Many guests come to this area to see Crater Lake and, after driving around the rim and doing some hiking, ask me “What else is there to do around here?”   Our local newspaper, Now that I’m Here, was created for that very purpose and can be downloaded on our website (www.crystalwoodlodge.com)  It has tons of information on other things to do in this area and a great map in the center

Here are a few ideas on how you can make your trip down to the Crater Lake area the best it can be:

1.  Relax!  Get a blanket and lay own in our poplar grove, sit in the sunshine with  a book, play a game, try your hand at fishing or watch the sunset with a glass of wine in your hand…

2.  Come prepared.  Lately our commerical refrigerator has been filled with guest food!  People have enjoyed “playing chef” in the kitchen — baking biscuits for their breakfast, cooking on the stove or using our outdoor bbq for kabobs and steaks. 

3.  Go for a hike.  There are tons of hiking opportunities nearby the Lodge.  The Cherry Creek and Nannie Creek trails offer peaceful paths and wonderful views!  The Lodge has additonal information of hiking trails in the area.  Be sure to take some time to explore the Crystalwood property as well – we have 130 acres of property filled with several miles of easy walking trails. 

4.  Take a canoe out.  The trip down Crystal Creek is beautiful, peaceful and nature-filled —particularly great for birders.

5.  Check out some of the local museums and events.  Now that I’m Here has a calender of events and directions on how to get to the Fort Klamath Museum, Collier State Park Logging Museum or the Train Mountain Miniature Railroad. 

For more information on staying at the Crystalwood Lodge or local events feel free to check out our website at www.crystalwoodlodge.com

Still have questions?

Phone: 541/866.381.2322

Email:  reservations @crystalwoodlodge.com

More photos at www.flickr.com/photos/crystalwoodlodge

There are two major upcoming events at Crater Lake in August.  The 5th Annual Century Ride will be taking place on August 15th.  Particpants can do the 62 mile ride, The Metric Century, from the Fort Klamath Museum up to the edge of the Rim Drive  or the 100 mile Century Ride from the Fort Klamath Museum around the Rim Drive.   There are 300 participants registered.  The Century Ride is not a race, but an opportunity for avid cyclists to challenge themselves and experience Crater Lake.  More information is available at  http://www.craterlakecentury.com/index.html

Another upcoming event of a similar nature is the 34th Annual Crater Lake Rim Run, which will be taking place on August 8th.  The event has 500 people registered to walk/run either the 6.7 m, 13m or 26m sections.  More information is available at  http://www.craterlakerimruns.com/neweventdetails.htm

Crater Lake National Park does not allow dogs on the walking trails, but Crystalwood Lodge does offer complimentary doggy day care for  Lodge guests.  For more information on Crystalwood Lodge please call 541/866.381.2322 or visit www.crystalwoodlodge.com

Twice each summer the tiny, quiet western hamlet of Fort Klamath is suddenly filled with a parade of motorhomes pulling multi-horse trailers, pickup trucks loaded with horse paraphernalia, and more people than anybody seems to be able to count. Business picks up at the local general store, all of the lodging in the area is booked full, and the postmaster handles a Christmas season’s worth of mail. This can only mean one thing: it’s cutting time! Fort Klamath hosts two cutting meets annually, this year running from July 7-12 and August 20-30 at Mebane Ranch.

Historically, the only way to separate single cows from a herd was for horse and rider to isolate the target and hold it away from the others until it was immobilized. Today only a few cattlemen depend on “cutting” the cows for vaccinating, sorting, branding, and castrating, but the challenge of teamwork between horse and rider lives on in the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA). The NCHA has over 16,000 members and represents one of the fastest growing equine sports in the world, with contestants competing for more than $3.7 million at the 2006 NCHA Futurity.

Competitors start arriving in Fort Klamath about a week before the festival. RVs are set up in a pasture just outside of town, a patchwork of temporary homes complete with Astroturf and potted plants. Rows of vendors complete the picture, offering food and the latest in tack and horse accessories. Young riders spend hours grooming and exercising their treasured horses. These small yet expensive, powerful and athletic horses are bred especially for their cutting mentality. In the days leading up to the competition, riders must continue to discipline themselves and fine-tune their relationship with the horse for that crucial 2 ½ minutes in the ring. Each member of a cutting team is fueled by their own personal passion for improving the skill of each member and developing the talent of horse.

At the signal, horse and rider enter the ring. They slowly walk toward the herd and seek a “hot cow”, one that will challenge and showcase the horse’s skill, strength, quickness, and training. Once the target is identified, horse and rider must focus in on its position and then slowly move in to isolate it. After the separation is complete, the rider must loosen or drop the reins and allow the horse to work independently. At this point, the horse controls the contest, using its lightning fast starts and turns to prevent the cow from rejoining the herd. The quicker the horse moves the cow, the more points are awarded. The goal is to keep the cow and horse nose to nose and to keep the cow moving. If a cow fails to give the horse a good fight, the rider may return to the herd and select another. When the cow turns away or doesn’t try to return to the herd, the rider may lift the reins, signaling the horse to “quit the cow.”

