Crater Lake -- 1

The iron was hot.

So we struck.

It was the first sunny day during our stay in Canyonville, Oregon, and the forecast for rest of time during our stay called for clouds and rain. So we took the opportunity to drive to Crater Lake National Park.

The drive was scenic...although long.

At one stop along the way, we took the opportunity to photograph some berries and plants.

Our first view of the lake was a glimpse of the wall of the crater. As we got closer, we saw more and more of the lake.

What an amazing sight. It was the deepest blue imaginable; it was as though the lake had pulled all the blueness out of the sky.

From the Park's brochure: Fed by rain and snow (no rivers or streams flow into the lake), the lake is considered to be the cleanest large body of water in the world. The water is exceptional for its clarity and intense blue color.

The lake rests inside a caldera formed approximately 7,700 years ago when a 12,000-foot tall volcano collapsed following a major eruption, the largest in North America in the past 640,000 years. Later eruptions formed Wizard Island (see photo above), a cinder cone near the southwest shore.

A few interesting facts about Crater Lake: at its deepest point, the lake is 1,943 feet deep. Its width is 4.5 to 6.0 miles.

The average annual snowfall is 43.5 FEET.

Nestled along the shore, Crater Lake's "other island" (photo below) escapes detection by many park visitors. This formation, called the "Phantom Ship", is made of erosion-resistant lava--400,000 years old--the oldest exposed rock in the caldera.

As we walked along the rim of the crater, we photographed scenes of the trees and the lake.

The ripples in the lake's surface brought an interesting look to this photograph below.

We spent the next hour or so looking at the lake and the rock formations along the shore from different viewpoints.

We will continue the visit tomorrow.