Crater Lake National Park

One of the rewards of living life on the road is finding ourselves in proximity to this country’s glorious National Parks. Sometimes they just happen to be “on the way” to somewhere we are headed; other times we only have to tweak our route just slightly to build in a visit. Such was the case with Crater Lake National Park. While it wasn’t on the most direct route to our eventual stopping place in Maine (come July), it was close enough to where we were staying in Redcrest, California that it was a short one day drive in more or less the right direction. We had planned a two night stay in Prospect Oregon, forty miles southwest of Crater Lake, then decided to extend it by one more day in order to take in more of the surrounding area.

Crater Lake was formed by a massive volcanic eruption 7700 years ago which left a deep basin in the place where a mountain peak once stood. Centuries of rain and snow filled the basin, forming a deep blue lake whose waters are of unmatched color and clarity. It is the deepest lake in the United States, measuring 1943 feet at the deepest point, and holds 4.9 trillion gallons of water. The great depths of this lake, and the fact that there are no streams or rivers feeding it, combine to create the deep beautiful blue color Crater Lake is so famous for.

As luck would have it, our visit coincided with a not so unusual mid-June snowstorm. It is typical for June weather here to alternate between sunny warm days, rain, and snow. (The week before and the week after we were there, were warm and sunny). Timing is everything…still, we were able to visit the park briefly before it started snowing and the lake became obscured by clouds. We will try to schedule a return visit later in the summer next time!