Crater Lake

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We were up early at the Rouge River Inn and had breakfast at the hotel with lots of Amish people from Ohio. Once out the door, we headed toward Crater Lake. It was a lovely ride through some more redwoods and alot of National Park land. As we entered the Crater Lake area and stopped at the guard station to pay, up ahead, a deer walked across the road with two little ons trailing behind her. We didn't see any other large wildlife in the park.

We climbed for a long time toward Crater Lake. It is right up in the mountain range. They said before it collapsed, it was a mile higher. Hard to imagine. The road was farily good, but on the mountain side, it frequently dropped away without guardrails for several thousand feet.

Once at the top, we could see the lake. The colors defy description. Several shades of blue and green with the sides of the crater reflecting in the water. It's the deepest lake in America and the sixth deepest in the world. Almost 6 miles across at its widest point, the water is clear to 114 feet. It's 6,200 feet above sea level and we had views of Mt. Shasta in the distance. There was still banks of snow two or three feet deep! At the turnouts, kids an dogs couldn't resist walking on the snow. We road the rim loop around the volcano.

After we left the park, we headed toward Klamath Falls where we were picking the Coast Starlight at 10pm. We were there kinda early, so we had lunch downtown and saw a movie. Klamath Falls is kinda the Lewiston/Auburn of Oregon I think. It's larger than I thought it would be, with an older downtown and a very spread out rest of the area. We drove around in it enough finding the airport and then the train station that I can probably give directions now, which I'm sure will come in useful someday.

The train was on time and we were greeted by the attendent with personal bottles of champange. The room was already made up for bed, so we tucked in for the night.

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Photos

Crater Lake
It was hard to take a bad picture of the lake. Stunning with the colors and reflectioms. That white stuff is still snow around the edges.

Secondary volcano
This island is a afterthought volcano in the big one.

Mountain view
Away from the crater, we were treated to 360 scenic vistas. Mt Shasta is in this photo, but I couldn't tell you whick peak it is. I was fascinated by the high open areas. Seemed like something should be in there, wild herds or pastured animals, but it was 5,000 feet up, so maybe they had more sense.

Phantom Ship
They call the formation of rocks between the trees here the "Phantom Ship" It's around the back side of the crater from where we came in.

By the lake
We asked a cute girl walking by to take our photo. One in a string of very nice people we've met.

Watch Tower
A fire tower on top of the highest part of the crater. Last year they had a "natural fire" in the National Forest there that they let burn out. The brochures said people still visited the area, but could also see the fire burning rather spectularly. Some folks said it was "smokey" while we were there, but it didn't smell of smoke and seemed more like the haze we get on a hot and humid day at home.

Cows
I like cows. We've seen hundreds in all colors along the way. Even a few Holstiens like my grandfather used to raise. As we took a different road out of Crater Lake and toward Klamath falls, there were thousands of cows.

Comments

[Charlie]

Wendy's Great Adventure
Wendy, Love seeing and reading about your trip. Quite spectacular! I will expect you to put a geography lesson together for students when you return. Enjoy!

[wendymarie37]

Geography
Charlie, crater lake was quite something! I learned how empty this country really is!