Christmas in the Crater Lake Women's Bathroom

Since I can remember, we have always gone for a hike on holidays. I particularly like those in the snow, which I've always enjoyed as a visible accumulation of nature. For Christmas 2008, we decided to take advantage of inexplicably low gas prices by going on a road trip up to Crater Lake. A powerful low-pressure weather pattern blew in while we were driving up, and the morning we got to the Crater Lake Park Headquarters, it was around 20 degrees Fahrenheit, breezy, and it was dumping snow; visibility was reduced to around 15 feet, and the thick storm clouds held close to the ground, obscuring the daylight and giving the illusion of constant dusk. The 3.5-mile access road that twists up to Crater Lake's rim was closed due to snow, so it was going to be a slog. We were both a little reluctant due to the miserable conditions, but this lifted a short while after we had put on our snowshoes and began the meditative trek up the powdery road, losing sight of everything more than 10 or 15 feet away.

We only saw three other people the entire time we were at Crater Lake, which probably isn't something one can say very often. Near the top of the access road, we stopped for a friendly chat with a couple on cross-country skis who were on their way back down, kindred souls on a Christmas outing themselves, and in doing so confirmed what we knew might be the case: The poor visibility precluded seeing Crater Lake at all. We had driven 500 miles and were going to be spitting distance from one of the natural wonders of the world, but we would be unable to see anything. As we parted ways, the man pulled close to us in the way someone who is divulging a great secret to a trusted friend would, and told us that the women's bathroom was heated at the top of the access road. It was starting to snow very heavily, and the wind was picking up, so we hurried on up to the top, so we could at least say we were at Crater Lake, even though we couldn't see it.

It took us a while to find the women's bathroom, because of the poor visibility and a profusion of lonely buildings that constitute the lodge, dark and surrounded on all sides by snow drifts that were 15 to 20 feet high. We finally came across a strange doorway jutting out from a drift, but it was about 20 feet away from the main building, making it appear like a portal directly into the snow. We were really starting to get cold, so we dug out around the door enough that we could pull it open a bit, and squeezed inside. I thought for a moment we would hear a some strange sounds and see flashing lights, and end up teleported to Siberia for Christmas. Fortunately, it turned out to be the entrance to a womb-like tunnel, totally buried in snow, that led up to the women's bathroom.

Oh, what an oasis we found in the Crater Lake women's bathroom! It had lights, it was heated, it had warm running water, and it didn't smell bad. We took off our outer layers, which were now dripping with melting snow, and thawed out our hands and faces with warm water. We had a Christmas feast of chips, sandwiches, and partially-frozen chocolate, and once we were warmed to our souls, we headed out of our cloister and back down the access road to our truck. There was well over a foot of fresh snow on it.