Today we decided to make the trip to see Crater Lake National Park. We knew it would be pretty, but it is impossible to describe the beauty of this lake. The deep blue waters with the surrounding sheer cliffs is absolutely gorgeous.
We took a two hour trolley tour that drove around the park's 33 mile rim drive. On board was a park ranger who gave a wonderful narration throughout the tour even at our stopping points.
The lake rests inside a caldera formed approximately 7,700 years ago when a 12,000-foot-tall volcano (Mount Mazama) collapsed following a major eruption. The eruption may have been the largest in North America in the past 640,000 years.
Melting snow from the mountains flowed down filling the caldera. The depth of the lake is 1,943 feet. The blueness of the water is a result of the other colors in the spectrum are absorbed. Blue wavelengths are scattered and seen by the human eye.
William Gladstone Steel first visited the lake in 1885 and then spent the next 17 years campaigning to protect Crater Lake and making it a national park. He was successful with the park's creation in 1902.
The island in the middle is Wizard Island and it is actually a cinder cone from a later eruption.
It just seemed like no matter where we looked, it was pure beauty.
The trolley driver snapped this picture of us for our we were there moment.
This is Pumice Castle Overlook, a layer of orange pumice rock that has been eroded into the shape of a medieval castle.
Here is Phantom Ship. This is Crater Lake's "other island".
It looks tiny in the middle, but it is actually as tall as a 16 story building.
The last stop on our tour was Vidae Falls. A spring fed creek falls over a glacier carved cliff and drops 100 feet. Since it is so late in the year, the flow is pretty weak.
After our tour we stopped by the Crater Lake Lodge which was built by William Gladstone Steel in 1915.
It was a perfect day to see such a wonderful place!
The Crater Lake Lodge was originally built in 1915, but a few years ago it was dismantled, every rock numbered and rebuilt. At one point they discussed demolishing the lodge because it did not meet current safety guidelines.
ReplyDeleteFinally it was decided to take it apart and rebuild it to modern standards. The new lodge is pretty faithful to the old one. I especially love the big deck on the lake site where you can sit in rocking chairs overlooking the lake.