Mother Nature outdoes Herself

Sounds like a simple recipe:  blow the top off a mountain with a volcano, and wait 7,700 years for the hole to fill with rain water.  Well, the results at Crater Lake are spectacular, creating America’s deepest lake, at 1,943 feet, 6.5 miles across.

It was like arriving in a different universe, to climb the mountains and see eight feet of snow in some places.  It was even more amazing to hear that the accumulation we saw is about half of what this area normally gets, which is 50 feet of snow a year.  The Visitors’ Center was almost buried!

Those sticks poking up out of the ground are there to define the road for the snow plows – who evidently will have to plow again when it snows this weekend. Many parts of the park will open in late May this year, but do not normally open till July, so you can see how the drought is affecting this area.

The sun was warm and the air is cool, so it was a lovely combination.  People were wearing everything from flip flops to ski boots, so it’s that kind of weather.

We are staying at the Crater Lake Lodge on its first open day of the season.  It is run by the Park Service, and we were entertained by a talk in the main room earlier this evening.  Ranger Brian entertained us with the story of William Gladstone Steele, who dedicated his life to making this park nationally managed, and accessible to all.  We toasted him at the end of the talk.

See how beautiful the lake is, and put this on your list of wonders of America to visit someday.

On a smaller scale, we saw a lovely waterfall and rushing river on our way to Crater Lake.  Prospect State Scenic Viewpoint is hard to find, but it did provide a lovely long walk in the woods.

To reward ourselves, we had to stop in Union Creek at Beckie’s, where homemade Oregon berry pies rule.  YUMMY!  Take a look at the blackberry and boysenberry samples we had – just had – to devour.  The ice cream is there merely to differentiate the two…

It’s a gorgeous evening.  We are sitting here waiting for the sunset over Crater Lake, while it is rainy in New York and California is burning.  Who would have thought that Oregon was the best place to spend part of May?  Lucky us.

P.S.  The Tempest was wonderfully staged and very captivating.  A good evening at the theatre.