The upcoming July event is an open show, including all levels of cutting. The August event is limited to horses from 3 to 6 years old and is the first futurity of the year in the cutting circuit. A typical day show cases 80 – 100 works, over 600 horses, and a small city of owners, trainers, riders, and support personnel.

Curious onlookers may be surprised to find limited seating at the arena and that cutting, unlike many rodeo events, is a relatively quiet activity that is not necessarily meant to be a spectator sport. Nonetheless, visitors will enjoy hustle and bustle of Fort Klamath and the intensity of the cutting events at Mebane Ranch and may be lucky to learn a bit about a sport that has not quite made it to the mainstream. Cutting runs from early morning until dusk, making it an easy event to schedule into a busy vacation weekend at Crater Lake. If you would like more information on summer cutting at Mebane Ranch please call 923.3586 or visit www.nhcutting.com

The Crystalwood Lodge is located 18 miles from the southern entrance to Crater Lake, and approximently 15-20 minutes from Mebane Ranch. If you would like more information on Crystalwood Lodge or other area great Crater Lake area activities, please call 541.381.2322 or visit the activities page on our website.

From July 22-28, the Train Mountain Museum is hosting the Train Mountain Triennial International Train Meet.   This event, which will feature a wide variety of miniature trains, will be of interest even to those who know little about trains.  There’s only two days left, but there’s still time to come and check it out!  For more information on the Triennial call 541.783.3030 or visit   http://www.trainmountain.org/about.asp

For those who can’t make it out for this event, Train Mountain also gives miniature railroad rides on summer Sundays from 10am-3pm.  The rides are free, but donations are accepted to cover the costs of fuel and maintenance.  For more information on Sunday train rides this summer, please visit http://www.trainmountain.org

The Crystalwood Lodge is lcoated 18 miles from the southern entrance to Crater Lake and 25 miles from the Train Mountain Railroad Museum.  For more information on enjoying your family vacation at the Crystalwood Lodge call 541/866.381.2322 or visit www.crystalwoodlodge.com

The area that surrounds the Crystalwood Lodge is filled with a rich history and eye-pleasing diversity.  Located off of Highway 140 on Westside Road, the Lodge is slightly off the beaten trail, but offers a lot of wonderful opportunities for taking in the outdoors.  The Nannie and Cherry Creek Trails, which were once logging roads, are located less than a mile north of the Crystalwood Lodge.  These trails are perfect for horseback riding, a day hike or a gentle evening walk with the dogs.  Along the well-kept gravel trailhead at Nannie Creek, a plethora of easy, scenic walking/riding paths branch off.  The trailhead extends up 5.2 miles to the main parking lot, where hikers can decide whether they want to take the easy hike up to the Puck Lakes (4.8 miles round trip) or the longer and more difficult hikes up to Marguerette Lake (12.8 mile loop) or Luther Mountain (16.7 mile loop).  Peaceful, quiet and scenic, these trails include no entrance fees, gates, warning signs or asphalt intrusion, making a trip down these trails exploration of Southern Oregon at its best. 

For the summer, the trails are generally snow-free and the trailheads easily managed by most vehicles.  For guests who travel with horses, the Crystalwood Lodge does have four horse corrals and private riding trails available.  

The Lava Beds National Monument is located in Northern California, just over two hours from the Crystalwood Lodge.  The drive is easy and pleasurable; the landscape transforming from tall forest to open desert, dotted with small towns and large farms. 

Visitors are welcomed to the monument by a vast expanse of land covered with dark black igneous rock, piled and scattered like the crumbles of an enormous chocolate cookie.  Along the main road to the visitors’ center, there are several turn-offs for exploration of trails and old lava tubes.  These tubes were created by volcanic activity from the Medicine Lake shield volcano – the most recent eruptions occurring as recently as 1000 years ago!

One of the most intriguing of these old lava tubes is the Skull Cave, which is quite impressive in size and has a uniquely colored residue on the rocks overhead.  The cave derives its name from the variety of bones that early settlers discovered within it, a testimony to the location’s cultural significance for the Modoc Indians who once settled the land.  After a relatively steep descent, visitors will find themselves in the chilly bottom of the tube.  Using a flashlight, one can see that the rock is actually covered in a layer of ice – which seems completely unbelievable given the temperatures outside!  In the early 1900’s, these underground ice patches were once used as resorts where guests could go skating and have dinner

About ½ an hour from the entrance, visitors will find the “cave loop” which can be explored with or without a tour guide.  Don’t be fooled by the “more challenging/less challenging” ratings on the park brochure: some of the “more challenging” caves only require a bit of bending and ducking!     

