Rain drove me out of Washington and then Oregon although I did manage brief visits to Newberry National Volcanic Monument and Crater Lake National Park. Newberry point of interest (to me) was an Obsidian field. This is that hard, black glass the Aztecs used to make knives and such when sacrificing the virgins. Crater Lake is just that, a deep, blue lake in a volcano, a couple miles across and 2000 feet deep.
09/14/03 Hiking Black Butte Trail (5.2 miles round trip):
This is an 1850 foot climb up a steep, young volcano but the trail is only moderate. The climb is steady, much of it across talus slopes. The guide book says spectacular views but having just come from the Cascades in Washington they were just ho hum. Wide Valleys and very distant mountain ranges... oh yeah, and Mount Shasta, a three peaked volcano. Unfortunately, all the glaciers and snow caps are on the other side of the mountain.
Traffic noise drifted up constantly when on the west side of the butte. Over on the east side of the butte are views of Mount Shasta. Train noise also became quite annoying.