On The Oregon Trail, Part 4

After post-Eugene Marathon festivities at and one more night staying at my host Chris' humble abode, I set off back home to Northern California. I didn't drive this far up to Oregon just to drive straight back, however, so I took a detour and headed over to Crater Lake, about which I've heard tremendous things.

The drive down State Route 58 out of Eugene was a leisurely yet beautiful one; nature was in full force as I made headway into the national forest and the mountains of the Cascades. Trees, streams, and lakes like Lookout Point, Odell, and Crescent, blended well with an absolutely gorgeous mid-Spring morning. In some ways, you didn't mind getting stuck for a bit behind a big-rig wending slowly in front of you during one of this road's one-lane both ways/no-passing sections.

The northern entrance was still closed at this time of the year, so I would have to head down US 97 and turn back around up SR-62 to the (mostly) open year-round southern entrance. Even though the drive wasn't as scintillating on US 97, the landscape seemed to be another variation on volcanic landscapes, one where the land had to regenerate itself after the devastating effects of eruptions and other related forces.

As with most of this journey, the increases in elevation were somewhat imperceptible, and this remained the trend when I finally got onto SR-62 and headed back northward. It reminded me of the San Francisco Bay Area, where you can drive 10 minutes and experience a 10 degree shift in temperatures; in this case, you go from relative warmth to snow-lined roadways in about as short a time.

Crater Lake is within the cone of the former Mt. Mazama, which 7700 years ago erupted so much mass out, it lost its support and collapsed onto itself into a caldera. Once the volcanic activity stopped almost 3000 years later, the water, which had simply evaporated away before, began to collect from the snow, rain, and other runoff. Evaporation and other forces have now balanced themselves out now so that this lake, which is the deepest in the U.S., only varies by three feet annually. Also, the water itself is supposed to be some of the purest in terms of lack of pollutants on the entire North American continent.

The crowd was Monday-lite and I felt as I stepped out of my car in Rim Village and breathed the crisp, clean air that I would be in for a visual treat. Indeed, the first visual of Crater Lake in all its glory as I trudged up the icy snowbank to the overlook is indescribable by mere words. Even the pictures that I shot only hint at the beauty, stillness, and in a way, other worldliness of where I was standing at that very moment. Nevertheless, here are those pictures, presented in slideshow format.

Crater Lake Photo Slideshow

I definitely would love to get to Crater Lake and just this entire region of Oregon again. If I do make the trip again though, I'd love for it to be with a friend or a group of friends - a vision such as that that greeted me that day would be much better shared with people for whom you care.