Day 4: Crater Lake, the Big Blue

Up till now we were in the forest, under huge fir trees and waterfalls. As we got started the next day there was more open road and a divided road with . . . signs! We actually had a solid idea of where to go next.

Leading us to Crater Lake. Here we were in the high Cascades, snow-capped peaks and  coat-weather, or else heavy sweatshirts. We stopped first to take pictures of Eagle Rock and a pumice desert, all relics of or evidence of the volcanic activity that formed this area. We made it to the rim of Crater Lake—a big hole blasted by volcanic explosion and filled in by numerous seasons of rainfall—the deepest in the United States at a depth of 1,949 feet. We crossed snow banks to get to photo points. I’m not even going to bother describing the color of the water. I will never see that color again in nature—so deep, so blue, so purple, so startling brilliant. A sapphire comes the closest, but still not hitting the mark.

Instead of riding our bikes around the lake, our original plan, we visited 2 gift shops. We finished the expedition with a hike and roadside lunch before driving home. We’d done all this on 1 tank of gas and stopped at a lonely station for gas at nearly $4 a gallon, apparently we are experiencing temporary inflation.

One more covered bridge, then home. Eugene.