Crater Lake – Day 5

Direct from my travel journal 5 Sept. 06

Crater Lake: no inlets to deposit sediment or silt – pure snow water. World record for clarity = 143’. Depth – 1943’. It’s so blue because it’s so deep. 6.1 mi X 4.7 mi. There are hydrothermal vents to support bacteria. Still active. Dormant for 5000yrs. Deepest lake entirely above sea level, 7th deepest in world. Deepest in US. 20.42 mi2, 4.9 trillion gal, 6173’ (1882m) above sea level – surface elevation. Surface temp 32 F – 66 F (0-19 C) 38 F (4 C) at bottom yr round. 44’ avg snow fall. From author Jack London, 1911, “I thought that I had gazed upon everything beautiful in nature as I have spent many yrs traveling thousands of miles to view the beauty spots of the earth, but I have reached the climax. Never again can I gaze upon the beauty spots of the earth and enjoy them as being the finest thing I have ever seen. Crater Lake is far above them all.” –

…We drove on to Crater Lake. The Visitor Center wasn’t open yet (not till 9 am) so we drove on to the rim village and walked around the rim. The view was better than yesterday. We’d gone just a little ways and taken about 5 pictures because it was so awe inspiring, when M. suggested we drive on up to Cleetwood Trailhead to get tickets to go on the boat ride to Wizard Island. [Wizard Island is the caldera/island in Crater Lake.]

We headed up the west side of the lake and saw a fleet of Nat’l Forest Fire control trucks lined up ready to go. We saw so much smoke to the west and traffic cones prevented parking in some areas. Further on, one pullout had fire info posted. The fire was started from a lightning strike July 23 so since it was natural, it was allowed to burn. It was only a smoldering fire to burn the brush and dead wood on the forest floor.

At Cleetwood ~9:25 and we were the last 2 to get on the 10 am boat tour - $59 for the both of us [meaning each]. We booked it down the mile-long trail and rode the boat 30 mins over to W.I. There we right away hiked up a mile to the top of the volcano to the caldera and we ate lunch while looking out to lake.

On the hike up we saw views of the lake that brought tears to my eyes, it was so beautiful.

The boat was to pick us up for our return at 12:30. We got down ~12:15. M went to dock, where others were hanging out, and I went to restrooms. Then I walked to a diff. dock, took my socks and boots off and put my feet in H2O-COLD! I was considering going skinny dipping, but it was too cold. I regret that I didn’t do it now tho. The boat got us ~12:45 and we toured other areas of the lake – Phantom Ship, 2 waterfalls, the Pumice Castle, and got back to Cleetwood at 2 pm.
…
Drove to Rim Village and went to gift store and bought post cards, a magnet and a necklace and then walked to a lookout, where a young ranger was giving a lecture.

After, we drove to the Pinnacles – like hoodoos a little bit w/ a stream running beneath. Even though the Pinnacles were at the end of a 7-mi drive, it was worth it. Back at the cabin we cleaned up and went to a Mexican Restaurant on 97 that the proprietor [of Crater Lake Resort] told us about yesterday. Yummy. We found it by the Big Yellow sign w/ black lettering: Mexican Food Cocktails.











From 6 Sept 06 journal entry

I didn’t consider Oregon “the West.” Yes, it’s true that OR is a westernmost state in the continental US, but I suppose I thought of OR more as Seattle, filled w/ tech Yuppies more so than w/ farmers and blue-collar types. In Mexican Food Cocktails last night we walked into a dark room w. square tables, straight-back chairs. There was some Latin art on the walls, but most of the ambiance was provided by the other customers – 5 locals, one of them a woman, all wearing hats. Our waitress wore Wranglers.