A Deep Blue and a Dark Night

 Crater Lake National Park is an amazing place to experience. I've been lucky enough to be there twice-once in snow season, once in no-snow season. That's about all they have there, too. Most September's the park gets snow. Most September's when the park gets snow the snow from the previous winter can still be found in shady areas of the park. They average 44 feet of snow each winter. The road for the North entrance is often opening the end of June/early July. It is often closing in September. But it's worth the trip, whenever the roads are open to get there.

My friend, Tera who is from Oregon, had never been there. Sort of like me....from Wyoming and having never been to Yellowstone. Oy. Must change that. Anywho, Tera had wanted to roadtrip down to Crater Lake sometime this summer. Things kept coming up, life was filled to the brink with births, baptisms, vacations and other life things. We finally were able to settle on a date to go to Crater Lake: September 7th. Early enough that hopefully we'd be lucky enough to not have snow...or just a dusting to make things look pretty. (Pardon the number of pictures-I couldn't contain myself.)

I headed out EARLY from PDX to pick up Tera in Corvallis for the road trip down to Crater Lake. It was a foggy morning...

 After arriving in Corvallis before 8am and transferring stuff from my car to Tera's and a quick stop at Starbuck's-we were on our way.

It was still cloudy and grey, but we got to a certain point and the clouds just ended. That happens here....I experience it a lot when driving through the Columbia River Gorge and the valley cloud cover just stops. I love it. So...when we arrived at Crater Lake the sun was shining in all of its brilliance! And the lake looked gorgeous! Amazing that this place used to be one huge mountain called Mount Mazama.

 Mt Thielsen! I love this mountain each time I see it.

 Us with the lake and Wizard Island in the background.

 Lunchtime view.

 The bug that joined us for lunch. It was HUGE.

 Tera's birthday was in August and I'd always wanted to do one of the boat tours of the lake and I thought this was the perfect combination of things...so for Tera's birthday I got us tickets to do the boat tour. I knew she'd be game for it and up for the adventure it brought...that adventure included a 700 foot hike down to the lake, which equals a 700 foot hike up from the lake.

Our tickets! I was SO excited!

 We hiked down on the Cleetwood Cove Trail. A trail that can be hiked regardless of whether you are boat touring or not.

 Before the hike down.

 Boat ramp in sight. The hike down wasn't bad-dusty, full of switchbacks, but totally do-able.

 Look at the clear, clear water-look beyond the girl in the bikini that I don't know.

 Down at the boat ramp.

 We had some time to kill-so we took pictures to remember our special, unique adventure. We were inside a volcano caldera. How many times can oyu say that in your life?!

 Lots of groud squirrels joined the people.

 Tera contemplating life from the inside of a caldera.

 Crawdad in the lake. There were a few types of fish, small and large enough to catch. They don't want them there-so you can fish for them without a license. Fish were put in the lake decades ago before it was realized how crystal clear and clean the lake was and before the want to keep it that pristine.

 Loading the boat. There were 3 and they were all named after Oregon Rivers. Ours was the Rogue.

 On our way.

 Our Captain in the white hat...not watching where we were going...

 That huge rock jutting out is called Llao Rock. It's the second highest point around the rim of Crater Lake. Click on the name for more info...it is very interesting.

 Rock slides. The Ranger explained that you could tell which slides were older or younger based on the lightness/darkness of the rock and dirt debris. The lighter the newer. The darker the older.

Right in the middle of the picture below you can see a stipe that runs vertical. That is where lava had seeped up in Mount Mazama and hardened and softer elements around it eroded away.

 Llao Rock from the south looking back. You can see the older rock slide on the left and newer on the right.

 Smile!

 These rock formations are known as Devil's Backbone. Also created the way the lava "ribbon" a few pictures ago was- it is called a dike and there are many, but according to the site linked above Devil's Backbone is the only dike to reach from water's edge to the caldera rim.

 Wizard Island!

 A less rocky, somewhat softer side of the caldera innerds. This is as we were approaching Skell Channel. A narrow channel between the wall and Wizard Island. This is getting to where the majority of grassy like vegetation was that I saw while in the caldera.

 See the grasses at the water's edge?!

 Entering Fumarole Bay along the southwest side of Wizard Island.

 From Fumarole Bay!

 If you look closely you can see Crater Lake Lodge on the rim. Looks so small from the laketop.

 So pretty.

 This is the area below Garfield Peak. Full of greenery that slid down into the caldera when the major blast erupted out the north side of Mount Mazama.

 Such clear water.

