Driving in the west is different from driving in the east. Straight roads are everywhere in the west. You would think that would make it easier to drive. It does not. Straight roads can be hypnotizing. You really need to maintain your focus. We did not have any particular problems driving. It is just different than you might expect.
We made it to Crater Lake on a gorgeous day. The sky was blue, the clouds were fluffy and white. It really was a perfect day.
Even after you enter the park, it is still a long drive to Crater Lake. It is not hard to see where you are headed. it is just further away than it appears because the mountain is so big.
Our first view of Crater Lake at Miriam Point was unbelievable. In the morning, the lake is like a mirror. The reflections are so perfect, it can be disorienting. It is truly spectacular. Our plan for the day was to drive 33 miles around the lake, take a couple of hikes, and stop at all the overlooks.
Simple enough, but way more time consuming than we thought.
We quickly discovered that every view of the lake is different. While that is true, every view is the same because they are all unbelievably perfect.
There are many different shapes and shades to the volcano that surrounds the lake. The lake is unique because if is filled entirely by the precipitation in the area. No rivers, creeks, or springs feed this lake. Even so, it is over 1900 feet deep. It is the deepest lake in the US. They get a lot of snow and rain in this area.
Our first hike was ambitious. The trail is Clearwood Cove. The hike is about one mile down 600 feet to reach the shore of the lake. It would seem that a downhill hike is easy, until you think about the hike back up. Here is a view from near the top of the hike.
As you can see, descending 600 feet in one mile requires a fairly steep descent.
At about one half a mile down the trail, we began to reevaluate. We were already sore from our steep descent, and we have three weeks of hiking ahead of us. The view out is still breathtaking.
The look down is even more inspiring. From 300 feet above the water, you can easily see into the depths of the lake. The camera could not capture the full spectrum of shades of blue in the water, but it is obvious how clear the water is. The rocks below the waterline appear blue and the ones above are white. However the clarity of the rock outlines barely changes.
We stopped our descent after taking that picture, we did not get to the shore, but we saw water so clear that you could hardly believe it possible, even after seeing it.
Here is an attempt to show the size of the lake from Cloudcap Overlook. At its widest point it is six miles across. It is estimated that there are 5 trillion gallons of water in the lake. That is about 1500 gallons for every person in the United States. It is a big lake.
In some places you can see the volcanic origins of the crater. This is Pumice Castle. It is a formation of hard stone that has survived since the time of the eruption that created the lake.
There are other formations like the pinnacles shown here. This was a side hike we took. Some of the lava from the explosion of the volcano filled the valley you see here. As the water washed away some of the lighter materials, these hard pinnacles have remained as unique sculptures.
The third hike we did was the Sun Notch Trail to see the “Phantom Ship.” It is a formation of stone from the volcano that looks like a ship when seen above the water level. The Sun Notch Trail is also a favorite for early morning sunrise or early evening sunset hike.
While no springs feed the lake, snow melt creates waterfalls like this one. (Vidae Falls)
This is a view of the lake in the late afternoon from the Garfield Peak trail. Notice that the reflections are gone as the wind has made waves on the water. The dark spots are shadows of clouds, trees and higher peaks around the lake.
Crater Lake also has its own Wizard Island. There are daily boat tours to the island. I want to know how they got the boats in the lake. There is no road to the shoreline.
We were not sure until we got all the way around the lake. The white spot we had been seeing all day is snow. It takes a while, apparently months, for 44 feet of snow to completely melt.
Crater Lake sits in a very large volcanic cone. It is surrounded by other mountains, and volcanoes. Our earth is not as stable as it might appear to be, either socially, or physically.
There was a short, windy drive down the side of the volcano, and then back to the straight roads as we headed south toward Lassen Volcanic National Park.
On our trip south, we passed Upper Klamath Lake. There is something very relaxing about a lake high in the mountains.
In addition to enjoying the large scale view of Crater Lake, we also enjoyed a look at the flora of the area. Here are some of the colorful plants we saw today.
We had a great day at Crater Lake. Our drive to Klamath Falls Oregon brought us closer to Lassen Volcanic National Park.