Crater Lake

 Sunday August 29, 2021 - We got to Crater Lake around noon, after a 3 hr drive from the rest area.  We checked into our campsite at Mazama Campground, which is part of the park system.  The campground has around 200 sites, some with electric (ours doesn't), and they are all large, nicely separated, with lots of trees.  

 

We decided to do the 33 mile rim drive, to get oriented to the park.  There are many pull offs to see the lake, each with their own unique view. Crater Lake was formed 7700 years ago when the volcano Mazama, erupted. The caldera that was left after the explosion filled with precipitation.  There are no streams that run into the lake so there is very little sediment to cloud the water, making it the purest water you can find. The lake level is very consistent and varies by only a few feet.  Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the US at 1943 ft.  It holds 5 trillion gallons of water.  Wizard Island is a large cylinder cone, that was formed during the volcanic eruption.  Usually you can take a boat to the island, but there is no boat service due to COVID.  

Our first view of Crater Lake

We took a detour off the rim drive, to Pinnacles road.  This is a 6 mile road out to Pinnacles overlook.  There was a 1 mile hike to view the Pinnacles, which are chimneys formed when hot ash cooled after the eruption.

Pinnacles (fumaroles)

Next we did the Plaikni Falls trail, which was a 2 mile hike, out to the falls and back.

Plaikni Falls

lots of wild flowers

As the day went on it got smokier, and by evening it even smelled like smoke.  The air quality hit a high of 220.   The drive back into the campground was especially smokey.

 

Monday, August 30, 2021 - We got up early today to drive out to a sunrise lookout.  The air quality was better than yesterday (only about 180), but it was still pretty hazy.  Not the best sunrise pics, but still pretty cool.

The tip of Wizard Island, on the left, poking up above the smoke

The reflection of the sun on the lake, looks like fire

Since it was so hazy, we decided to do a few hikes that were close to the campground.  We road our bikes to the Annie Springs trailhead.  This was a half a mile hike straight up the mountain, once at the top it linked up with the Pacific Coast Trail.  This part of the PCT was relatively flat, and quite scenic through lots of old growth 100 ft trees.

PCT marking with a reflector, for night hiking.  Not quite as iconic as the AT white blaze hand painted by diligent trail maintainers :)

Now we can say we've hiked the PCT!

After lunch we hiked Annie Creek trail, a 1.7 mile hike down the canyon behind our campground.  There was a nice pamphlet that we took with us, and read about various things along the trail as we hiked.  It was a beautiful hike along the creek, and the hike up the canyon was a lot, but well worth it.

more pinnacles along the creek