 There were several little waterfalls that can only be seen from inside the caldera. They are created when water runs down through the rocks to bedrock and then bubbles back up because it has no other place to go.

 Approaching the Phantom Ship-my favorite feature of Crater Lake.

 Looks like we might run into it.

 Isn't that so amazing. Ahh...

 Had to have a picture!

 I took a ton of pictures of Phantom Ship. I couldn't help it. I would have taken more if we'd gone around it a time or two more...

 It deserved some black and white photos for sure. It seemed to fit its ruggedness. Reminds me a bit of Ansel Adams photos...

 Saying goodbye to Phantom Ship.

 The Ranger took everyone's picture for them. So nice. She was quirky, but fun.

 Next up...the Pumice Castle. Made of compacted pumice that has had softer material erode around it. The Ranger was saying that pumice is a fairly soft rock and that some day this whole formation will erode away...some year far in the future I imagine.

 It really does remind me of a sandcastle.

 Can you see the face?

 More Castle!

 Rock formation known as Roundtop.

 Calm water.

 Rocks on the return to Cleetwood Cove.

 Do you see that cliff? Yes?! So did we. So did everyone jumping off of it into the lake...the very cold Crater Lake.

 So what did Tera decide to do? Even before we got on the boat for the tour she'd decided she'd be cliff jumping from that cliff into Crater Lake.

She's making sure...

 And she jumps...she caught some good air.

 And resurfaced.

 After watching for a really LONG time...I probably saw 100 jumps made...and after some downright begging from Tera I decided it would be a story to tell that I cliff jumped into Crater Lake. Not everyone can say that, either. So...I did it...

 And it was darn cold and somewhat startling to the body. And I was ready to get out as soon as I was in. I also surfaced. The water was so clear it was amazing.

 We survived...and had a very wet hike out of the Crater Lake caldera. I, smartly or just luckily maybe, had brought my suitcase rather than leaving it in Corvallis. When we got back to the car I changed clothes. Yes I did. On the side of the road in a National Park-almost every article of clothing. I did it stealthly. And, it felt so good to be dry.

 Oh yeah...that hike out. Just a wee bit more difficult and hip-pain producing than the hike in. But with breaks and popping a hip back into joint and a very patient hiking companion we made it out without much to report. Except this reptile looking tree trunk...

 We then drove to the opposite end of the Park. We entered at the North Entrance and Cleetwood Cove is in the northeast part of the lake and we drove to about 20 yards within the park from the South Entrance for dinner and Annie's Creek Restaurant. It wasn't spectacular food, but it was good and it was good and dark when we left. Dark like can't-see-five-feet-in-front-of-you-without-a-flashlight-dark.

We had to drive back up and over the rim to get to the North Entrance to exit the right way and I asked Tera to stop at one of the pull offs once we were back up on Rim Drive so we could get out and see the stars. It was so dark we could see the Milky Way band/arc and innumerable stars. It was so amazing and definitely one memory I will have for life. How small I felt below the vastness of the galaxy, the sky and on the rim of such an iconic place. 

I didn't even attempt to take a photo of the night beauty we witnessed. My camera never would have captured even an iota of the immenseness. Instead I found these two photographs. The first by Wally Pacholka and the second by Ben Coffman. They most closely resemble what I saw that night (minus the snow in the second phot). But it still doens't truly capture the beauty I saw there.

I had gotten up at 5am on Saturday in Portland, loaded my car, drove to Corvallis, rode to Crater Lake (3 hours), lunched on the rim, hiked a mile down to the lake, took a two hour boat tour, jumped off a cliff, hiked a mile and 700 feet up and out from the lake, drove a while to get to dinner, ate dinner, did the drive back up over the edge of Crater Lake, stopped to star gaze and then we had the 3 hour rive back to Corvallis. When we unloaded the car and got situated for bed the light went out at 1:38am on Sunday. I'd been awake for nearly 21 hours. I was one tired girl, but it was SO worth it. I decided that aside from the long, long day that next time I make it to Crater Lake I'd like to stay in the area....camp or stay in the lodge or something. I think it would be worth it to see a sunrise and sunset and to stare at those stars that much longer. 

Tera and I slept in on Sunday and then went on some Corvallis adventures. I love covered bridges so we went to see one on Oregon State's property. We walked past some cows....the roots of the once primarily Ag schools.

 And we made it to the bridge that had been relocated from another area and now finds itself at home here...

 We also went to a few other places and eventually made it back to Tera's for an early dinner so I could get home before dark...which I did....to this beautiful sunset.

Fun adventure, eh?! You want to join me next time?