it's hard to know how to adequately capture the awe of crater lake in my own meager vocabulary. it is stunning. it is vividly, impossibly blue. it makes you want to touch it immediately. there is no doubt in my mind why ancient people, upon seeing it, recognized it as sacred land. it was a big big volcano called mt mazama and it blew its top off, leaving this crater in the caldera. over time, the crater has filled with rain and meltwater to make the clearest bluest water i have ever seen. the only fish and crawfish that live there were introduced as sport stock, but there is no other natural source of fish life in the lake. there is no spring, no seeping in to the lake from other water sources. the amount of water collected annually about matches the amount of water lost by evaporation annually, and so it just stays still, deep, and clean.
approaching the lake from the north end of the park has you driving through what feels like high desert, because it is high desert, but it's made out of pumice from the volcanic explosion. it's a pumice desert. nothing can grow in these rocky pumice fields.
and then we drove up to the edge of the lake (caldera? crater?) and peered over and down. wizard island was right in front of us, and is ALSO A VOLCANO, which means it's a volcano inside a volcano. it's an island in a lake inside a volcano, and the island has it's own volcano. i really like that.
the views are just bananas from every vantage point. this is in the south rim village from the visitor's center.
we camped at the only campground in the park, which was admittedly a huge campground, and discovered that our site abutted a massive ravine. it was a beautiful sunset, and a great site.
look at this little face, peering in my window in the morning. james slept upstairs in the van (often, but not every night) and he always had a morning smile for those of us sleeping inside the van.
we decided to hike to the highest point in the park the next morning, and our drive to trailhead took us past shipwreck island. the island is aptly named, no?
speaking of apt names, here are the scott family members readying themselves for a 5 mile roundtrip hike to the highest point. we were hunting for some views.
it was a pretty relentless, sunny, exposed climb up a spiny ridge to a mountain top. shoulda probably gone reeeeally early in the morning, instead of at 930 am. lesson learned.
on the way up, we were rewarded with wildflower blooms
and little distant peeks at mt shasta over 100 miles away
and excellent views of crater lake itself.
and while a very hot and tired out ramona rested in the shade, james and i finished the trek to the summit. see that distant point covered in green trees? that was the destination.
the view from the top
the post hike lunch was a feast in the shade on the edge of a parking lot.
after lunch, we kept driving around the rim to reach the one spot where visitors are allowed to swim in the lake. only a bathing suit, no other clothing type, no scuba, no snorkel, no shoes, no food. never ever any boats. that lake takes work to keep the invasive species out, and i still can't believe they let all us bozos swim in it, but i am sure glad they do. the hike is a mile straight down on switchbacks, and the pitch is serious. then when you reach the beach, you're shocked to discover all that bright blue and turquoise is undiminished by being right next to the water, and even right in the water.
it was cold, like COLD cold, like lake superior cold, and took a few minutes to talk myself into jumping in. not david. he went in immediately.
i followed, and it took my breath away.
james wanted to get in, wanted to want to get in, and after some coaxing, patience and reassurance, they both took the plunge!
i swam three times, and each time was easier to tolerate the shock of the cold, and therefore i could stay in longer and swim out farther with every re-entry to the water. there is a point when you swim out away from shore that the color beneath and all around transitions to the most electric deep blue you can imagine, like you're in front of a glowing green screen. the water is so clear that you can see the rocks way way way deep below you, and then it becomes so deep that you can see nothing at all but your feet and the blue blue blue blue. it felt like standing on the edge of a skyscraper. it was dizzying. it was my favorite part of the whole trip, and a feeling i hope i never ever forget.
then we picked up some pizza at the campground store with these serious dudes,
and got back to the site to chop some wood
and journal our experiences.
this was a good good park to visit.
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