Walkin' West is sponsored by the Chicken Ranch Casino Resort in historic Jamestown, California.

Home to the great outdoors of the mother lode, Chicken Ranch Casino Resort, owned by the Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Miwok Indians of California.

Walkin' West is sponsored by Mountain House, where we've been feeding hungry hikers freeze-dried meals since 1969.

We invite you to walk west in a respectful, responsible way and to always leave no trace behind.

Mountain House.

Walkin' West is brought to you in part by Visit El Dorado, Visit Tuolumne, and Visit Calaveras County Visitors Bureaus.

Discover the history of the gold rush pristine mountain lakes and the waterfalls of Yosemite.

All here in California's gold country.

I'm Steve Weldon and boy, do I love adventure!

Whether it's a good long hike, climbing a big old rock, or checking out that secret swimming hole, I'm raring to go.

Join me as we hike from the crest of the Rockies to the beautiful Pacific coast, right here on Walkin' West.

MUSIC Hi, I'm Steve Weldon, welcome to Walkin' West.

And we are in an incredible place right now in Southwest Oregon.

We're on our way to Crater Lake where we're going to have three wonderful days of hiking.

We found this gem of a hotel called the Prospect Hotel.

It's on the National Historic Register built in 1888.

That's 136 years old.

Let's go meet Fred and Karen.

Hey, how are you guys?

Hey, look, it's Steve again.

Good to see you.

How are you?

Nice to see you.

Yeah nice to have you back.

Well, I'm glad to be back.

And by the way, since I gave you a hat last time, it's your beautiful wife, Karen's turn.

There you go, Karen Oh, I'm lucky.

Oh, I hope you were proud.

She looks good in that.

She does.

She looks better than I did.

Well, I wasn't going to say that.

Laughing Gosh, this hotel is so historic.

The Prospect Hotel is wonderful.

We're going to be going up to Crater Lake and we're going to be doing a series of hikes up there.

Awesome.

You're going to Crater Lake, so there's some stuff here right in town that you need to see, too.

Oh, really?

Yeah, yeah just down the road from us, about 12 minute short little hike, is Pearsoney Falls.

It's a beautiful little 20-foot waterfall.

And then on your way up to the lake you got the Rogue River Gorge.

Thanks a million.

You bet, Steve.

Bye now.

Thank you.

Good to see you.

Music What a great summer day to take a hike.

Clear rushing water and a forest to die for.

Music Whoa, look at that river.

Music This gorgue is beautiful.

Music Words just can't describe this creation.

Now you know why they call it the Wild and Scenic Rogue River.

This is incredible.

Now, this natural bridge here was formed by a collapsed lava tube thousands of years ago.

I think I'm gonna go swimming in Crater Lake but I think I'll pass on the Rogue River.

Music We have arrived.

Boy howdy I am excited.

We're here at Crater Lake National Park.

A few weeks ago when I was up here with my wife on a scouting hike I met this lovely young ranger by the name of Marcia McCabe.

And she's been my contact here at the park, and it's so nice to be here and so nice to see you.

It's great to see you, Steve.

Welcome.

Well, thank you, and I appreciate it very, very much.

We're gonna go to Wizard Island tomorrow.

Great.

And where would you suggest that we hike today?

You know, it's such a beautiful day.

I think going out to Discovery Point would be a great idea.

We're gonna get started.

I've got a guide and we're gonna go to the Discovery Trail, and I'll let you know how it is.

All right.

That would be great.

I hope you have a wonderful day.

Music We're here at the beginning of the Discovery Point Trail here at Crater Lake and I am excited beyond belief.

I mean I'm rip snorting and raring to go and we've got our all-star guide for this trip Miss Lauren Skonieczny.

Hello!

Make that Skonieczny!

Skonieczny!

There we go!

Ah I got it!

Usually by the third try.

Well I got it on the second try.

Skonieczny!

That's right.Now we're gonna have a quiz on that a little bit later.

Thank you for being with us on this hike today.

My pleasure.

Well I'm glad to have you and this lake is so pristine and so beautiful.

And I want to ask you when was this park founded?

It was established as a national park in 1902 under President Theodore Roosevelt.

And we're on one of the beautiful pristine trails here at the Discovery Point.

We're going to have a lot of great vistas today.

It's one, yeah I think it's one of the trails that gives you the most bang for your buck.

It's a pretty short mild hike but you get to see a ton from this rim.

