November 29-30, 1975: A Weekend in Los Angeles
	June 8-12, 1975: A Week in Toronto, Canada
	Return to Index for 1975

We had a good night's rest in Idaho Falls, had a bit of breakfast, and then headed off towards the Craters of the Moon National Monument.

The previous night, we'd plotted the route over to the Craters of the Moon National Monument (using my large Rand McNally Road Atlas that got quite a workout during our trip). It was pretty simple; we took US Highway 20 west from Idaho Falls to Scoville, and then picked up US Highway 26. This highway took us through Arco, Idaho, and then southwest to the entrance to the National Monument.

The scenery along this stretch of highway was not nearly so pretty as it was yesterday. One reason or consequence of this is the fact that Atomic City (and one of the nation's atomic testing grounds) was located perhaps ten miles south of our route. Here is what that scenery looked like:

It was a 90-mile trip over to the National Monument, where we arrived about 930AM.

Craters of the Moon National Monument

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, situated at an average elevation of 5900 feet, protects a large area of volcanic features; it is one of the best-preserved flood basalt areas in the continental United States. The Monument was established on May 2, 1924 and covers parts of five Idaho counties. The area is managed cooperatively by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

The Monument and Preserve encompass three major lava fields and about 400 square miles of sagebrush steppe grasslands to cover a total area of 1,117 square miles. The Monument alone covers 53,571 acres. All three lava fields lie along the Great Rift of Idaho, with some of the best examples of open rift cracks in the world, including the deepest known on Earth at 800 feet. There are excellent examples of almost every variety of basaltic lava, as well as tree molds (cavities left by lava-incinerated trees), lava tubes (a type of cave), and many other volcanic features.

The Snake River Plain is a volcanic province that was created by a series of cataclysmic caldera-forming eruptions which started about 15 million years ago. A migrating hotspot thought to now exist under Yellowstone Caldera in Yellowstone National Park has been implicated as the cause of these eruptions. In spite of their fresh appearance, the oldest flows in the Craters of the Moon Lava Field are 15,000 years old and the youngest about 2000 years old. Nevertheless, the volcanic fissures at Craters of the Moon are considered to be dormant, not extinct, and are expected to erupt again in less than a thousand years.

The Kings Bowl Lava Field contains most of the volcanic features- explosion pits, lava lakes, squeeze-ups, basalt mounds, and an ash blanket- and was the result of eruptions 2200 years ago. The Wapi Lava Field, slightly younger, led to the formation of low shield volcanoes and a large, 15-mile cave system of lava tubes. Snow and ice can still be found in some of these tubes into August, due to shielding from the sun and the insulating properties of basalt.

A typical eruption along the Great Rift starts with a curtain of very fluid lava shooting up to 1,000 feet. As the eruption continues, pressure and heat decrease and the chemistry of the lava changes and separate vents are formed. These lead to the formation of cinder cones and spatter cones. Some remain, but others are broken up when lava bursts through their sides. Geologists predict that the area will experience its next eruption some time in the next 900 years, with the most likely period in the next 100 years.

We drove the Loop Road, stopping occasionally to get out and walk some of the short trails. We also stopped to walk through one lava tube- my first time in such a feature. I took a picture, but I couldn't get the flash to work, so I will spare you a black image. As for the other photos I took as we drove around the loop road, they are below:

The Monument is the residue of a number of volcanoes, now extinct, and offered an intriguing look at the effects of volcanic action. The Monument is small, but is well-marked and there are a number of trails one can follow. This is a shot of the general nature of the landscape in the area.

More of the ground in the area, and a huge boulder thrown out, so the guidebook said, from one of the extinct cones in the background.

All plants and animals that live in and around Craters of the Moon are under great environmental stress due to constant dry winds and heat-absorbing black lavas that tend to quickly sap water from living things. Summer soil temperatures often exceed 150 °F (66 °C) and plant cover is generally less than 5% on cinder cones and about 15% over the entire monument.[33] Adaptation is therefore necessary for survival in this semi-arid harsh climate.

A short, quarter-mile trail crossed one of the youngest flows to monoliths and crater fragments rafted here by lava flows. A nearby longer trail (3.5 miles) winds through the vent of North Crater, past the Big Craters to the Spatter Cones parking lot, but we didn't have time for that.

