Day 7 – Recovery day, and unplanned side-trip

Lemolo Lake, thank you for the hospitality and the recharge. 

We spent much of the day on the ‘computer’ working off the decent 4G coverage at the lake.  It’s a beautiful setting and very peaceful there.  It’s a small lodge, family-run, with the basics a bikepacker needs.  Food, namely.

We spoke at length with the owner, Scott, about everything from Camp Meriweather to his future business plans.  Sadly, we learned that the lodge dog, Chomper, was run over just a couple weeks ago and is no longer there to greet guests.  I remember walking Chomper along the lakeshore when I stayed at the lodge on the Three Rivers trip.  Scott was obviously still pretty broken up about it.

Besides catching up on tracking work, email and writing work, we also took a look around at our new surroundings.  A particularly striking peak was calling us… Thielsen Peak — can we climb it?  (Answer: no, unless we bring ropes, and acquire new skills)

Slowly over the day, through map staring and talking to others, we realized there is a lot to do between here and Crater Lake.  So, the idea of side trip was hatched.

The deal was sealed when we learned we could probably make up a dirt route to Diamond Lake, and also that there is a PIZZA place there.  Further, there was rumor of a hiker/biker camping, which is always worth checking out.

It was a nice recovery spin, with 1000+ feet of climbing, mind you.  The rough directions for a snowmobile route we got from Scott’s son turned out to be right on.  We only spent a couple minutes on the highway.

Diamond Lake is a much bigger place than Lemolo.  The lodge and store are big, and the campground is one of the biggest and most elaborate I have ever seen.  It goes on for miles…. miles of rideable bikepath that we cruised down.

That sign makes me so happy.  We would have never found this had we not spent a good half hour talking to a nice couple at Lemolo.  It’s a bikepackers dream come true:

-free
-picnic table
-bathroom
-power
-4g service
-secluded, away from folks car camping
-right by the lake shore
-right by the pizza place

We feel so lucky.  We’ll likely camp here tomorrow night.  I’m all about a wild campsite, especially when it’s needed, but some comforts are nice, too, especially when you’re out for several weeks.

Tomorrow we’ll get up early and climb the 2000 feet up to Crater Lake, and hopefully beat the traffic.  Don’t get me started about how there’s a singletrack route up that’s not Wilderness, but is closed to bikes.  We’ll just be stoked to see it, do some hiking, and head back to this deluxe campsite.