Music We're taking just a short break here at the lake and I've got to ask a few questions Lauren.

How deep is Crater Lake?

So it is 1943 feet deep.

Whoa!

Is that the deepest lake in America?

It is the deepest in America second deepest in North America, ninth in the world.

Really?

Now would that explain why it's so blue?

It is a big reason of why it's so blue.

The other reason is because we see the entire watershed of the lake right around here on the crater rim.

There's no other streams that go in and no other streams that go out.

How much snow do they get out on average per year?

So an average year can get up to about 41 feet of snow up here.

It's one of the snowiest inhabited places on Earth.

And about 80 inches of that makes its way down to the water.

The lake has set a world record for clarity.

They use a little disc that kind of has a black and white pattern on it.

And as long as you can see that pattern that's how you measure the visibility.

And now the original USGS survey, they did measure the depth of the lake with a piano wire and a lead pipe.

And they got within about 50 feet of the accurate measurement that we got with sonar.

So I don't know, analog works sometimes I guess.

You know what, old school was okay.

Alright, let's get after it.

Let's do it.

Well, we're here on the Discovery Point Trail with Walkin' West And I couldn't help but notice this beautiful family and these youngsters that are all junior rangers.

What's your name, dear?

I'm Audrey.

Audrey, that's a pretty name.

How old are you, Audrey?

I am eight.

You're eight and how about you?

What's your name?

Aiden.

Hi, Aiden.

How old are you?

Five.

You're five and how about you?

My name's Hudson.

Hi.

Well, I'm glad to meet you guys and you too, sir.

What's your name again?

Justin.

Hi, Justin.

Nice to meet you guys.

Where are you from?

We live close to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Albuquerque, New Mexico.

I have been there.

Now let me ask you, I see all these junior ranger badges all over.

You must have earned those, right?

Yeah.

How do you earn a junior ranger badge?

Well, protect the park, pick up litter, and there are these little activity books and you should complete the amount of pages.

Wow, that's cool.

Now you've been to a lot of national parks.

Obviously, I can tell by all your badges.

How many parks do you think you've been to, Audrey?

We counted and it's about 12.

About 12 national parks.

I think that's about as many as I've been to.

And I'm a few years older than you.

Are you guys having fun?

Yeah.

Yes.

Okay, are we going to leave it cleaner than we found it?

Wait, yes.

Let's see how much they're are.

Pardon me, what now?

One, two, three, four, five six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven.

Eleven.

Twelve.

Whoa Twelve.

Well, congratulations and I love your walking stick Okay?

And I want to thank you.

all for being on Walkin' West and I hope you have a wonderful day.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Music I want to know the history and how that this lake, beautiful Crater Lake was formed.

Yeah, so when we bring folks here, they often ask that question.

How did it get here?

Sure.

And what I like to say is, all right imagine Mount Hood that we've all seen up by Portland and pop it right on top of here.

And that's actually what used to be here about 8,000 years ago.

Really?

A giant volcano called Mount Mazama or GWAS.

And about 7,700 years ago, that volcano had a dramatic, violent explosion.

So the material was expelled at about twice the speed of sound and the amount of material that came out of the mountain was 12 cubic miles.

After all that material came out of the mountain, there wasn't anything to hold it up anymore.

And so it collapsed in on itself and it formed this caldera.

So the lake actually itself is not a crater.

It is a caldera.

What's the difference?

So a caldera is formed by a collapse.

So there's no more material underneath the mountain.

And because of that, the mountain basically falls in on itself versus a crater that's formed more through building.

How do we know that there was life here before Mazama erupted 7,700 years ago?

Yeah.

So we have this really definitive line from that ash deposit that we know is about 7,700 years ago, Ok, that can serve as a way to kind of give us some reference.

And so there was actually some artifacts discovered including a set of sandals just about 63 miles from here.

That tells us that humans were here as far back as potentially 10,000 years.

So they found that under the ash.

Correct.

Yep.

So the deposit in the layer, then an ash layer and then even more artifacts on top of that.

So this area has been inhabited by humans for quite some time.

Well, those sandals must have been well made.

Ha ha ha.

Yeah.

Wow.

Here we are.

Discovery Point.

This is it.

This is amazing!

And the view of Wizard Island.

One of the best.

Music Well, we're at the end of our Discovery Point hike with our all-star guide, Lauren.

It's been a gas.