This cinder cone is called the Inferno Cone, and we parked here to get this picture from the overlook, and then we climbed to the top via a short, steep, half-mile path to take in the views. I would never have suspected that these hills were once the source of all the lava in the area.

Water is usually only found deep inside holes at the bottom of blow-out craters. Animals therefore get the moisture they need directly from their food. The black soil on and around cinder cones does not hold moisture for long, making it difficult for plants to establish themselves. Soil particles first develop from direct rock decomposition by lichens and typically collect in crevices in lava flows. Successively more complex plants then colonize the microhabitat created by the increasingly productive soil.

Here are two more panoramic views of the Monument. On our way back out to the highway, we did stop at the Visitor Center and Museum, and I have to admit that they did a good job and that the exhibits were very, very interesting.

The Drive to Portland, Oregon

From Craters of the Moon National Monument, we got back on the highway over to Carey and eventually Mountain Home Idaho.

Here are a couple of pictures that I took along the highway from the Monument to Mountain Home:

Here is some of the scenery near Fairfield.

These are the Salmon River mountains, and Sun Valley is far off in this direction- north.

Once we got to Mountain Home, and back on the Interstate (I-84, this time), there was not a great deal in the way of scenery until we reached the Columbia River near Boardman, Oregon.

The eastern part of Oregon is high rolling hills and small mountain ranges, with forests wherever there is enough water. But eastern Oregon is like eastern Washington; it is basically a high desert. Most moisture that comes in off the Pacific gets dumped on the Cascades, so much of the landscape is dry grassland. It was a very pleasant drive, and we reached the Columbia River at Boardman late in the day.

The Columbia River at Boardman, Oregon

At Boardman, we turned to the west as Interstate 84 ran right alongside the Columbia River.For the rest of the evening, the light was too sparse to get any good pictures at all, although I wish that I had been able to. Here is an aerial view that shows the Columbia River from Boardman to close to Portland, and you can see how the landscape changes as you get further west:

As I said, I wish it had been earlier in the day when we got to this point, because both of us could see how scenic the river was as we drove along, and by the time we got to the really pretty part past The Dalles, Oregon, it had gotten pretty dark.

Looking West Along the Columbia River

I did take one more picture as we left Boardman, and you can see I am looking directly west.

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest, and it has its headwaters in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. It flows northwest and then south into the US state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state of Oregon before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. The river is 1,243 miles long, and its largest tributary is the Snake River. Its drainage basin is roughly the size of France and extends into seven US states and a Canadian province. The fourth-largest river in the United States by volume, the Columbia has the greatest flow of any North American river entering the Pacific.

The Columbia and its tributaries have been central to the region's culture and economy for thousands of years. They have been used for transportation since ancient times, linking the region's many cultural groups. The river system hosts many species of anadromous fish, which migrate between freshwater habitats and the saline waters of the Pacific Ocean. These fish— especially the salmon species— provided the core subsistence for native peoples.

In the late 18th century, a private American ship became the first non-indigenous vessel to enter the river; it was followed by a British explorer, who navigated past the Oregon Coast Range into the Willamette Valley. In the following decades, fur trading companies used the Columbia as a key transportation route. Overland explorers entered the Willamette Valley through the scenic but treacherous Columbia River Gorge, and pioneers began to settle the valley in increasing numbers. Steamships along the river linked communities and facilitated trade; the arrival of railroads in the late 19th century, many running along the river, supplemented these links. Since then, public and private river development has exploded. Locks were built, dredging enlarged shipping channels, and numerous dams have been built for power generation, navigation, irrigation, and flood control. The 14 hydroelectric dams on the Columbia's main stem and many more on its tributaries produce more than 44 percent of total US hydroelectric generation.

We reached Portland about eight, found a place to stay, and ate out for the second night in a row. We also found one, out-of-the-way Baskin-Robbins store.

The Oregon Coast

The next day we drove south from Portland, on Oregon Route 18 towards the Oregon coast, which we reached about ten in the morning.

The Oregon Coast is along the Pacific Ocean, of course, but the area is considered as bordered by the Oregon Coast Range to the east; the Oregon coast is 350 miles long, stretching from California to the Columbia River (the border between Oregon and Washington State). The name "Oregon Coast" is a convenience only, as the area is not a specific geological, environmental, or political entity.