The Lava Beds National Monument is a good day trip that nicely compliments a trip to Crater Lake, and one of the many recreation activities to be found in the vicinity of the Crystalwood Lodge.  The volcanic history of this area is not only fascinating for geology buffs, but an inexpensive and interesting adventure for visitors young and old.  During the summer, the monument is open 8 am – 6pm daily and costs $10 per vehicle to enter.  The monument lends out flashlights without charge, but well-prepared visitors should come equipped with good walking shoes, sunscreen, a sweater and plenty of water.

Additional information can be found at http://www.nps.gov/labe

Summer visitors can enjoy a variety of activities at the Lava Beds including cave tours, campfire programs and special events.  For information on upcoming events, Angela Sutton can be contacted at 530.667.8113

Entering into Skull Cave at Lava Beds National Monument

I wanted to pass along an exciting fishing report for those guests and prospective guests who are fishermen…the fish are here, hungry and waiting for you right outside the front door of Crystalwood Lodge!

Our first fisherman of the season visited this week, and had “his best day ever in our area”.  This gentleman has fished our general area many times, usually putting in at Malone Springs which is about 3-4 miles below us on the spring creek system, halfway to Upper Klamath Lake.  This time he brought his float tube and put in here at Crystalwood, allowing him to fish Crystal Spring itself and the upper part of Crystal Creek.

What a day he had!  He landed 15 redband rainbow trout, which are our native trophy trout here in the spring creek system encompassing Crystal Spring, Malone Spring, Crystal Creek and Recreation Creek.  Many of them were good sized with the largest being at least 10 lbs!  That one also happened to be the closest one to Crystalwood Lodge, as Crystal Spring is just a few yards from our front door.  Here’s a couple of pictures:

Redband Rainbow Trout at Crystalwood Lodge May 2009

Redband Trout landed at Crystalwood Lodge May 2009

Most of the day’s successful fishing was done with a leech pattern custom developed for this area, although mid-day the fish were rising and he did get one on a caddis dry fly.  Another fish in the deep part of Crystal Spring was landed on a small chronomid.  Typically the really big wild trout in Crystal Spring and Creek respond to either leech or wooly bugger patterns, as they need lots of food to grow that big!

For those of you who haven’t had the thrill of being able to fish our area, it is one of the finest wild trophy trout fisheries in the West…and one of its best kept secrets!  We boast large redband rainbows, which are genetically related to steelhead with their size and fight, and although they are landlocked, they are highly migratory because of the extreme fluctuations in water temperature which occur in our waters.  This time of year and throughout the summer, they head up the spring creeks and rivers seeking our cold water — Crystal Spring is a high volume chilly 39 degrees year-round!  Locally we also have big German Browns on the nearby Wood River, lake fishing on Agency and Upper Klamath Lakes, and brookies in our local alpine creeks and lakes.

If this is your first time fishing in our area, we’d suggest a guided trip to maximize your chances of getting on the fish.  As mentioned above, the fish are highly migratory, and the guides are on the water daily and know exactly where the fish are.  We can hook you up with an expert local guide, and would be happy to provide Oregon fishing licenses here at the Lodge as we are a license sales agent.

Whatever your fishing preferences — fly or lure, bank or boat, dry or wet flies, self or professionally guided — the fish are waiting for you to take your best shot at them!

Western Trek Day 16 – Peaceful Valley, originally uploaded by emace.

Starting April 24, the 2009 season will open for reservations at Crystalwood Lodge bed and breakfast inn.

While the lodge is open year-round for event rental, the summer season will start on April 24, which corresponds with the opening of trout season on Crystal Creek, the Wood River and many of the other surrounding fisheries.

The Klamath Basin features one of the finest native trout fisheries in the Western United States.  Trophy sized redband rainbows and German brown abound the the cold rich waters.  Crystal Spring, on the southern edge of the property just out the front door of Crystalwood Lodge, boasts a large population of 12+ lb. redbands, thanks to the spring water being a brisk 39 degrees year-round.  Come prepared — the water is so clear, the fish can see you coming a mile away!  You can get them to bite, but you might have to go the extra mile to outwit them first!  Come try your luck and see what happens!!

sunrise at crater lake, OR, originally uploaded by Pavan Chitumalla.

The summer is always a popular time to visit Crater Lake, and it is beautiful in the summer. But if you have never seen the lake in the winter or the spring, then you are definitely missing out on many of its charms.

A Crater Lake sunrise is a special occasion, and one made possible by a stay at Crystalwood Lodge, one of the closest lodging options to Crater Lake National Park.

Enjoy the sun or the shade on our wraparound deck.

With seven guest rooms, a commercial kitchen, and 130 acres of wilderness to roam, Crystalwood Lodge is a great location for small and medium size events such as family reunions, corporate retreats, workshops, and more.

Take advantage of nearby Southern Oregon outdoor activities all year round, such as hiking, fishing, shoeshoeing, bird watching and more. Or just hunker down at the lodge for stargazing, photography, canoeing, or curling up with a good book on our wrap-around deck.

Crystalwood Lodge is also welcoming to four-legged members of your family or your organization. So if you’re looking for a pet-friendly event location, put us on your short list!