Crater Lake

Friday the 28th was my 63rd birthday. The weather forecast was favorable so we drove down to Crater Lake in southern Oregon for a couple of nights. It was a little cold & wet when we arrived but as you can see from the accompanying photos it came up sunny and warm on both Saturday & Sunday.

We meandered around the lake most of the morning, stopping to take in the views and take pictures, and also went on a couple of relatively short hikes along the rim of the crater. The first one started at the Crater Lake Lodge at around the 7,000 ft. level and climbed for about 2 miles to the top of a scenic lookout at 8,000 ft. Even though we're in pretty decent shape we were really feeling the effects of the altitude as we made our way up the track. The reward at the top was a glorious panoramic view of the lake and the surrounding countryside. The visibility must have been 50 miles at least.

Crater Lake is one of the deepest lakes on earth - getting to depth of 1950 ft. in the middle. The water is also quite pure, and the refraction of sunlight on the water makes for the deepest blue imaginable on a clear day - really spectacular.

Had dinner at the Lodge on Saturday night - a great meal in a spectacular setting - before driving home to Vancouver on Sunday morning.

Anyway here are a few photos.



Wizard Island from the rim trail.


Old and Gnarly (see if you can tell which is which)


A photo stop along the trail to the summit


One of the features is a formation called the Phantom Ship


Crater Lake was formed when a volcano exploded about 80,000 years ago - apparently the blast was many times greater than Mt. St. Helen's when it blew about 30 years ago. After the mountain exploded the caldera collapsed in on itself forming a giant hole in the ground that gradually filled with water over the ensuing thousands of years. The water in the lake comes from a few springs, rainwater, and snow-melt from the 44 feet of snow they get here every winter. The park roads don't open until June every year, and the park pretty much closes down for the winter by October 12. After that it sees some hardcore cross-country skiers, snow shoe enthusiasts and snowmobilers, but that's about it for 8 months of the year.

The place was discovered by gold seekers in 1853. Before that it was a closely guarded secret among the local Indians to whom it was a sacred area.

Here's a panoramic shot that Rita took from the top of the lookout. See if you can guess how many cups of coffee she had at breakfast.