Crater Lake

     We took a long weekend and played tourist. We drove out to Crater Lake National Park. It was amazing to see. When we arrived it was overcast and a little chilly. The lake was dull blue and not very impressive. We wandered around then headed to our hotel for the night. Next day dawned clear and beautiful. What a difference in the lake color!! The water is a vivid blue with shades of green around the shoreline. If you have never been there, here's a little background. The lake rests inside a caldera formed about 7,700 years ago when a 12,000 foot volcano collapsed during a major eruption. Later eruptions formed Wizard Island (which is the smaller landmass on the right in the photo above). It is the deepest lake in the United States and is fed by rain and snow but no rivers or streams. The lake level remains steady because the loss by evaporation and seepage is offset by tons of snow over the winter and rains. The lake is considered to be the cleanest large body of water in the world and is noted for its clarity and brilliant blue color.

     The road around the crater forms a ring and you can normally drive all around it stopping in various turnouts and photo spots. But this time there was a part of the road closed due to rockslides. In order to remove the threat of further blockages, a construction crew dangled off of the cliffs along the road and using pry bars, broke off chucks of loose rock and boulders. We had to wait some while as they did their work before we were allowed to go on through. In the meantime, we watched them and saw some pretty impressive man-made rockslides.

     After our delay, we headed towards what are called The Pinnacles. The Pinnacles are called fossil fumaroles. They are left from where volcanic gases rose up through a layer of volcanic ash. These gases were so hot that they fused to rock around them into a kind of "concrete" composed of ash and rock. As the softer ground surrounding them eroded away, these formations are exposed. It is really a fascinating geological formation.

A closer view of some of the Pinnacles

     On the way back, we took a short 1 mile hike to Plaikni Falls. The trail was fabulous. It was wide and level and it wandered through old growth forests. Once at the falls, it was surrounded by late season wildflowers and ferns. Very peaceful and relaxing.

     One of Crater Lake's "other islands" is small and sometimes overlooked. It is called the Phantom Ship since, from a distance, it looks like a tall masted ship that is sitting on the lake near the shore. While it looks small from the vantage point overlook, it is actually as tall as a 16 story building! It is 400,000 years old and is the oldest exposed rock within the caldera.

     From Crater Lake, we headed towards Bend, OR. Here we stopped at Newberry National Volcanic Monument. We were a little tight on the schedule, so we didn't stay long nor did we see nearly all of the park. We mostly toured the Lava Lands Visitor Center and Lava Butte. Who knew there was such volcanic activity in this part of the country?

Oregon Garden

     Today we took a day trip inland to the valley and visited the Oregon Garden (link to their homepage). The complex is near the town of Silverton which is near Salem. This is an 80 acre botanical garden that boasts several unique themed gardens that visitors can stroll through. Just a few of the gardens are the Pet Friendly garden where you can see plants showcased that are friendly to pets and shows which ones can be toxic. The Children's Garden has a pit where you can dig for dinosaur bones, a Hobbit house and a miniature train garden along with displays of several weird plants. The Conifer Garden sports the largest collection of miniature conifers in the country. There is a Medicinal Garden where all of the featured plants are used in some form in medicine.

     Everywhere we travel, we see things that the States do really unique and some things they do really weird. This place falls into the really unique and smart category. In 1995, the site formed an agreement with the City of Silverton and developed a Wetlands garden designed to recycle the city's treated wastewater! They found that re-introducing the cleaned wastewater directly into the Silverton river system raised the water temperature such that it impacted the environment. Now the water is fed to the gardens and collected into a series of wetland pools. It is also used for irrigation of the plants and vegetation. As the water flows naturally through the gardens, it is cooled and joins the local river system such that the environment is not impacted. Neat idea and we humans get to enjoy the beauty and serenity of the gardens.

     Above are just a few of the sights that met you around every corner.

     There were many sculpted evergreens in the Children's Garden. Here you are met at the entrance by a teddy bear.

     Something interesting about a tree in the shape of a flower!

     Here is the Hobbit hole for all of you Lord of the Rings fans.

      Colors were everywhere. The last picture shows a patch of ornamental peppers. They were orange and purple but they had several others too. They used it as colorful ground cover. Neat idea!

     The Signature Oak tree is a throwback to a time of Oregon as it used to be. It is estimated to be over 400 years old and stands almost 100 feet tall. One of the gardens consists of acres of Oak trees and is quite relaxing to stroll through.