Crater Lake Is a Big Crater with a Lake in It (Day 16)
I didn’t catch the vision. Or, well, the vision I caught was this: they created an entire National Park to celebrate the color blue. To that end:
I don’t mean to imply that it’s not an exceptional shade of blue.
I dunno. Maybe I’m just getting jaded from seeing too many national parks one on top of each other or something. Just that there’s not much to do at Crater Lake other than look at the lake. There are hikes to various spikes around the crater, but the only point to hiking them is to get another view of the lake. So, to that end, here are more views of the lake. It’s very blue.
Yep, still blue. A little darker when it’s in the shade.
It’s sort of like being at MoMA. In this all-blue canvas, I see the struggles of the working class to overcome the forces of nature (and so forth).
Even from the East Rim, still blue.
Llao Rock, which is not blue. Neither is my truck.
The Watchman — not blue, but certainly a little glum.
But still — mostly about the blue.
I didn’t end up spending much time at Crater Lake. Just not that much to do there, like I said. They have a $27, two-hour boat ride you can go on, but the guy selling tickets explained that it’s mostly interesting for geologists or vulcanologists. He seemed disappointed when I did not self-identify as either.
bkd
I loved Crater Lake when I was a teenager (which was a weird time for me to love anything). Doesn’t it not have any inlets or outlets? Why doesn’t it look like a giant scummy pond? And it’s also super deep. I’d like to go again someday (in spite of your non-recommendation).
You found high elevation, rocks and snow, Oregon — and Crater Lake from less than 30000 feet up — very pretty blue either way! And you’re getting closer to WA — 🙂
The blue of Crater Lake is ’cause its over 2000 feet deep, deepest in NA. About the same depth as the highest peak on it’s periphery. Once a huge volcano much larger than Shasta or Rainier. one of the scenic wonders of the world gmd
I probably came off as too negative — it’s pretty and I don’t regret having gone there. Just that there’s nothing to do once you’re there. You can’t launch your own kayak into the lake, there’s only one place you can fish from (but there aren’t many fish in there anyway), and the hiking doesn’t do anything but give you another view of the lake. It was definitely worth driving around once and then leaving.
It is VERY blue. Did you jump in?
Wasn’t really a good put-in spot. I *did*, however, do a stare-down with hypothermia by trying to take a bath in the Rogue River a couple hours later.
“NTN Blue is now Eco-Blue”
That’s our new advertising slogan in Japan — since we are a tree-hugging type of industrial manufacturing company. Crater Lake would fit right it. We have a famous underwater photographer as the new posterboy (in Japan).
if only I could get “url” off my screen name.
I kind of like URL on your screen name.
It’s fascinating to me that Crater Lake was so underwhelming for you. Coming from Washington DC, it was the exact opposite for me. I could stare into that mystifyingly blue water for hours on end–it was Eden to me. I love your pictures!
Thanks for posting and glad you like photos.
As for my underwhelmed state… Maybe going there immediately after having spent the last 10 days hiking to and up Half Dome, rafting the Tuolumne, touring Yosemite Valley, exploring the Desolation Wilderness, and tramping around Mt. Lassen takes some of the relative shine off. It’s not that it wasn’t pretty, just that in the context in which it was visited, it seemed like there wasn’t much to do.