake Volcano 30,000 to 40,000 years ago formed over 900 lava tube caves in the park. As streams of lava flow, the outside cools and hardens. The inside remains molten and drains, forming tubes.
The Journey 