Crater Lake

Last night, we stayed at Diamond Lake so that we could be close to Crater Lake and get an early start in the morning.

"Toxins may be present even when there is no visible scum."

We did not swim in Diamond Lake.

Our first glimpse of Crater Lake!

Crater Lake is located in south-central Oregon and is famous for its deep blue color and water clarity. The caldera that Crater Lake fills was formed nearly 8,000 years ago when Mount Mazama (a volcano) collapsed. There are two islands in Crater Lake: Wizard Island, which formed from a cinder cone that erupted after Crater Lake began to fill with water, and Phantom Ship. There are no rivers flowing into or out of the lake, which accounts for its purity and clarity. Crater Lake is about 5 by 6 miles across, contains about 5 trillion gallons of water, and is the deepest lake in the United States.

Wizard Island and Phantom Ship

Helllllooooooo

Crazy blue water

After checking out different areas around the rim of the lake, we headed over to Mt. Scott, the summit of which marks the highest point in the park (8,938ft). It wound up being about a 5-mile roundtrip.

View of Crater Lake from the top!

It's kind of hard to see Crater Lake in the background of this photo because smoke started rolling in from the huge wildfire that was roaring in and around Yosemite National Park.

Smoke!

We stopped off at Vidae Falls and hit the road!

Back in California!

Beautiful Mt. Shasta! Mt. Shasta is the second tallest volcano in the Cascades, rising to an elevation of 14,162ft, and has been dormant for over 200 years. That little bump to the right of Mt. Shasta in this picture is "Shastina Cone", which has a summit elevation of 12,330ft and most recently erupted over 9,400 years ago.

The next time you see me and Mt. Shasta in a photo together, it's at the top! 

Welcome to Weed, California!

We drove many, many hours, all the way to a town just outside of Sacramento to spend the night before our last National Park adventure.