Let's Just Go Somewhere: Crater Lake

One of the new challenges we have had to start considering in our travels is snow. Since we wanted to see Crater Lake before we began heading further south and the weather forecast was calling for snow at Crater Lake starting Tuesday, we decided to leave Klamath, California, on Sunday.

We disconnected and hooked up the car and headed back north on Hwy 101 to Hwy 199 which goes through Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. Most of Hwy 199 is a curvy and sometimes narrow road but we enjoyed seeing those giant Coastal Redwoods one more time.

Hwy 199 then followed along the river and up some hills in the Smith River National Recreation Area and Klamath National Forest.

The rock lining the banks of the river had this unusual blue-grey tint.

We drove to Holiday RV Park in Phoenix, Oregon. The park was right off the interstate and the sites were pull-thru and relatively easy to get into.

On Monday, we packed a picnic lunch and headed for a day trip in the Honda to Crater Lake. Chuck spotted these two bucks on the side of the road.

As we entered the Rogue River National Forest, the road gradually and continually increased in elevation...

...and then we began noticing the snow pole markers along the sides of the road like we had seen along the Beartooth Highway outside of Yellowstone.

Once again, our America the Beautiful Pass gave us free entrance into the park. :) We stopped at the Steel Visitor Center inside Crater Lake National Park where we watched at 20 minute video about how Crater Lake came to be.

About 7,700 years ago, Mt. Mazama, a 12,000 ft high volcanic mountain that was sitting on a huge magma chamber, erupted. Because the mountain could no longer support its own weight, the mountain collapsed forming a deep caldera with a rim that is now only a little over 8,000 feet tall. Over the centuries, rain and snowfall have filled the basin with nearly 5 trillion gallons of water creating Crater Lake. Because no rivers or streams feed into or out of the lake, Crater Lake is one of the purest lakes in the world. This purity and clarity is what gives Crater Lake its magnificent blue color. Crater Lake is 6 miles wide at its widest point and 1,943 feet deep making it the deepest lake in the United States and the 9th deepest lake in the world.

With all this newfound knowledge about Crater Lake, we were ready to go see it. So we headed up the West Rim drive and right into fog. :(

We stopped at the first overlook and could barely see Wizard Island in Crater Lake below.

We headed further north on the West Rim Drive and into more fog. :(

At Watchman Overlook, we had our picnic lunch in the car since it was 38 degrees outside.

And since the wind was blowing at about 30 mph and it was still foggy, we decided not to walk the 1/2 mile trail out to the overlook.

The weather didn't look like it was going to improve with all the wind and the cold and the fog so we decided to turn around and head back home rather than drive the 33 miles around the Rim Drive. We pulled over to try to get one more look at Crater Lake and Wizard Island...

...and noticed the sun was starting to come out on the Wizard Island and on the other side of the lake.

What are we doing? We can't give up now! We drove all this way to see Crater Lake AND WE'RE GOING TO SEE CRATER LAKE! So we turned around and headed back north along the Rim Drive.

It was still a little foggy in places,

but along the edge of the caldera, we could see the layers of magma-hardened rock that had formed 7,700 years ago when Mt. Mazama erupted.

Also around the rim, we could see pumice fields. Here the pumice and ash is as much as 200 feet deep and with very little growing out of it.

We continued our clockwise drive around the rim. Once we got to the north edge of the rim, the clouds began to disappear. With Steel Bay below, we could see Pumice Point in front of us...

...and Llao Rock behind us.

At 8,046 feet, Llao Rock is one of the highest points on the rim of the lake.

We continued our drive around the rim pulling over at the various lookouts...

Notice the how the rock appears to sweep up on these rim walls.

Another view looking back at Llao Rock with its top still in the clouds.

When the sun would come out, we could begin to see the beautiful blueness of the lake.

There were some awesome views from the top looking out to the east away from Crater Lake too.

We passed by Mount Scott, the highest point in the park at 8,929 ft. Mount Scott had his head in the clouds. :)

To the south, we could see Upper Klamath Lake.

The next formations we came to on the rim were Pumice Castle which formed when pumice and other lavas welded together at high temperatures...

...and Phantom Ship.

Phantom Ship was originally a vent that was a part of the huge underground magma chamber that caused Mount Mazama to grow and then eventually collapse in the eruption 7,700 years ago. These resistant rocky spires remained after the collapse displaying the oldest rock in Crater Lake at over 400,000 years old.

At this point, we were just a few miles from where we started on Rim Drive. We drove away from Rim Drive down a 7 mile road to the Pinnacles.

These Pinnacles were formerly fumaroles (like what we had seen in Yellowstone). Tremendous heat and minerals in the escaping steam of the fumaroles welded the sides of the vents. Over the years, erosion carved away the softer ash and pumice exposing the hardened and really weird-looking formations.