After leaving Seattle we headed south for Oregon and Crater Lake National Park. Crater Lake used to be the 13,000 foot mountain Mt. Mazama, but a eruption a long time ago caused the mountain to collapse and eventually fill up with snow melt. Because Crater Lake is at such a high altitude (around 7000 feet), they get an average of 44 feet of snow per year. The entire park is designed for this from the 12 foot tall delineators on the sides of the roads to the buildings, that all have tunnels that go straight to the roads, removing the need for much shoveling to get inside. Because the lake is filled with only snow melt, the water is extremely pure and pristine, and this is easily visible from the rim as the deep blue water of the lake reflects the clouds and mountains around it. Our first day there, we drove the 33 mile rim road and hiked up Mt. Scott, the tallest point in the park. After dropping Manu at the airport early the next day I realized that I had lost my wallet, and a few phone calls confirmed that I had lost it at the campground in the park. Because I was going back anyway, I decided to rent a bike and ride the rim road today. While the total height differential is only 1250 feet, because the road goes up and down, you actually do about 3900 feet of climbing, the biggest being 1000 feet with a high altitude of 7700 feet. Despite the difficulty of the ride, it was still pretty awesome and the views from the rim on the perfect day were great. After finishing the ride in a little over 4 hours, I ate a quick lunch and then headed south to Klamath Falls to return my bike and camp before I go on to San Francisco tomorrow night.
Chaitanya
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| Crater Lake National Park |
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