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?