It's been a pleasure to be with you today.

I want to thank you so very much.

And, And I've got a feeling.

I understand that you guide trips all over America.

Is that correct?

I do.

We are in national parks all over.

I travel around a bunch.

Well, don't be surprised if you get a phone call for another trip.

Perfect.

Name the park and I'll meet you there.

I'll name the park and I'd love to see you again.

Thank you very, very much.

Thanks so much for a great day.

Thanks so much for being with us on Walkin' West.

You're a gem.

Bye-bye.

Well, we're on our way to Crater Lake again and we're gonna take a shuttle boat from Cleetwood Cove to Wizard Island where we're gonna take a good long hike we're even gonna walk down into a cinder cone of an old volcano.

This is gonna be fun.

Music Here are your tickets for Wizard Island Thank you very, very much.

You're very welcome.

Boy, this is gonna be an epic ride over to the island and a volcano.

We're gonna hike it.

Music Me and my son Zach are taking a short walk on the Cleetwood Cove trail.

Right down to catch our shuttle.

Look at the reflections on that lake.

Music I'm excited about this.

Whoo.

This is gonna be fun.

Hi Steve Weldon.

Steve, Captain Steve.

Welcome aboard the Madockney and on to Crater Lake.

This is Captain Pearson.

We'll be taking out to Wizard Island today.

Well your providing a wonderful service and an incredible lake and I thank you.

Appreciate it and glad to have you aboard.

Thanks for having us and thanks for being on Walkin' West.

Boy the views are just beautiful.

No wonder so many people are smiling on this boat.

This boat ride is great.

Look at the mountains.

Music It's another great day to be alive.

Music We're here and I'm one eager beaver to go.

What is Wizard Island?

It's a big volcano in the middle of a volcano.

So that means that all the rocks are nice and loose and footing is unpredictable.

Let's ask captain Steve to tell us more about the island.

We're out here at Wizard Island.

We made the trip about a great, really pleasant 25 or 30 minute boat ride.

We did that from Cleetwood Cove and the operations manager for Explore Us who is responsible for us being able to get here today.

Steve, I thank you very much for having us.

Well, we're welcome to have you also.

Thank you for coming.

And thank you and what a great job you've got.

You're taking tourists for a wonderful life experience right here on the island.

Yeah, we have often have people tell us this is a lifelong dream of theirs to be able to get out to Wizard Island.

We're just fortunate that we have the boats and the opportunity to bring people out to Wizard Island and fulfill that dream.

And well, it's a wonderful dream and it is fulfilled It was on my bucket list and dog gone it I'm a happy guy.

And I want to thank you for being on Walkin' West.

And having us out here.

It was a great boat ride and we're off on a great hike.

Thanks Steve.

Have a great day.

You too.

Enjoy your hike.

Thank you.

We're on our way up to the cone.

This is gonna be a blast.

I sure love hiking with my boy Zach.

This is gonna be fun.

It doesn't get any bluer than this.

It just doesn't.

Music We made it.

We're at the top of the cone.

The view from up here is just amazing.

Now we're gonna hike on down right into it.

We're down right almost in the middle of this cinder cone, this caldera and it's mid-summer and these kids are having a snow fight.

Ah, hahaha This is wonderful.

Wizard Island the cone.

I made it, ha ha ha.

We made the climb to the top and now I'm down at the bottom of a volcano.

Pretty darn cool here at Crater Lake.

Well we just finished our hike up to the cone here at Wizard Island, had a great time.

And now we're waiting for the shuttle and the shuttle back to Cleetwood Cove.

And I met a ranger here He's a volunteer by the name of Brian.

How are you doing Brian?

I'm well, how are you Steve?

Well, I'm doing terrific and boy you've got a wonderful job out here.

Oh, it's fantastic, Absolutely.

I get paid in sunsets That's the best part.

Oh my gosh.

I like that "paid in sunsets" and you are a volunteer and I understand you're an electrical engineer from South Carolina.

That's correct Yes, sir I am yeah just out here for the summer Crater Lake National Park absolutely gorgeous place to be and I'm really happy to be out here.

Well, it's beautiful and people need to get off the couch drive out here and then take a nice hike out here to Cleetwood Cove.

Take the shuttle and and a enjoy this wonderful park.

Absolutely.

It's a gorgeous place to be.

Well Brian thanks for being out here on Walkin' West we appreciate it my friend.

Thank you, Steve.