One interesting thing about the Oregon coast, which we didn't know at the time but looking back on it was obviously true, is that the state of Oregon instituted a measure in 1967 that allows free beach access to everyone; no one who owns land along the coast can block access to the beach. (In return for this pedestrian easement, the measure grants landowners certain property tax relief for the beach portion of their land and also allows them to retain certain beach land rights.

Traditionally, the Oregon Coast is regarded as three distinct sub–regions, only one of which we will traverse today- the Central Coast. It extends from just north of where we got to the coast at Lincoln City south to Reedsport, where we left the coast and headed inland.

Along the coast, we'll be on U.S. Route 101, which is the primary highway in the coastal area of Oregon, and, in fact, of California as well, extending all the way to San Diego. Along the way are numerous scenic overlooks, state parks, and recreation areas. Only few highways cross the Coast Range to the interior, though.

The coast was every bit as scenic as we expected, as this view from near Lincoln City shows. The weather was relatively good when we first reached the coast, and it looked as if what fog there was would perhaps burn off during the day. But the weather along the Pacific Coast can be notoriously fickle, and as the day progressed and we traveled south, the fog actually got thicker.

The Central Coast has fewer sandy beaches than does the North Coast, but it has more sea cliffs and terraces, and a greater number of bays. Several small urban areas, like Lincoln City, are scattered along the coast. Two that we found particularly picturesque were Depoe Bay and Newport. These areas are small because there is relatively little usable land squeezed between the mountains and the ocean.

As we headed south, the coast became more and more hilly; the South Coast could easily be described as mountainous. Along the highway, we saw many exposed sandstone cliffs; these cliffs were uplifted during the Neogene Era. Higher layers of exposed sandstone are often varying shades of orange, and are often quite soft to the touch, very brittle, and relatively easily eroded. Lower exposed layers, though less frequent, reveal harder sandstone deposits.

Unlike the higher layers, they are often gray-brown in color and hard in comparison. This lower sandstone often breaks off in large, squared chunks, and some of the offshore rocks that we saw constantly were formed in this way. We did not know it at the time, but Fall typically brings cloudy or foggy days. Even though the weather wasn't perfect, the ride along the coast was still pretty amazing, and I was able to take more good pictures:

We took the opportunity to do laundry near Newport, hoping that the fog would clear enough to make driving down the coast more enjoyable, and if the weather had cleared our trip might have taken us all the way down to San Francisco on Highway 101. But by the time we reached Reedsport, the fog had still not cleared, so, looking at our atlas, we decided to head back inland to another place neither of us had ever been- Crater Lake (National Park).

Crater Lake National Park

At Reedsport, we turned inland on Oregon Highway 38, one of the few highways that connects the inland areas of the state to the coast.

Our Drive to Crater Lake

We took scenic highway 38 east and then southeast to intersect with Interstate 5 at Sutherlin. Then we jogged down the Interstate for about ten miles to Roseburg, stopped for a late lunch, stocked up on food and supplies, and then took Oregon Highway 138 east through the Umpqua National Forest.

The drive through the Umpqua National Forest was beautiful but, frankly, there weren't many vistas along our route- just continual stands of hardwood forest. We were still paralleling the Umpqua River, and passed campground after campground. In retrospect, we probably should have stayed in one of them, because we found those in the National Park all full, but things worked out in the end. We saw numerous signs for various waterfall hikes, but it was getting late so we bypassed them. I think this would be a great place to come back to, though.

We used the road atlas to find our way down to Crater Lake, coming into the National Park from the north.

The only part of this 120-mile stretch that wasn't extremely scenic was the portion right around the Interstate which, of course, had been built up a good deal. All the rest of it was rural, and Highway 138 east of Roseburg was just about wilderness.

This picture was taken about twenty miles east of Reedsport, where the highway criss-crosses the Umpqua River.

We got to Crater Lake after sunset, and as the road ascended to the park entrance, I shot this panorama of the Umpqua National Forest.

Arriving at Crater Lake National Park

Highway 138 came into Crater Lake National Park from the north; it was late in the day and the entrance station wasn't manned, so we had to pay our entrance fee by using one of the little envelopes at the station. Then we drove south to come to the rim road that goes all the way around the lake.

