Crater Lake, OR – deep blue water!

After driving hours and hours through pine forest I had to climb to 8000 ft (2500 m) to see the deep blue and clear Crater Lake. And it really was the color of this lake that makes you stare at it – nonstop…

A massive volcanic eruption left a deep basin where a mountain peak once stood. Centuries of rain and snow filled the basin with water. No streams run into or out of the lake – so precipitation, balanced with evaporation and seepage keeps the lake level consistent today. Isn’t this amazing?

There was still a lot of snow in early June, when I visited. That’s why parts of the East Rim Drive have been closed. The hiking trails where mostly covered in snow – but I could hike parts of the Discovery Point Trail and the lower part of the Garfield Peak Trail.