We camped overnight last night in the town of Cascade Locks near the Columbia River. This morning we drove along the rushing, white-capped river for a few miles before heading south. There were many people on boats and other watercraft enjoying the morning sun on the river.
As we headed south we could see Mt. Adams in Washington behind us, and Mt. Hood in Oregon in front of us with acres and acres of fruit trees on either side of us. We stopped at a roadside fruit stand and came away with blueberries, cherries, peaches, marionberry jam, raspberry jam, and assorted baked goods. Yum!
Leaving the fruit country, we climbed higher into the Cascade Mountains with tall trees on both sides of us. This mountain road was not nearly as steep and winding as the one we took yesterday, however. Then we reached a plateau and the landscape changed to desert sand with small evergreen trees of some sort dotting the land. It changed again to sand with low desert bushes, dotted with green agricultural fields watered by huge sprinklers on wheels. We could still see many snowcapped mountains behind, beside, and in front of us. We saw the Three Sisters mountains to the west of us, along with Mt. Bachelor! He must have struck out with all three sisters, but another must have had good luck because The Husband was nearby!
Many of the mountains we've seen are dormant volcanos. We passed an area of huge lava rocks piled up on top of each other with a hill beside it that must have been the volcano in Newberry National Volcanic Monument.. We are in the high desert area now, and although it is 90 degrees outside, a local told us that this is hotter weather than normal and that they often get snow on the fourth of July. They must get significant snow here because we have passed several signs for “chain up areas.
The last half-hour or so before we got to the park, the drive became boring as we drove through a fairly new-growth forest and could only see sand and trees about 8-12 feet tall. So we were glad when we arrived at Crater Lake National Park, and were immediately on the Rim Drive which goes around the rim of the crater for 33 miles. In some places, you're very close to the rim, in others, you're farther down the outside of the crater. We stopped at the first lookout we could, walked up the sandy hill, and Wow!, 2,000 feet below us we saw the bluest lake we had ever seen in the “bowl” of the crater! It's beauty, after such a boring drive, was breathtaking. We could hardly take our eyes off it, except that we were at this point on the edge of the rim, and the sand underneath our feet was so soft and slippery that we feared we might slide down the edge into the craggy rock wall below.
The lake is cobalt blue in color and was so far below us that the ripples on the water looked like white dots, and the few boats there that take tourists around the lake could hardly be seen with the naked eye. It is from 4.5 to 6 miles wide, and contained within the crater. At one side of the lake is a fairly large island called Wizard Island. Across the lake from that is a rock structure that looks kind of like a ship, hence its name, Phantom Ship. Other than that, there's nothing else on the pristine lake. There is only one trail down to the lake from the rim, and you need to walk down it. It descends steeply for over 1 mile, and they compare the climb back up to climbing 65 flights of stairs! I would love to have gone down there to see the lake up close, or even to take the boat ride, but I thought it would take me several days to get back up, so we didn't try that trail!
The surface of the lake is a little over 6,000 ft., and the rim above it varies from 1,500 to 2,000 feet. Some of the time on our drive around the lake we were above the tree line, and some of the time we weren't. There was lots of snow still dotting the sides of the crater, both inside and out, chilling the warm air as we went past the snowy areas.
The snow did not kill the mosquitoes! They were out in attack armies of a million or more to one human! We went on a wildflower walk near the crater, and were swarmed by the nasty creatures! That might have been alright if we'd seen a meadow full of flowers like the brochure said, but we saw only about 5 flowers that were actually blooming!
Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States, is in the remains of a volcano called Mount Mazama which erupted and collapsed into itself 7,700 years ago. It filled with rain and melted snow, and evaporation must keep it at about the same depth from year to year. The area gets about 44 feet of snow a year. There are 16- 20 foot poles stuck in the ground along the roadway every 20 feet or so, so that the snowplows will be able to tell where the road is supposed to be!
The campground was several miles from the rim, and mosquito infested, too! We put on lots of mosquito repellant, built a huge campfire, and managed to keep most of them at bay while we enjoyed our dinner and the night sky. Tomorrow we're headed to the redwoods of California!