Crater Lake, OR

Crater Lake, 8/21
Being in the mountains of Oregon is wonderful. It might get warm in the afternoon but at night is goes down to 50. I can take that. We are staying at Diamond Lake Park up in the woods.
It is only about 15 miles into the Crater Lake Park N.P. Crater LP is amazingly beautiful. We keep seeing so much beauty and think nothing can top this and then came Crater Lake NP. Mt. St. Helens was just a puff of smoke compared to what this volcano did. First the name of the mountain was Mazama. The lake rests inside a caldera formed around 7,700 years ago. At that time a 12,000 ft. tall Volcano following a major eruption that may have been the largest eruption in North America in the past 640,000 years. Later eruptions formed Wizard Island a cinder cone near the southwest shore. Gene’s reaction as we entered to the main area is it was a desert scape. Then we looked further and read the information, it was pumice, scoria area. Plants were just starting to grow there 7,700 yrs later. The closer we got to the actual crater the more forest and plant life appeared. The lake depth is 1943 ft. and the width is 4.5 to 6 miles and Crater Lake was formed from glacier melt and any out side precipitation it gets. It has no inlets or outlets.
We hiked up Watchman’s Tower which was 1.6 miles up to 8,056ft. from 7, 639ft. It was much easier this year than last year hiking at the high elevation and a beautiful sunny day with light to moderate breezes and perfect for the hike.
I have been trying to upload pictures and no luck.