You were in my backyard! We love Bear Camp RD (your scary rd). It is true that people have died on that road in the winter time. The most famous is a family with the last name of "Kim" from the bay area. The husband hiked in circles while his family was found in their car safe. He was found less than 1/4 mile from the car and died from exposure. Crater Lake is beautiful, hopefully you had time for the rim drive. Hopefully you also got a chance to see the Rogue River gorge.
Your a lucky man to live there. My wife said her favorite part of the trip was the Or Pacific coast. Whats the deal with pepole putting cole slaw ontop of the fish there?
We did see the RR gorge.