Wow what a day! We swam in Crater Lake!
Edwin and I came here back in 2005 with Dozer and our green vanagon. Seeing Crater Lake and it’s sheer beauty amazed me back then. I just would always remember the BLUE. I grew up going to Lake Tahoe, which I would easily say is the most beautiful lake in the world, but there is something special about Crater Lake and its blue. I couldn’t wait to come back and share that same experience with our girls. It truly is breathtaking when you see Crater Lake for the first time, and it was again today. What was even more special about today was because the girls are with us I really learned more about the history and geology of the lake. The junior ranger program offered at the national parks is great!
Crater Lake was once a volcanic mountain called Mount Mazama (didn’t know the name of the mountain before). Unlike the volcanoes in Hawaii where you imagine an eruption with lava flow, when Mount Mazama (at 12,000 ft tall) erupted 7,700 years ago, the structure of the mountain gave way and collapsed down into itself after blowing it’s top. And thus the caldera was born. If Mount Mazama did NOT collapse and was still a mountain today it would be the tallest mountain in Oregon. (right now Mount Hood is the tallest mountain in Oregon at 11,249 ft.) After the caldera cooled, it eventually filled with up with water solely from rain and snowfall. There is 5 trillion gallons of water in the lake. Currently there are NO rivers or lakes that feed INTO or OUT of Crater Lake. Oh, and the island in Crater Lake…is another volcano that began growing but stopped erupting 7,300 years ago.
It was a little overcast today so the BLUE of Crater Lake was not what I remember from years ago, but what we did do this time that we didn’t in 2005 was walk down to the waters edge. I thought you weren’t allowed to swim in Crater Lake, but there is one trail you can get down to the shore and swim. I’m so happy we did. There were times as we were walking down that I would look down and think to myself “Tahoe is just as pretty if not prettier/more blue.” but again, it was overcast today and the difference in the colors of Tahoe from afar on an overcast and sunny day go from dull to vibrant. I remember feeling bummed in that moment that it was overcast and the girls weren’t going to experience the color BLUE I remember seeing years ago. But the waters edge is different story. What we all experienced together today was jumping IN to Crater Lake. It wasn’t as cold as I thought it would be. It wasn’t as cold as the first June swim in Tahoe this year. Anyway, after first jumping off a 10’ rock and swimming straight to shore (because when you do jump into the deepest lake in America part of you wants to get back on land so you don’t sink to the bottom) I dove in off the shore and swam around and opened my eyes under water. Holy guacamole! All I can say is if you have the desire or opportunity…GO! I can’t even explain it. I’ve opened my eyes in Lake Tahoe. It was nothing like it. It was electric! A blue i’ve never even seen before. almost purple. like a mixture of royal blue, turquoise, purple, neon blue all together. It was surreal, like there was a giant electric neon light coming from the depths.
The pics don’t do the lake justice, but I did tell the girls they’ll have to make sure and come back on a blue sunny day.
Oh and the pinnacles, which are petrified fumaroles (steam vents where gas and steam escaped the earths crust).
