Crater Lake Special Events Log

The Smith Brothers' Chronological History of Crater Lake National Park

1977

Winter 1977
John Day (in his 60's) of Medford and the Italian Olympic ski team ski around the Rim in 6.5 hours. The Italian team claims that the snow conditions were so perfect, that if they hadn't had "Old John" with them, they they could have done the 36 miles in 2.75 hours. A snowmobile broke trail and set track ahead of the team.

Winter 1977
Free Ranger-led snowshoes hikes begun at Rim Village.

January 1977
Park Master Plan accepted for Crater Lake National Park. The plans call for keeping the Park as is, except for some small improvements. Mazama Campground will be extended by 50 tent sites and a camper store will be built. The Rim Center, Visitor Center and the Lodge sleeping cabins will be removed. The plans also call for a rerouting of the Rim Village cross traffic away from the edge of the Caldra and a restoration of the area with native plants. When funds become available, an allweather Visitors Center will become the focal point of interest and not the souvenir shop.

January 16, 1977
Jackson County Sheriff Deputies arrest three subjects on Highway 62 who had stolen a purse from a car at Rim Village. The whole incident turns out to be a misunderstanding.

April 1977
Mr. George Woodfield, of Yakima, Washington, donates John Maben's collection of negatives, manuscripts, diaries and photographs of Crater Lake Lodge in 1924. Maben had attracted considerable attention when his monthly dispatches about his solitary life at Crater Lake were published in national magazines. Maben's collection was presented to the OHS in memory of Alta Knips Woodfield, Maben's niece, who had done a great deal of research on the history of Crater Lake.

May 1977
Least yearly snowfall on record - 251.21 inches. (21 feet), but one of the wettest months on record.

May 1977
Excessive rain and low snow pack causess extensive damage to the North Road. In order to minimize shoulder damage, the road crews removes the boards covering the entrance to North Junction Cave and allows 2 feet per second of water to drain into the cave for two weeks. The cave never did fill.

June 4, 1977
The North Road is finally closed because of hazardous washout conditions in the Red Cone area caused by heavy snoow run-off promoted by warm temperatures and the frozen ground.

June 10, 1977
Senator Mark Hatfield visits Crater Lake and is hosted by the Concessionaire for breakfast.

July 1977
John Wesley Hillman's grand niece, Pearl Verschoor of Medford, visits the Park.

Barry Vogel, boat driver, ascends the Cleetwood Trail in 10 minutes, 20 seconds and sets his sights on Olympic competition.

Two visitor vehicles burn to the ground.

Dutton Creek Trail is reopened to the public after many years of disuse. The trail was the original, 1860's, 70's and 80's wagon trail to the Rim.

construction begun on the widening of the first three miles of the West Rim Drive, beginning at Rim Village.

July 4, 1977
Steven Hummerville, 14, of Wilmington, Delaware, falls to his death while attempting to climb down to the Lake from behind the lodge. His brother Mike, 15, is rescued after failing to reach his brother. The father, an engineer for Dupont, had planned to take the boys on a boat trip, following a short noon-time nap in the Lodge. Steven's mothere had died the previous summer.

July 23, 1977
Four car clouters arrested by Rangers Lloyd Smith and Bruce Wadlington near Diamond Lake after stealing over $2,000 from two vehicles parked at Cleetwood Cove. The four were brought back to the Park and eventually lodged in the Jackson County Jail.

July 30, 1977
Two C.B. radios, worth $448, are stolen from a camper at Mazama Campground thorough an elaborate confidence game.

August 1977
Falling rocks on Cleetwood Cove Trail injures two women hikers.

August 11, 1977
Dr. Kenneth Cooper, the nationally famous aerobics expert and writer, visits the Park and walks the Lake Trail. Dr. Cooper feels that people from all over the country would come to Crater Lake if they knew about the run.

August 12, 1977
Second annual Crater Lake marathon draws 206 runers for the three distance events. The winning time for the 26 mile run is 2 hours and 52 minutes and 18 seconds. A 63 year-old runner from Sacramanto, California completes the marathon.

Rim Run Winners:

Men:

6.5 Dave Ellison Klamath Falls, Oregon 34.36
13.0 Dean Erhard Corvallis, Oregon 1:20.27
26.2 Jeff Barrie Portland, Oregon 2.53.18

Women:

6.5 Carol Kohisheim Crater Lake, Oregon 59.25
13.0 Vicky Paddock Klamath Falls, Oregon 1.51.14
26.2 Susan Thomas Murdo, South Dakota 3:36.42

August 14, 1977
Stolen van located at Rim Village.

August 17, 1977
The Oregon State Health Department, with the assistance of the Fish and Game Commission, place Cosmic radiation detection devices (thermoluminecinet dosimeters) on a nylon rope at 30 meter increments anchored near the Lake's deepest point. A buoy, to aid in relocating the instruments, is placed 30 feet below the surface to allow for stretching and not to be a hazard to the Crater Lake launches. The Commission plans to leave the instruments in palce for 5 years.

August 31, 1977
An unseasonably low snow pack allows the Scoria Cone snow plug to melt out sufficiently to allow entry into he cone's volcanic vent fir the first time. Ranger Pat Allender rappels approximately 150 feet into the Scoria Cone Cave without finding bottom.

Summer 1978
Annie Spring reported to issue an average of 1,250,000 gallons per day. (410,000 per day during the low years.)

P.B.S. TV and filming crews spend time in the Park making a documentary film of the role of natural forest fires.

Car clouting in Mazama Campground. Six cars are entered with cash and jewelry taken.

The axle of the old Lincoln that had fallen down behind the Lodge years before is finally covered over from view from erosion and pummice dust. (from Paul Herron)

September 1977
Several explorations of Scoria Cone follows Pat Allender's initial exploration. Allender, Vic Affolter, and Phil Grant descends over 150 feet into the vent of the cone and discover the "Ranger Room" cave, measuring 50 feet across with a vertical relief of 40 feet. A 10 inch piece of wood with an apparent sawn end is retrieved and identified as Douglas Fir. The wood is badly degraded. This type of breakdown is caused by hot water and steam, so there is the exciting possibility that the wood from the lowest chamber of the vent. The wood sample was given to Joy Mastrogiuseppe of Eastern Washington College in Pullman, Washington, in hopes of getting the wood carbon dated. Eventually dated at :3900 years.

September 2, 1977
Rangers Dan Sholly and Pat Alleder rappel into Scoria Cone. The two men spend 8 hours investigating several long sloping vents. Many rooms are discovered with some measuring 50 feet long, by 20 feet wide and 20 feet high.

September 20, 1977
Mining is no longer allowed within any National Park areas except for those claims already approved.

October 1977
Contract awarded for installing a new PBX phone system.

October 14, 1977
The old North Entrance employee cabin is burned as a fire training exercise. It used to house 4 seasonal rangers.

October 1977
A sick ground squirrel found the North East corner of the park is found to have Sylvan plague.

Season 1977 Visitation: 617,479, a new Park record. Still holding as of 1996

(Next stop 1978)

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