I appreciate it.

Thank you Well, a great end to a great day here on a wonderful hike here at Wizard Island and we took up to the cone.

And now we're about to take a dip.

Oh my gosh ha ha ha.

Now Zach is gonna show me how a young guy does it.

I give that dive a nine point five.

Well, the time has come.

We're here at Crater Lake and before we leave I've got to take the plunge.

Well, I've never dove into a crater before, but what the heck.

There's a first time for everything.

You're ready to watch an old man in action.

Here we go.

One, two, three Whoa...whoo hoo!

Woo man!

You know what I just did?

I just did a cannonball into a volcano!

Ha ha ha Music What a wonderful day we had today.

We hiked down to Cleetwood Cove.

We took the boat over to Wizard Island.

We hiked a bunch over there.

Then we went back to Cleetwood Cove took a great swim.

Life is wonderful!

And we're gonna hike again tomorrow, right here on Walkin' West, Crater Lake.

We're here at the historic Crater Lake Lodge, and I'm here with our all-star guide for today the original Rogue Trotter Mr.

Nathan Dwyer.

How you doing Nathan?

Hi Steve, so great to be here.

I'm doing great.

Well, it's a pleasure to have you here today.

And you're so knowledgeable about this because you your guiding service out of Ashland Ah.

This is one of your ah, everyday hikes you hike here a lot don't you.

That's right.

Yeah multiple times a week.

So we come up here very frequently and I've been up here a thousand times, but it never gets old.

Well it's magical and we're in front of a pretty magical place with a great history.

The Crater Lake Lodge.

This lodge was built between 1911 and 1915 Okay.

So it was built in the grand age of the National Park lodges and those lodges were built to convey an aspect of permanence.

Okay.

You know but, this lodge here was just this front building right here okay, and the restaurant.

Uh huh.

Unfortunately, it wasn't engineered with an aspect of permanence.

They didn't account for the vast snowload.

So it started to break apart.

In fact in the 1980's they condemned the building they were gonna tear it down, but the public outcry to save this historic monument was so great that they put up the money to completely reconstruct this building.

Stone by stone and timber by timber to give it that actual aspect of permanence.

This lobby is something else.

Music Look at that fireplace.

I'm getting warm just looking at it.

Music Whoa, what an amazing view!

Isn't it amazing?

Oh my gosh.

Look at that.

Wow, what a wonderful place with an incredible history.

This place is amazing!

That's right Steve.

Let's get it.

We're on our way to a very special place.

Me and my allstar guide Nathan are headed to the Watchman Peak Lookout Tower.

The Watchman Peak Tower was built in 1932 and served as a dual purpose, As a fire lookout, and later a trail museum.

Music Hard to believe we're in mid to late summer and we still got snow on the mountain right here at Watchman.

This is cool.

Yeah, that's right.

This is the snowiest place in the lower 48 in fact.

Really?

We get an average of 43 feet every year of snow.

Music You know, I love it when I meet people on the trail that have that zest for life and that pop in their pistol.

And I met Aaron and Ellen and you're from Virginia, right?

Yes, sir.

Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Well, that's great.

What brings you out here?

We're kind of on a post honeymoon trip.

We've been married about six, seven months.

Okay.

So I just got out of the Navy and we got a little bit of time to come out West.

Well, thank you for serving.

Proud to serve.

We appreciate your service to our country, my friend.

And you've been up here to the summit to the tower, the Watchman Tower.

And what a view!

Oh yeah.

Beautiful.

This is our first time at Crater Lake.

Well, I bet it's not your last either.

Hopefully not.

Well, a pleasure to have you on Walkin' West.

Nice meeting you too, Steve.

Have a great rest of the day.

You too.

Thank you.

Music Woo!

Man!

Look at that.

Oh man.

Incredible.

Music Well, Nathan, you've taken us up to the top of Watchman Tower and Watchman Peak and the view here is stunning.

It is just terrific.

Isn't it amazing?

It's the best view of Wizard Island that you can get in the park.

You can see the whole shoreline of Wizard Island.

You can even see down inside the crater at the top of the center cone.

That crater is 90 feet deep.

And I hear you were in there yesterday.

I was in there yesterday.

That was you?

That was me.

Hahaha.

And it was amazing.

We went down into the crater and we hiked back out.

And, now we didn't go to Fumaral Island and I see that turquoise water down there.

Oh my gosh.

