Volume 5 No. 3 – September 1, 1932

All material courtesy of the National Park Service.These publications can also be found at http://npshistory.com/

Nature Notes is produced by the National Park Service. © 1932.

The Community House

By D. S. Libbey

The cover design shows the Community House at Crater Lake National Park. Many of you will recall the programs of song, music, informative talks and moving pictures. Our hosts, Rangers Ray Henderson and George F. Barron, are to be congratulated upon the very commendable character of the programs. This season the Community House programs began July 12. The excessive snow in the campgrounds prevented overnight campers until approximately that date and the last program of the current season was held on the night of September 16.

The purpose of the nightly programs is to enable each visitor to learn of the many features of the park. Below appears a copy of a letter written by a visitor of the past season concerning his stay at Crater Lake.

“My wife and I, with our boys, have visited thirteen of your national parks, several national monuments, and many state parks, — always with the idea of delving into their concealed recesses as well as obvious points of interest, to enjoy them to the utmost.

“So we strolled with Ranger Naturalist Constance up Garfield Peak and learned the names of your plants and flowers, and got a bird’s eye view of the terrain we planned to explore.

“We went several times to Sinnott Memorial to hear the story of the building up of the mountain, its destruction and the creation of beautiful Crater Lake from Mr. Count and Mr. Clark, — always fascinating and never in the same language, but always consistent, without poll-parrot repetition.

“We visited the Pinnacles on Wheeler Creek, recalling Bryce Canyon, yet distinctive. Saw the declining rays on the Sun Notch when Kerr was in shadow.

“That same day we travelled around the Rim Road to the north side of the lake and then around to Red Cone — deer tracks across the snow in its crater. Rim Road was not yet cleared of snow, so returned clockwise, with gorgeous sunset views from Wineglass and Cloud Cap. Met up with a porcupine on Vidae Ridge in the dunkelheit, side-swiped him with a sweater and collected some souvenir quills. But that evening we got to Rim Camp at 8:30, — the hot showers were so rejuvenating, but missed the Community House gathering for the Sagebrushers. Otherwise we had the pleasure of Ranger Henderson’s programs for six evenings. He is doing a splendid piece of work.

“It took us two hours to scramble up to the top of Mt. Scott and after asking endless questions of Lookout Doc Grimm for an hour concerning the Klamath County and the Pumice Desert, came down the pumice slide in four minutes.”

“We climbed the trail to the Watchman Viewpoint and looked down on Wizard Island, oriented our topographic map on Mt. Hillman. Ranger Henderson said the color of the lake could not be fully appreciated from the Rim, although we did get up at 4:30 A.M., to see the sunrise effects — so we rowed all around Wizard Island, climbed up to its top on the spiral trail and “nature toboganned” down into the pit of the crater on the snow banks. The journey back was dusty and warm so we stript to “Shorts” and dove off the dock on the Wizard Island shore. We keenly felt that 39 degrees was the correct temperature of Crater Lake. By that time we had been above it, around it, on it, and under it!

“On the way, leaving the park, we crawled through the ice caves of Llao’s Hallway, and got samples of rocks that float. Swam in the Rogue River at Natural Bridge.

“A deep impression will last of the splendid manner in which members of the Naturalist Staff aroused such understanding interest in the minds of the group at the Community House gatherings. Without scorn for our lack of knowledge concerning intricate scientific problems and without speaking in a condescending manner the lectures were delivered.

“Such is the way myself and family came to know and appreciate Crater Lake. We enjoyed our stay on the Rim; we must come back in the future to love it all again.”

Yours sincerely,
(Sgd.) a 1932 VISITOR