Last week, Leela and I visited Crater Lake, Oregon's only National Park. The place is magnificent, truly one of the foremost natural wonders of the North America. It was formed some 7,700 years ago when Mt. Mazama, then the tallest peak in what would later become Oregon, exploded and then collapsed in on itself, leaving a near perfect bowl some six miles across. Over the years the bowl filled with rain water and snow melt to form the clearest, purest lake in the world. I won't go on about this, nor will I foist a lot of pretty pictures on you -- only a few showing us in the foregrounds to verify that we were there. If you want more info or pictures of the lake, just google or wiki them.
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| This undoctored, raw photo may look fake for a couple of reasons: 1) the water is too blue and 2) Leela is too beautiful. Well, the water really is that blue, because it's so clear. And Leela really looks that good (of course a little foreground flash helped keep the shadow off her face). Still, it looks as though she's posing in front of a studio backdrop, doesn't it? (Click photo to enlarge.) |
A 33 mile road circles the crater rim. We drove it twice, stopping at several places to hike and view the many interesting features associated with the area's volcanic history.
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| Everyone looks good at Crater Lake. (Click photo to enlarge.) |
There's only one access point to the lake surface, and it is reached via a very steep 1.1 mile hiking trail. There the Park Service operates the
only boats on the lake, and I highly recommend the tour. The boats were
brought in by helicopter. Near the boat dock, you can also take a dip in
the 52 degree water, and on this fair day we saw several people doing
just that. Here, after nearly five years living in the state, I baptized
myself as a true Oregonian.
We spent three nights in the area -- two in a sorry roadhouse in Chemult, a wide place in the road about 40 miles away. For the last night we splurged. Because of a cancellation, we were able to get a room at Crater Lake Lodge, a giant CCC-era structure of stone and rustic logs right on the crater rim.
We slept well in the near total darkness, but we arose for about an hour at 2:00 AM to go outside and view the stars. Unfortunately, a light haze had settled in and rendered the viewing rather unspectacular. At daybreak, we realized the haze was smoke from nearby forest fires, evidently a common occurrence at the park. We were leaving that day and felt lucky to have had the two full days of perfect weather.
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| Crater Lake enveloped in smoke haze. |
As we departed the park's south entrance on that Saturday morning, we passed a line of vehicles about a mile long waiting to get into the park. We felt sorry for those people whose weekend visit to the park would include the smoky haze.
