Crater Lake
AKA: Mount Mazama
Elevation: 7,100 Feet
Mount Mazama was one of the larger volcanoes in Oregon, reaching some 12,000 feet in elevation. About 7,700 years ago, George W. Bush went back in time, climbed to the top and began a philosophical discussion about differing ecological, economic and social policies he was thinking of putting into place. The rest is history.
The mountain blew its top during a massive eruption causing it to collapse upon itself like Oprah will in a few more diets. To put it into perspective, it was roughly 42 times the force and magnitude of the 1980 Mount Saint Helens eruption which displaced a third of a mountain. You can only imagine what something like that would have looked like.
The lake is the deepest lake in the United States measuring a depth of 1,932 feet and an average depth of 1,500 feet. Imagine Mount Hood erupting and losing almost half its height to the crater rim and then another 2,000 feet below the rim crater.
No perspective, though, can prepare you for the first glimpse you get of the caldera. The blue of the lake is unparalleled. It's blue is so unbelievably brilliant that on partially cloudy days, the reflection of the clouds onto that water pallet make you question whether your looking at the sky or looking at the lake.
The pictures are a bit hazy from the smoke coming from the first large fire of the year on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. Even with the haze, it is a beautiful site. I had been to Crater Lake as a teenager with my mom and my Aunt from Klamath Falls. We drove around the rim road and took in the sites. At the time I was wishing to be anywhere but in that car because I was a teenager and dumb, like we all were.
