Into the Mystic: Mount Mazama

Leaving for Boring, OR today
We have planned our route through Washington, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado through mid August

In between a day of rain and visiting the Rogue River, we visited Crater Lake National Park two times. The first day, the road was only open to Discovery Point, just beyond the Rim Village and Lodge. But by Memorial Day weekend the road around 1/3 of the Lake was open. The rest of the road is still being plowed!
No hiking trails were open nor was the boat that cruises the Lake operating just yet. Bummer.

As I mentioned in the previous blog, Mount Mazama erupted about 7700 years ago. Then the peak collapsed and created a basin (also called a caldera). Centuries of rain and snow filled the basin to create the deepest lake in the United States - 1943' deep. The blue color and clarity are spectacular. My photos can't capture the beauty here. The clouds are reflected in the Lake!

As you can see, there is still a lot of snow here!

I tried to capture the clarity of the Lake, along with the green hue it takes close to the shoreline.

I love this photo from Merriam Point that shows the north sides of the caldera and all the snow that remains. That peak in the middle is called Wizard Island and is a cone left from the volcano.

Llao Rock was formed when a lava flow filled a crater on the north side of Mount Mazama. When the mountain collapsed part of the hardened lava flow cracked and dropped inside, while the remaining part was left on the rim.

Looking away from the Lake on a clear day, we saw three other volcanoes - Mount Shasta (the one we saw on our way to Redding over 100 miles away) as well as Mount McLoughlin (on left) and Union Peak. They are all part of the Cascade Mountain Range. I couldn't get a good shot of Shasta, although we could see it clearly.