DART part 2

 So today we were engineers, not really,  but we did get to sit with the two engineers who operated the train during the outbound trip. The engine 2085 was built in 1954. David told me this was the original operating system. You'll be surprised at how rudimentary it is. Three basic things, power, braking, and warning signals. The trip was "zippy" at 10-12 mph. On our way out, the most exciting thing was "cows on the tracks" - video included. The trip was two hours in each direction and so we relaxed with the Conductor Max on the way back. The all-volunteer crew members are heavily drawn from the ranks of retired railroad men. They were very willing to share their knowledge of train operations and the history of the line. The weather was cooler today, so the open air engine part of the journey was really a nice change from our hot hot hot railriders trip yesterday.  A box lunch was included in our ticket price and when we returned to the station, we had tickets for free ice cream from the ice cream truck!

Then we were off to Baker City for the night, before our biggest driving day through the John Day Fossil Beds and on to La Pine which is tow hours away form Crater  Lake... our centerpiece of the trip.

That day was our longest driving day. We started from Baker City.  We were on our way to Crater Lake  (the next two days.)  On the way we stopped for breakfast in John Day and then on to several of the monuments in the John Day Fossil beds. The beds themselves are made of 22,000 acres of land which over millennia has deposited layer upon layer of the records of life on this planet. We stopped at Cathedral Rock, the Painted Hills, the visitors center, and other eye catching formations along the way. We arrived at our overnight stop, which is about two hours from Crater Lake. Yes, there's a reason it's been on my list for decades. It's hours from anywhere! Meanwhile, a truly beautiful drive this morning through a scenic byway called Elkhorn which was a road lined by ponderosa pine forests and rocky outcroppings. Two things I fully realized today, OREGON is bigger than I thought and it is also much more ecosystem diverse than I knew. Up until now I had only been on the West end of the state (and a brief overnight in Baker City near the Idaho border on last year's DART.) It's been very interesting exploring some of the east and middle.

so next - off to Crater Lake-  So yes, I did finally get to Crater Lake after years of it being on my list.... And here are some photos of our drive around 3/4 of the rim. The other 1/4 was closed for construction. It really is spectacularly beautiful. The drive along the rim had precipitous drop offs from the road which had no guard rails making it at times an exciting ride - especially for the passenger. I have attached at the end photos of some of the devastation the nearby fires have created. And then just so the real world is included (because it so often is missing from the carefully curated insta feeds of so many) I have a few photos of this morning (MONDAY between 9-11AM). There literally were miles of cars parked on the side of the roads not just crowding every parking lot at each overlook. Far far far too many people. We spoke with the sole NPS ranger on site who was sitting at a card table at the visitors center with a sign that said "Ask the Ranger". He said they haven't had NPS brochures all year and don't know if they will be printing them anytime in the future. The DOGE cuts have devastated the National Parks. We offered our sympathy to the Ranger and he said "thanks for your support." Really sad state of affairs.

But first- breakfast LOL

entering the park- 

From here we made an executive decision to skip the day two we had planned and just head around the rim road ourselves. We were off to Roseburg for the night on our way to the Coast with a stop in Coquille OR to visit the gravesite of Buzz Holstrom (a guy who is special to TB from his past as a river rafting guy.) More from the coast  and the rest of the trip coming up in the third DART post....