Quietly Walking

Yesterday I switched over to "Quiet as a Mouse".  Right now it reminds me of the Cheshire Cat - a bit visible - mostly invisible!

It's Wednesday and I'm going to invite you to take a drive with me.

We will get out of the car and walk too. 

Today we'll drive around Crater Lake National Park. The park was founded in 1902 and contains over 183,000 acres - more than 20 square miles.  The road around the rim of the lake is 33 miles long.

The lake is more than 1900 feet deep and incredibly blue.  It was formed 7,700 years ago when Mt. Mazama erupted.  It was a truly catastrophic eruption.  The Mountain was over 12,000 feet tall and lost 5,000 feet of its height when it blew.  If all the ash from the eruption were spread evenly over the state of Oregon (400 miles by 360 miles) it would be 8 inches deep!  It took over 800 years of snow and rain to fill Crater Lake and Crater Lake gets up to 45 feet of snow a year!

  

There is a lodge for those of you who'd like to spend the night.

There are so many lovely views of the lake.  It's safe to take pictures as the road has lots and lots of turn outs.

  

Let's not forget to admire the views of the mountains and forests surrounding the park.

This part of the park is called The Pinnacles.

These are fossil fumaroles and project from the Sand Creek Canyon floor.  They were formed under the sheets of volcanic pumice that preceded Mazama's collapse.  As the surface of the hot pumice cooled over the years, steam and gases were released by the hot rocks underneath through vents and tubes that were welded into cement hardness with their passage. The vents now stand alone due to the erosion of the surrounding softer materials.

Much of the park is pine forest as that is what grows best at over 7,000 feet elevation.

At lower elevations there is a mix of fir, pine, hemlock, and spruce.  The forests east of the Cascade Mountains have little underbrush - they are much more open than those west of the mountains. 

This is Plaikni Falls - the water comes from a spring, though my sister maintains that it comes from a leak in the lake!

It has been such a wonderful day.  I hope you enjoyed visiting Crater Lake National Park.  We are blessed to have it in our state.