Last week my wife and I finally visited Crater Lake National
Park in southern Oregon. That six mile long by 4- 1/2 mile wide lake is the
deepest in the U.S. at 0.37 mile (1,949 feet) and it is amazingly clear and
blue.
On Wednesday, September 4th we took the two-hour 33-mile
Rim Drive Trolley Tour narrated by a park ranger. The trolley stopped six times
for us to look and take pictures, four of which are shown above.
Looking east there is Wizard Island. Looking south there is
a smaller island, the Phantom Ship (circled in yellow). Another view through
trees shows the Phantom Ship more clearly, and closeup. Although it looks small
it really is 500 feet long and 170 feet high.
Crater Lake was formed by collapse of the ~12,000 foot high
Mount Mazama after a gigantic volcanic eruption 7,700 years ago. That eruption
spewed 50 cubic kilometers of molten rock – about 100 times that for the 1980 eruption
of Mount St. Helens.
Crater Lake was on my ‘bucket list’ of places to see. We saw
it during the less crowded time after Labor Day. Still we had to stay at a
motel in Klamath Falls, since the park lodge was fully booked.
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