Crater Lake National Park

On our last visit to the Northwest in '07, we loved almost everything about our experience along the coast of Oregon. So we were looking forward to spending the month of July back in Oregon, this time exploring and sampling the central part of the Cascade Range, especially getting the chance to see Crater Lake NP on the south end and Mt Hood on the north. We went to Crater Lake Monday and it did not disappoint. As we drove back to our RV park (75 miles each way) we compared our experience here with those of the other 25 or more national parks we have enjoyed during our travels. There is something special about each of these parks or they wouldn't be designated a national treasure, and we've loved the opportunity to see all of them. But we decided that Crater Lake is in the top three among those parks (with Glacier and Yosemite.) We obviously have a bias toward the mountain west. The scenery is just soooo stunning and compelling.

The crater was formed about 7,700 years ago by a series of explosive eruptions over a number of years, eventually blowing off the top one mile of Mt Mazama, spreading six inches of ash over a 5000 square mile area in five states and two Canadian provinces. Subsequent smaller eruptions created features such as Wizard Island and the Phantom Ship. Over the millenia, the hole created by the further collapse (turns out this is technically "Caldera" Lake) filled with rain and snow melt - even today it receives about 44 feet of snow each year - creating the deepest lake in the U. S., nearly 2000 feet. There are no streams or rivers coming in or out of the lake making it what they call a "closed system."

We drove the entire 32-mile loop road, seeing the lake from every awesome "shoreline" viewpoint (the drive actually stays hundreds of feet above the water.) Even with half of July over, there were still many patchy areas with more than three or four feet of snow. The colors of the lake are as varied as the waters in the Keys - deep shades of blues in the deep to greens in the shallows, instead of the light blues and turquoise seen from the Overseas Highway - all breathtaking. We stopped for a real Texas picnic - KFC and watermelon - near the resort lodge, then continued through the Douglas firs and ponderosa pines and redwoods, past waterfalls and "pumice castles" and more views of the lake waters. If you are in this area from Memorial Day thru Labor Day, don't miss it.