Wizard Island in Crater Lake

Just to the left, when we got to the park road, there was a turnout trailhead where we stopped to take some pictures. There was no time for a hike, but there was just enough light to take a few pictures. The first picture I took looked almost directly south towards one of the lake's most famous features- Wizard Island. That picture is at left. And to show you where we are, I have put a map of Crater Lake below, and on it have marked where we are and the directions of the picture at left and the two others that we took from here.

Here are the two other pictures we took this evening- the first looking east and the second southeast out over the lake. That pole that you see in the first picture below is a guide for snowplows, and it marks the corner where the Rim Drive intersects with the north entrance road. We saw numerous such poles here, marking places where a road might turn in a place that might not be obvious.

The View East Along the Rim

Looking Southeast Across the Lake

Even in the dying daylight, we could easily see that Crater Lake is well-deserving of its reputation as one of the most beautiful places in the entire United States.

This last view of the day again looks south towards Rim Village. Even though you can't see them in this picture, we could begin to see the lights of the facilities there, some three or four miles away.

We followed the west rim drive to the south exit and from there to the Mazama Campground one of two campgrounds here; both campgrounds are about six miles south of the actual lake, and just inside the boundary of the National Park.

When we drove into the campground, and started looking for a site, it seemed as if all the sites were already taken. The campground was quite large, and there were many little circles with campsites, but we could see that some of these "campground loops" were roped off. Neither of us were savvy enough to know for sure what this meant, so Tony was going to try the "sharing a site" routine again.

Looking at the roped-off loops, the sites looked clean and ready, so I surmised that the rangers had roped them off not because there was something wrong with them, but maybe because at this time of year there were not usually enough campers to require all the sites, and maybe the rangers wanted to open just the sections they absolutely needed to, to avoid having to clean restrooms and campsites scattered all around the area.

So I suggested that we park near one of the roped-off loops and walk in to claim a campsite, taking our sleeping bags and cooler with us. Indeed, I saw a couple of other parties doing the same thing. It was not long before a ranger came by and officially opened that particular loop, which seemed to indicate that I was right in why it was closed in the first place. (In the morning, I could see that there was even another loop or two that had been opened sometime in the evening, as there were lots more sites taken than were taken when we first arrived.)

We made some sandwiches, sodas, and chips for dinner, and then we followed the directions on the campground announcement board to find the open-air theature where a ranger talk was being given. The talk was interesting, but the best part was the large, warm, fire that had been built in the center of the amphitheatre.

Starting the Circular Rim Drive

The next morning we started out on a drive all the way around Crater Lake, a drive which must be taken going clockwise, for the part of the Rim Road on the east side of the crater between the north and south entrance roads is one-way.

If you would like to follow along on our circumnavigational trip around Crater Lake, you can refer to the park map at left. We came up from the campground to the south, and when we got to the Rim Drive, we turned left to start around the lake.

Crater Lake National Park was established in 1902, and is the fifth-oldest national park in the United States and the only national park in Oregon. The park encompasses the caldera of Crater Lake, a remnant of a destroyed volcano, Mount Mazama, and the surrounding hills and forests.

The lake itself is 1,949 feet deep at its deepest point, which makes it the deepest lake in the United States, the second-deepest in North America and the ninth-deepest in the world. But this ranking is a bit murky, as one of the deeper lakes, the subglacial Lake Vostok in Antarctica, is actually under nearly 13,000 feet of ice. Crater Lake is a bit more impressive when you rank lakes by their average depth; at 1,148 feet Crater Lake becomes the deepest in the Western Hemisphere and the third-deepest in the world. The impressive average depth of this volcanic lake is due to the nearly symmetrical 4,000-foot-deep caldera formed 7,700 years ago during the violent climactic eruptions and subsequent collapse of Mount Mazama and the relatively moist climate that is typical of the crest of the Cascade Range.

The caldera rim ranges in elevation from 7,000 to 8,000 feet (although we are talking much, much less than that when you measure from the actual level of the lake surface itself, which the USGS has benchmarked at 6,178 feet. The national park encompasses 286 square miles. Crater Lake has no streams flowing into or out of it. All water that enters the lake is eventually lost from evaporation or subsurface seepage. The lake's water commonly has a striking blue hue, and the lake is refilled entirely from direct precipitation in the form of snow and rain.

