July 16, 2019

This morning we woke up at about five-fifteen in the morning to make it to Crater Lake National Park. This was something that mostly all of us wanted to make sure we got to see. We had a peer who was talking nonstop about how beautiful it was and how he had heard so much about the location. Erick really shared his interest which made us want to see this beauty for ourselves. When we noticed that we made enough time to get there we were pretty thrilled about the idea of actually making it to the location.

Once arriving at crater lake, we were mesmerized by the beauty of the clear blue water and the surrounding sights. In the middle of the lake there was a small island named “Wizard island” and it was gorgeous. It seemed as though it was its own sight you needed to go and have an adventure in. A few of us went on a small hike towards the top of “watchman’s trail,” while some of us got lost going the opposite way. It was bizarre to see snow in the middle of July, but it was so breathtaking.

Once we finished with Crater Lake’s amusements we headed back on the road towards Klamath. On our way to Klamath we were fortunate to have some gorgeous scenery. Once we arrived at our campsite, we were all shocked. At this campsite we weren’t the only ones around and we had neighbors. We had restrooms with electricity. Even more alarming we had showers that were five hundred feet away from us.

After setting up our tents, we met up with Alex. Alex was an environmentalist who worked alongside the Klamath people. He took us on a “walk into the woods,” where he showed us the beautiful lands of the Klamath people. Before we started on our brief walk, he mentioned to us that if we saw an object on the floor that looked manmade we were asked to leave it as it was because “it doesn’t belong to us, it belongs to the Klamath people and we should leave it how we found it.” And as a historian to be, it warmed my heart. The fact that he cared so much about the Klamath people to not disrupt any of their things made me happy.

The night ended with us trying to watch Moana in the small amphitheater that was on the campsite. After three trips back and forth to the R.V. we were able to start the movie and watch it to about half ways until we realized that it was time for bed.

Life Lesson:

Keeping history alive is important.