Crater Lake

Wednesday

 

After leaving Sunriver, we headed south to the Crater Lake National Park. We entered from the north and took the East Rim Drive around the lake to our campsite in Fort Klamath.  We stopped at Vidae Falls just before the park headquarters.

This is the park headquarters.  We watched a film about the formation of the lake and the history of the park at the nearby visitors center.  We also gathered information about the “Junior Ranger” program for Jason.

This is the “Lodge” at the rim of the lake.  There was a very nice veranda for relaxing and sipping beverages on the back, facing the lake.

Our view of the lake from near the lodge.  The lake is a unbelievable blue!

We were tired from a long day of doing nothing!  We had to take a minute to admire the surroundings.

On the way to Fort Klamath we passed this formation of “fossilized steam”.  A glowing avalanche of gas-rich pumice flowed down the sides of Mt. Mazama during the cataclysmic eruption, completely burying the valleys below.  As steam discharged to the surface of the flow through vents, tremendous heat and minerals from the escaping steam welded the sides of the vents.  Thousands of years of erosion has washed away the softer pumice exposing these vents.

Thursday

My sister and I left camp at about 4:45 a.m. to capture the sunrise over Crater Lake.  We caught this shot just after sunrise.

Looking back, I saw Union Peak at the horizon.  The mountain was not visible for the remainder of the day.

Back to the lake, the sun was just starting to hit the eastern shore/cliff line.

Jason worked with Cathy the previous night on his “homework” to earn the Junior Ranger badge and he joined a group this morning to earn his Junior Ranger Patch.  He is on the wall working on his project and we captured the graduation with his Ranger instructor.

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Next on the agenda was to climb something.  Barbara and I saw this structure on top of The Watchman at over 8,000 feet.  Look hard, you may be able to make it out.

Leaving the truck at the trailhead, we began the trek up the mountain.  This is a view of the lake from one of our rest stops.

We hit a little snow on the way up.  This is just one of the drifts, which, because of the slope was cut through for safety.  There were others that we had to cross and slip ‘n  slide.

Jason and I taking a break at a switch back on the way up.  That is Red Cone behind us at 7,400 feet.

Hilman Peak, just across the traverse from us at 8,150 feet.

This is the view from the top.  Wizard Island is in the foreground.

This is Liao Rock, the highest point above the lake surface on the rim at 8,045 feet, 25 feet higher than us!

Looking across the lake at Garfield Peak, just above the Lodge.

Jason stopped to pose at the top.  The structure behind him was a fire watch facility that has been closed for several years.  We could see a forest fire in the distance to the left of this picture.

On our descent we saw a neat rock outcrop.

After a quick snack, we decided to take an easy trail to the Castle Crest Wildflower Garden.  The trail was relatively flat and studded with springs.

Jason enjoyed the water bubbling out of the ground just behind this rock and again a short time later under these larger rocks.  It was obvious that Jason was going to get wet.

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Waiting, waiting, waiting . . .

There it is!  Jason had to stumble into the water!

Once we got him semi-dried off and back to the truck, we continued on to Sun Notch to take an uphill hike to get a view of the “Phantom Ship” rock structure.  It was also visible from Kerr Notch but we were getting notched out at this point.

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Returning to camp Jason and I took a walk on a trail around the grounds, finding this crystal clear creek.

Returning to get Cathy, Jason was excited to show here the floating bridge.  It was pretty shaky but stout.  The water was about 4 to 5 feet deep at this point.

It was getting dark when we returned from the stroll and Jason wanted to get some rowing in.  This is one way to stay dry and safe while piloting the canoe!