Crater Lake Oregon

2nd October - Crater Lake, Oregon

The Visitor's Centre before Crater Lake - it was worthwhile stopping here. We enjoyed a short clip about the origins of Crater Lake which made us appreciate this wonder even more.

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Crater Lake National Park is the only National Park in Oregon...entrance fee per vehicle is $15.

How Crater Lake was formed is quite amazing. Crater Lake started life as Mount Mazama, a volcano which took 12,000 years to evolve. The ground below Mt Mazama was a hot pot of magma, gases which increased in volume greater than what Mt. Mazama could handle. The resulting eruption was catastrophic - it blew the summit of the mountain away only to collapse within itself, thereby creating a caldera....simply put, its just like a cake that's been put into an overheated oven. Those of you who bake will know what I'm talking about.

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The amazing blue water in Crater Lake is pure melted snow - over 7,700 years the caldera lake was slowly filled by the huge amounts of snow that falls in this area..44 feet of snow each year. Elevation - 6,178feet above sea level it is approx. half the surface elevation of Lake Titicaca in Peru.

This cute little Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel is obviously used to tourists...I made a few clicking sounds and it came running.

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There are several points interest along the 33 mile Rim Drive...the rim of Crater Lake is very prominent and a constant reminder of how it was once a volcano.

When you are driving along the Rim Drive, you are in fact driving on the side of a volcano. Like a petulant schoolboy scuffing stones with his shoes, the volcano is constantly sending showers of rocks on to the road below.

Simply stunning!

One of the highlights of Crater Lake is Wizard Island - a cinder cone that erupted out of the lake about 7,300 years ago.

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5 trillion gallons or 19 trillion litres of pristine water...mind boggling!

Red Lichen growing on the rocks.

Pumice Castle Overlook...orange pumice rock has eroded into the walls of the caldera.

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Well this was a first for us - the drive to Crater Lake takes you through pine forests and we saw piles of dead undergrowth that had been neatly raked. I guess its a form of fire control but there sure is a lot of forest to rake.