August 9, 2008 Last updated: 8/13/08 9:00pm PT
We did a 2 day trip this month. We drove down to see Crater Lake in Oregon. While we were that far south, we also hit the Oregon Caves National Monument. And you can’t drive through Portland without stopping at Powell’s.
Crater Lake should really be named Caldera Lake, as it is a caldera of a collapsed volcano. About 7700 years ago Mount Mazama erupted and collapsed to create the depression that would eventually fill with water and become Crater Lake. The lake is filled with rain and snow melt. There are no inlets or outlets for the water. This is the deepest lake in the US at 1943 feet. The maximum length across the lake is 6 miles. Those are not white sand beaches, that’s snow. 
There is only one trail that gets you down to the lake’s surface. It’s 1.1 miles one way. Going down is easy, coming back isn’t. The top of the crater is at 6900 ft above sea level and the lake’s surface is at 6173. That’s a gain of over 700 feet on the way back. When you start over a mile high and then gain another 700 feet, and you live at about sea level, you breath hard all the way up. 
Normally they have boat tours, but a storm went through last week and dislodged the pier, so no boat ride. We hiked down anyway. The trees smelled fantastic. 
Here’s Denise checking the water temperature. The picture of me was taken right before I fell in. The water wasn’t that cold. (The boots are only waterproof up to their tops) 
The pictures don’t do it justice, but this is the bluest water I’ve ever seen. 
The place was swarming with butterflies (or moths, who can tell). 
The Oregon Caves were created millions of years ago. The rock is mostly marble. The caves were created by acidified groundwater seeping through the cracks, eventually dissolving the marble, creating the caves. If our legs weren’t sore from the climb up at Crater Lake, they were after the cave visit. There are many places (at least for tall people) where you need to do the duck walk to get from one room to another.
Here’s a map of the caves in a cross section of the mountain. We entered at the lower opening and went horizontally, then up to the upper opening. We did not go down. I took pictures in the really large room, but they didn’t come out – too dark and my flash didn’t cut it. 
All the rooms and formations have names. If you care about that kind of thing, you should go see them yourself. I was more concerned with banging my head against the rocks than taking notes. 
