Crater Lake -- Jewel Basin

courtesy of Keith/Leslie

This weekend Keith and Leslie came down from Banff for a final visit before they head off to Australia for a few months.  Along with my friend Amber and both Sonja and Rhino, we went on a short backpack in the Jewel Basin.

It was pretty hot but we lucked out insofar as there were no mosquitos that night where we camped along the lake and the weather was great for camping.

The dogs were remarkably well behaved, including Sonja who is like a new dog (though probably feeling a little broken due to Rhino's dominance).

Rhino proved himself to be a super mellow easy-going guy when he's tired enough to not care.  When he's feeling energetic his puppy exuberance is hard to tame.  But they're only puppies for awhile (a couple years...) so it's cute to see him so goofy.

Rhino carried our wine for us, nice doggie



I used my new MSR e-wing tarp rather than a tent (yellow thing)

 All in all it was a great hike and a great camping spot.  I highly recommend it to anyone not wanting a major haul.  It's only a little over 5 miles to Crater Lake and the hike isn't super challenging.  The heat makes it a little more so but on the whole it's something most people could easily manage.  We took a lot of breaks to swim and eat and sit and each way took only a few hours.