After looking through some options of where to go, I found a nice little hike to Indigo Lake. It's a small lake close to a massive rock mountain. I woke up early, packed up all my gear and headed out. I had never been here before, so I put in the location to my GPS and headed out. Unfortunately, the last 10 miles of the road to the lake was closed for the winter and converted over to a snowmobile track. Feeling bummed, I quickly made new plans, but before I left, I hiked down to Crescent Lake and explored for a little bit.
My next stop would be Newberry Caldera. I took the back roads on my way over stopping a few times at some interesting sites. 10 miles up the road to the caldera I came to another closed gate and was put yet again into the position of changing my plans. Surprisingly enough, I wasn't too upset. I suppose I was just glad to be out exploring.
I ended up making my over to Wickiup Reservoir. I took the back way in towards the earthen dam by an old service road. It's quite the beautiful area with lots of reeds. I circled the lake and made my way over to Davis Lake. A serene lake with a lava flow running into it. I spotted a bald eagle, but it spooked before I could get too close. I ended up climbing to the top of the lava hill but found only more lava; I'll have to go back when I have more time.
The most exciting moment I had was a moment I wasn't able to capture, even though I tried. On my way to Wickiup, I spotted some road kill off the side of the road with a few dozen crows eating lunch. As I drove past, I nearly made eye contact with a Bald Eagle that was back in the bushes. I immediately pulled over and grabbed my zoom lens. Byt the time I was ready to make my way around, but another truck came by and got to close for the eagle's comfort, and it took off. I was utterly bummed that I missed this shot. As I sat there thinking about it, the eagle came back! I again began to sneak a bit closer to get the shot, but this time it was me who spooked the eagle, and it flew off yet again. Thinking patience would win me the image, I went back to the side of my truck and decided to wait for this one out. After around 8-10 minutes of nothing, I heard a rustle 20 feet back and about 40 feet up. As I turned around to see what made the noise, I saw the tail feathers of the eagles I was waiting for. He snuck up behind me and was watching me as I waited. He must have thought I was up to no good and decided the free lunch wasn't worth it. I'm bummed I didn't get the shot, but what an experience.
