First the summary. Crater Lake is amazing. Pictures don't do it justice.
We camped down in Mazama village, a thousand feet below the rim of the caldera and a few paces from a gorgeous chasm where a small creek had eroded down through layers of ash from the volcano. And we properly stowed all our food to keep it from, yes, Da Bears.
Then, this morning we drove up to the rim. The lake, a thousand feet below, was the deepest of blues, with melting drifts of snow on the surrounding cliffs. And almost perfectly still.
We tried to climb up a ridge another thousand feet up, but it was closed, maybe two-thirds of the way, due to a huge snow bank across the trail. Still, it was a great hike with incredible views of the lake and nearby mountains to the south. And, with our lungs not used to 7000+ feet elevation, it was good exercise for us.
After lunch, we drove around the rim to see the Phantom Ship island (much smaller than Wizard Island, but much, much older, preceding the main eruption by some 400,000 years), and then turned off to The Pinnacles. We had no idea what The Pinnacles were, and none of the park information would shed light on this mystery, but the phrase was strangely familar to us, and they were marked separately from Crater Lake on our map of Oregon, so we knew it was Important. Here now I will divulge to you the secret: The Pinnacles are giant, ghostly pillars formed by escaping gas as lava poured down the mountain. And they're pretty cool.
I'll stop here, because Vivian maintains that she'll actually add an entry, so I'll leave some gaps for her to fill!
Miles: 1338
Posted by yozhik at July 4, 2003 06:48 PM