I know that the folks who ran the ski service named the Hemlock Trail.
The Raven is down below and the Hemlock is around the top of the meadow south of the lodge (13).
Did your walks follow those routes?
That would be a little far for a showshoe walk. I do remember leaving the back of Rim Center going through what is now the picnic ground and staying away from the lake. It was a forest walk, going along the ridge behind the dormitory, and over to a nice long hill straight down to the meadow. I would actually have people run down that to feel what it’s like to run in snowshoes. Half of us would fall over. Sometimes the ranger would fall. Once down to the meadow, we would walk up to the lodge and look at the drifts around it. East of the lodge is really an icy and windy spot. You can see the lake though, because there was snow is mostly scoured there. We then cut around to the front of the lodge, and headed back to Rim Center. It wasn’t a long hike, but it was far enough to let people enjoy the outdoors and listen to stories of winter survival, including adaptations by animals and plants to the snow conditions. Weather was a topic. I asked them about why does Crater Lake get so much precipitation? How does this affect keeping the park open?
Are there any analogies to the classroom as far as doing interpretation?
The snowshoe hike was definitely a winter or snow ecology walk and I think it probably still is today. I want to have people think about summer in the park, and then consider how winter affects the plants and animals. Did you see any animals today? How are they able to survive in twelve, fifteen or twenty feet of snow? How can a Clark’s nutcracker do that? That would lead to the ecology of the nutcracker. When the trees are covered with ice, is that good thing? It is a good thing, since that protects the trees from the wind and from drying out. We also talked about winter drought. The weekend was really quite enjoyable. I remember Jim Donovon, another single ranger up there. He had room for people to stay, also. I’d stay with Hank and stay with Jim and enjoy stories of the park for a short time, and then go back to Grants Pass.
