After dropping off offspring in the Willamette valley I headed SE into the Cascades. Within 30 minutes it started raining heavily – temporarily I thought – but no. On through Salem, Detroit (nothing like the MI cousin) and up to the 1st pass. Headed back down SW just in time for a break in the storm and a little bit of sun. Clear Lake is a mostly undeveloped natural lake (there is a small state ‘resort’) but with unusual features. On the west side it is a normal Cascades lake but on the east side is a new (in geological terms) lava flow. The result is a very deep lake with very clear water – the west slope lava heats up the lake but there is a very cold stream coming into the lake, so on the north side there is always fog as the cold and warm water mix. It is called clear lake because you can see a long way down, even to the trees that were killed by the lava flow thousands of years ago. Absolutely fascinating.
I would call it Merganser Lake because I have never seen so many individual families of these funny birds anywhere anytime.
As I got to the north end of the lake it started clouding up and so I sprinted back to Coldwater Cove in the south end as the lighting rolled in. Got off the lake just in time….
I drove up to HooDoo ski resort after this to see if I could paddle on Big Lake. This 2nd storm was still rolling through – it was raining hard, lightning, 20+ mph wind and 49 degrees! I did not expect this. That is a windchill close to in the 30s, and it is August!
