DAY 57 - 60 ~ CRATER LAKE NP (July 13 – July 16)

We are staying at Diamond Lake; about 20 miles north of Crater Lake National Park.  We will be spending four nights here, mostly relaxing.  It’s been a long and busy trip so we need some down time before we arrive home.

Crater Lake was once a mountain peak.  7,700 years ago a massive volcanic eruption blew it’s top off and left a deep basin.  Centuries of rain and snow filled the basin.  Crater Lake was not seen by white men until 1853 when gold prospectors stumbled upon it.  It was given several names, but was given its current name in 1869.  Crater Lake National Park was established in 1902.  The Lake is the deepest lake in the USA (1,943 feet).  And it is Oregon’s one and only national park.

We visited Crater Lake 3 different days viewing the crater at different times of the day and in different lights, taking many pictures.  On our last day the area smelled of smoke and there was a smoky haze over everything.  The smoke was blowing in from a fire in the Klamath Falls area.  This was not a good day to view the crater and lake.  You could see the blue lake but the rim of the crater was fuzzy with smog.  We were last here at this national park in 2009.  There were also fires in the area at that time too.  But this trip we had a few days to view it on sunny and clear days. 

Wizard Island – also a volcano

This high cliff gave researchers a good idea of the shape of the mountain peak.

Even Aliens visit Crater Lake

Clark's Nutcrackers and Blue Jay eating a marshmallow ball

Pumice Castle

 Phantom Ship

The lake is a deep blue color, but did you know that other colors of the spectrum are absorbed by the lake?  Blue wavelengths are scattered and the only color human eyes can see in the lake.

Next stop; California!