You may have seen previous postings of the view from the Lodge overlooking Upper Klamath National Wildlife Refuge. It looked like this today, as you look east from the Lodge :

View across the marsh

Today was a beautiful day, so I went for a drive around 30 Mile Land, past the Wood River Wetlands and ended up at Agency Lake. Here’s the view looking back to the west, toward Crystalwood Lodge across Agency Lake.

Agency Lake and Cascades with Sky Lakes Wilderness

As you can see, the Sky Lakes Wilderness and the high country atop the Cascades are still snow-bound. In a year with a normal winter, that situation would continue perhaps even into July, but this year, I’m guessing the trails will open earlier than normal due to the light winter we had. Right now we’re having very mild spring days, so stay tuned for the hiking updates!

Last but not least, you can’t talk about spring around here without talking about birds. Hearing birds, seeing birds. Everywhere. The cliff swallows that grace the sides of the lodge and delight our guests are back as usual, and busy nesting and eating the emerging bug population. I tried to catch a few shots of them near sunset, as they congregate before calling it a day:

Flock of cliff swallows at Crystalwood Lodge

Flock of cliff swallows near Crystalwood Lodge nests

So there you have it. Birds, fishing, snow remnants, budding trees, marsh greening up, beautiful days…spring and summer are a very special fleeting time around here! Hope you have the chance to get away and enjoy it with us!!

Don’t forget…for a complete calendar of all there is to see and do around Crystalwood Lodge, make sure to check out our new local visitor website, Things To Do Near Crater Lake. An outgrowth of our award-winning local visitor newspaper, the website is a tremendous resource for the myriad of recreational opportunities and services in our area. More about that in an upcoming post!