35th Annual Winter Wings Festival – February 13th-16th
The annual Winter Wings Festival is a celebration of the Klamath Basin’s popularity as a stop for thousands of birds traveling the Pacific Flyway. Bring your binoculars, cameras and curiosity! Click here for more info.
Ranger-guided snowshoe walks have begun at Crater Lake.
LEE JUILLERAT, HERALD AND NEWS, KLAMATH FALLS – The free, two-hour walks are offered at 1 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday through April 27. In addition, tours will be offered daily from Thursday, Dec. 26, through Wednesday, Jan. 1. The park provides the snowshoes.
Reservations are necessary because of the ongoing popularity of the walks, especially during the holidays. During the walks, participants typically walk about a mile of moderately strenuous terrain while exploring forested areas and meadows. Rangers explain how plants, animals and people survive in deep snow.
“The snowshoe walks are a fun way to explore our winter wonderland,” said park spokeswoman Marsha McCabe.
She notes Crater Lake is one of the snowiest inhabited places in the United States, receiving an average of 525 inches, or 44 feet of snow, each winter.
Participants should be at least 8 years old, be in reasonably good physical condition, and come prepared with warm clothing and water-resistant footwear. No previous snowshoeing experience is necessary. There is no cost for using the snowshoes and the tour. The park does not collect an entrance fee in the winter months.
Space on the tours is limited so reservations can be made by calling the park’s visitor center at 541-594-3100. The visitor center is open daily 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. but is closed Dec. 25. Groups of 15 people or more — including school groups, outdoor clubs and church groups — may be able to arrange separate group tours on weekdays or weekends.
The park is open year-round, 24 hours a day. The North Entrance and Rim Drive are closed to cars in the winter, but the West and South entrances on Highway 62 are plowed daily and are open to motor vehicles throughout the year, although temporary road closures are possible during heavy storms. There is no winter lodging in the park, but the Rim Village Café & Gift Shop is open daily except Christmas Day. http://seattletimes.com/html/outdoors/2022486028_craterlakewalksxml.html
HAND ACCOUNT OF SNOWSHOEING IN THE PARK:
http://blogs.esouthernoregon.com/pocket-protector/2013/12/23/another-world-two-hours-away/
CNN Travel features snowshoeing in Crater Lake…
as one of America’s top winter adventures:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/17/travel/12-months-12-adventures/index.html
Britt Festivals announces classical season
The 2014 Britt Festivals classical season, announced by brand-new Britt Music Director Teddy Abrams will mix surprises in with the standard classical repertoire. It includes music by the Beatles and movie composer John Williams alongside such usual suspects as Wagner and Tchaikovsky.
Located in historic Jacksonville, Oregon, Britt is one of the great attractions you can combine with a visit to Crater Lake in the summer. Seats for Britt’s 2014 classical season are $45 (reserved), $32 (lawn), $10 (students), $15 and $5 (Symphony Pops) plus special packages including the orchestra lovers’ special (seven concerts for $270). For details, see www.brittfest.org
Ice Fishing at Nearby Lake of the Woods
LACEY JARRELL,HERALD & NEWS, KLAMATH FALLS, JAN 10, 2014, EXCERPT– One little wiggle is all it took. When the tip of Chad McPherson’s fishing pole began quickly, but gently, bobbing up and down, he knew his prey had bit. Grabbing the pole, McPherson set the hook with one strong jerk, and swiftly reeled in 6-inch yellow perch.
“This might not look appetizing, but these spiny, scaly fish are delicious,” McPherson said.
He began this day like he does most others: carrying a scuffed-up 5-gallon bucket and a large, red hand auger across the ice, to a makeshift shanty. The structure, rising only a few feet above the frozen horizon, is McPherson’s ice fishing home base at Lake of the Woods.
“Surrounding the shanty, the ice is scarred with frozen-over holes. Every morning he’s fished, McPherson has bored his auger through 8 inches of ice to access the depths below. Once nightcrawlers have been threaded on hooks, they’re dropped through the hole, down 55 feet. This is where McPherson believes the fish are
“It’s as simple as digging a hole in the ground and dropping a worm to the bottom,” said David Embertson, who has been ice fishing for about eight years. “After that, it’s a waiting game.”
Lake of the Woods, http://www.lakeofthewoodsresort.com/ has a depth of about 60 feet, except for one small area that dips to nearly 90 feet. Nearby Fourmile Lake reaches depths of more than 200 feet, but the deepness allows the fish spread out, making them harder to catch, he said
“And at Lake of the Woods, the fish have a lot more fight,” McPherson said
“We’re one of the few lakes that has year-round fishing,” said Lake of the Woods resort manager George Gregory. The lake’s record rainbow trout was 9 pounds, and like the browns, rainbow trout are holding around the lakeshore in about 6 feet of water. As aquatic insects become scarce, rainbow trout are more likely to bite lures and spoons resembling small fish, he said. “Everyone deserves to catch a fish out here, and there’s enough for everybody,” Gregory said
According to McPherson, Lake of the Woods froze over about three weeks before Christmas, and he expects the ice to last until spring. “How long depends on whether we get pounded by snow at the beginning of the year,” he said
“When, and if, the snow does come, McPherson said people shouldn’t get discouraged by bad weather — poor days can have great rewards. “The best days I’ve had, have been the worst weather conditions,” he said.