Visiting Crater Lake

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.