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.
17 comments:
What a stunning shade of blue the lake is. I so enjoyed today's walk Beth and hearing the history behind it.
Do you live close to Crater Lake Nat'l Park? Lucky you! Oregon is such a beautiful state. I hope one day to visit there, also to visit Washington State. Never been to either one. Love your mousie so far!
Mousie so cute, but the walk took my breath away, thank you for sharing a bit of God's beautiful creation with us. Right now Texas is pretty much brown nice to know that there is still green and blue. :o}
I really enjoyed you explaining the photos and sharing the photos. It is a beautiful park.
That park is SO beautiful. Must be fantastic to hike there.
The little mouse is very cute too.
I ADORE nature! What a wondrous blessing to be able to appreciate what we are given. Thank you so much for sharing your adventure.
Oh, I still treasure the memories of my Oregon trip, especially to Crater lake! it's the most beaustiful natural sight I have seen on earth--seriously! Thanks for the pictures. I hope I can get back to Oregon next summer. I have family in Eyugene.
Hey Beth,
This is beautiful. Rich and I are headed to Portland the end is September and we are trying to decide if we can make it to crater lake as a day trip. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Loved the history/geography lesson! One of these years, I'm coming to the west coast. There's so much I want to see!!!
Thanks for sharing the beautiful pictures!
Such great shots of the park, Beth, and I enjoyed learning about the fumaroles (new word to me!!)--very unique landforms. You are so lucky to live near so many great parks...
Quiet as a mouse is off to a great start :)
What a cute mouse peice. Your scenery pictures are beautiful!
Your pictures are beautiful! I think we need to add that to travel plans!
I love your pictures of Crater lake. Back when I was growing up on Whidbey Island my father had a private pilots license and I remember him flying us over Crater Lake on the way down to visit my Grandfather on the Siletz River.
Stunning, lucky you!!
Beautiful!!!!
gosh ... love your photos beautiful blue .. what dmc colour would you say that was ...lol
and the wee mousie is sooo cute :)
love mouse xxxx
What wonderful pictures! I'd love to go there!
Thanks for showing.
Greetings from Germany, Gabi
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