Crater-ception

After our time in the Redwoods, we continued north to Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. We were lucky enough to arrive just in time to get the last campsite available with an electric hookup, and once we pulled in we found out it had water too! Once we got set up we did a short hike near the campground into a canyon that was made of volcanic ash. Part of the trail was closed but we got to see most of it and saw a deer walking in the stream at the bottom. Unfortunately, the mosquitos were bad there so we had to keep moving to avoid being bit. The next day we woke up early and drove to the lake which was breathtaking. The lake was formed when a volcano, Mount Mazama, imploded over 7,000 years ago and left a giant crater in the ground. The hole then filled with rain and snow melt, which means the water is unbelievably clear. The lake is the deepest in the U.S. at 1,949 ft deep.

At the lake, we did a boat tour to Wizard Island, which is a small volcano that protrudes from the center of the lake. On the island, we hiked to the top and walked through a small crater. That is, we hiked in a crater that was inside of a massive crater, pretty cool. Afterward we completed the second half of the boat tour and arrived back at the dock. We did some cliff jumping into the lake and the water was COLDDDD. Later that day we cooked some dinner on the grill and had another campfire. The next day we were off to Portland!