We drove 115 miles south of Bend to Crater Lake National Park. Our campground is north of the park on Diamond Lake. We left the RV park at 7:15 a.m. in order to obtain tickets for the Crater Lake boat tour. To take the boat tour, it is necessary to hike the steep switchbacked Cleetwood Trail. The trail descends 700 feet over 1.1 miles, all the while offering astounding views of the deep sapphire blue Crater Lake. The boat tour gives a unique perspective of the crater. Not surprisingly, the slog back up the trail to the rim of the crater is quite difficult. The Cleetwood Trail is the only legal access to the shore of the lake as the crater is very steep and dangerous. This adventure took a half day.
The remainder of the day we completed the rim drive stopping at the various overlooks, the visitors’ center, and the lodge. It was an amazing day seeing the deep blue water of the lake which is so blue because of its depth and the purity of the water. And surrounding the lake are impressive and varied rock structures – so much beauty here created by the cataclysmic eruption and subsequent implosion of the 12,000 foot Mt. Mazama 7000 years ago which resulted in the caldera that is Crater Lake. And by the way, for those of you dealing with the heat and humidity typical of August in the south, the highs were in the 70’s and the night time temperatures were in the low 40’s.
Click
HERE to see more pictures of Craer Lake.
We drove 115 miles south of Bend to Crater Lake National Park. Our campground is north of the park on Diamond Lake. We left the RV park at 7:15 a.m. in order to obtain tickets for the Crater Lake boat tour. To take the boat tour, it is necessary to hike the steep switchbacked Cleetwood Trail. The trail descends 700 feet over 1.1 miles, all the while offering astounding views of the deep sapphire blue Crater Lake. The boat tour gives a unique perspective of the crater. Not surprisingly, the slog back up the trail to the rim of the crater is quite difficult. The Cleetwood Trail is the only legal access to the shore of the lake as the crater is very steep and dangerous. This adventure took a half day.
The remainder of the day we completed the rim drive stopping at the various overlooks, the visitors’ center, and the lodge. It was an amazing day seeing the deep blue water of the lake which is so blue because of its depth and the purity of the water. And surrounding the lake are impressive and varied rock structures – so much beauty here created by the cataclysmic eruption and subsequent implosion of the 12,000 foot Mt. Mazama 7000 years ago which resulted in the caldera that is Crater Lake. And by the way, for those of you dealing with the heat and humidity typical of August in the south, the highs were in the 70’s and the night time temperatures were in the low 40’s.
Click HERE to see more pictures of Craer Lake.
1 comment:
those views are amazing. it almost looks unreal. hope you guys are having fun.
love.
Post a Comment