I want to take a dip down there in that turquoise water.

Have you done that?

Yeah, it's nice and cool and it turns you blue.

Hahaha.

It takes a while to wash off all that blue.

I don't know if I want to turn blue, but I'm having the time of a lifetime right here.

Crater Lake, Watchman Tower.

Music Our next hike is Sun Notch Trail.

Music Why do they name it Phantom Ship Island?

Well, Phantom Ship is just a fantasy name that William Steele decided to give to it to try to attract people here.

Just like Wizard Island or any of these other Witches Cauldron.

Okay.

Yeah.

I understand that he thought that it looked kind of ghostly.

That's right.

It looks like a ghost ship with the masts down and the sails torn.

Phantom Ship is the oldest rock that is above the surface that can be seen.

Around 450 million year old rock.

As you go down, if you look at these layers in the side of the caldera each one of those represents a different eruption of Mount Mozzama.

So as you go down in those layers, you go older and older and older.

So you're looking through time as you go down.

Well, we're at the end of the Sun Notch Trail and all good hikes have to come to an end.

And that's the sad part about this show.

But I'll tell you the good part.

We had a sensational guide from the original Rogue Trotter.

I'm talking about my buddy Nathan out of Ashland.

And I want to thank you so very much.

And I want to ask you, do you do this year round?

Year round winter, summer, you name it.

You, snowshoeing then.

Snowshoeing, cross-country skiing.

It's wonderful.

Wow.

Well, I'm glad I got hold of you because your wealth of information.

And what you know about geology here in this park was sensational.

And I want to give you, I want to go a little extra mile.

And I want to give you an honorary PhD.

Oh, okay.

An honorary doctorate from Walkin' West University.

Oh, you can wear this proudly.

That would look really nice right here.

There we go.

Ha ha ha ha Thank you.

Well, thank you so much for being on the show, and keep on hiking.

Absolutely.

And thanks so much for being on Walkin' West.

Thank you, Steve.

It was a real pleasure.

Well, thank you.

You're a wonderful guy.

All right.

Likewise.

Music Well, we're at the end of a great, great hike.

Four days of hiking at Crater Lake National Park and up and down the Rogue River.

It has been a blast.

And I want to congratulate the people at the park for their tidiness.

My gosh, we found this much litter.

I mean, absolutely nothing.

And I also want to thank my wonderful son, Zach.

He was my production assistant supreme for helping us out on the hike.

And I thank you, son.

Absolutely.

And I also want to know, what was your favorite part of the hike?

Well, just being here to support the show is a highlight.

but, a personal favorite was jumping off the cliff at Cleetwood Cove.

And I give you a 10.

A standing O. That's right.

You did a great job.

And I want to thank Marsha McCabe and all her assistants here at the park.

They were wonderful.

I want to thank Lauren for her historical knowledge supreme.

She was our first day guide.

And I want to thank Nathan.

He knew so much about the geology.

I mean, two wonderful guides.

Lauren with Good Trip Adventures and Nathan with Rogue Trotters.

And I want to thank you for tuning us in.

And I want to thank Mark Brant, the best cameraman that ever walked this planet.

Thanks for making this old mug look tolerable, my friend.

And thanks for tuning in to Walkin' West.

See you next time.

Have a great day.

Well, me and my boy went hiking up in Oregon way out west.

I tried to keep up with that boy and he said "Dad, just do your best."

We hiked all over Crater Lake, then over to Wizard Island.

When I jumped in the lake my limbs turned blue but I just kept on smiling.

As I look out at Crater Lake with its water so clear and blue, if I had to describe it in just three words it'd be "Yabba dabba doo" Yeah, I'm leaving here grinning ear to ear, singing "Yabba dabba doo!"

That's all.

POP Walkin' West is sponsored by the Chicken Ranch Casino Resort in historic Jamestown, California.

Home to the great outdoors of the mother lode, Chicken Ranch Casino Resort, owned by the Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Miwok Indians of California.

Walkin' West is sponsored by Mountain House, where we've been feeding hungry hikers freeze-dried meals since 1969.

We invite you to walk west in a respectful, responsible way and to always leave no trace behind.

Mountain House.

Walkin' West is brought to you in part by Visit El Dorado, Visit Tuolumne and Visit Calaveras County Visitors Bureaus.

Discover the history of the gold rush pristine mountain lakes and the waterfalls of Yosemite.

All here in California's gold country.