So, driving up from the south past the Visitor Center, we reached Rim Village (a store, the lodge, a few restaurants, a gas station, and some exhibits) and headed east.

The first shot of the morning was taken from Eagle Point, which is right at Rim Village. We had stopped to walk around there and get something to eat for breakfast. The view in this piture looks past Wizard Island to a formation known as Llao Rock.

Wizard Island is a volcanic cinder cone which forms an island at the west end of Crater Lake. The peak of the island has an elevation of 6,933 feet- about 755 feet above the surface of the lake. We did not get out to the island to see it (in the summer there are tours you can take to it), but the cone is capped by a volcanic crater about 500 feet wide and 100 feet deep. The crater was named the "Witches Cauldron" by William Gladstone Steel in 1885, who also gave Wizard Island its name at the same time. The land area of the island is about 300 acres.

The Garfield Peak Hike

Garfield Peak is at the south end of Crater Lake, and it is 7,976 feet above sea level. When we were walking around Crater Lake Lodge, we saw the trailhead for a 1.7 mile trail to the top, and decided to have a go at it. The elevation gain would be a little under a thousand feet, and we'd read that this was one of the more popular day hikes here at Crater Lake.

The Garfield Peak trail travels over or parallels the westernmost stretch of the southern rim of Crater Lake, and most of the northern ridges of the trail have views of the lake and its two islands. The trailhead was well marked on the eastern side of Crater Lake Lodge and began with a section of paved corridors that have great views. At numerous spots, you can look almost directly down to the lake itself (and need to be careful not slide down the hillside). In my picture at left, you can see how steep the hillside is.

The pavement transitions to an exposed but well maintained dirt trail leading northeastward. Approximately half a mile from the trailhead the track turns northward ascending the northwestern ridge of Garfield Peak. The trail slowly turns fully eastward over the northernmost ridge of Garfield Peak up to the summit. As advertised, there was a moderate rated ascension gain of about 1100 feet up to the top of the peak. The trail does continue around to the east, but we will just be doing the 90-minute walk up to the peak and back.

About a half-mile into the hike, we got high enough and eastward enough that the views really opened up.

That is not Garfield Peak in the distance; that mountain is Mt. Scott, and it is about eight miles away. In the foreground, you can see a ridgeline; this ridge is part of Garfield Peak, and the summit is off to the right, another mile further on.

Notice that small island in the lake; this was our first view of a formation called the "phantom ship." It is a natural rock formation pillar which derives its name from its resemblance to a ghost ship, especially in foggy and low-light conditions.

The rock feature is mainly formed from andesite rock that dates from about 400,000 years ago, partly altered by hydrothermal activity. The island is situated on the south east end of Crater Lake and projects more than 656 feet out from the wall of the caldera. The island is about 500 feet by 200 feet in area and over a hundred feet high. The vegetation is similar to that on Wizard Island (except that Phantom Ship Island has no lodgepole pine, as it is too rocky and steep).

Garfield Peak was created after Mount Mazama, a large stratovolcano, erupted violently approximately 7,700 years ago, formed on the rim of its caldera which now contains Crater Lake. The walls along the southern rim of Crater Lake have had a peculiar influence from sulfur steams coming off fumaroles, which color the rock especially on Garfield Peak. The rock color frequently changes from shades of red, brown, to yellow. The reds and browns of the igneous rocks tend to be a result of the initial stages of rock decay and the inevitable pigments made by a long-standing combination of oxygen, iron, and water.

We continued our very pleasant walk to the peak where, as advertised, the views were pretty neat:

This view from the top looks northwest- along the Rim Drive that we'll be on a bit later.

This view looks south towards Union Peak.

We came back from our hike in late morning, and began our clockwise tour around the Rim Drive of Crater Lake. The first beautiful views both featured Wizard Island.

From about a mile up the Rim Drive, here is a panoramic view of the entire western half of Crater Lake, featuring Wizard Island right in the center. I used my wide-angle lens in an attempt to get in the sweep of the lake, and include as much of the Western shoreline as possible.

We drove a ways further on, and pretty soon came to Discovery Point, basically directly west of Wizard Island, so this view looks mainly east from that point. The blue color of the lake makes the picture strikingly beautiful. This was supposedly the view to greet the discoverers of the area.

Wizard Island was also created by the Mount Mazama eruption. Following the cataclysmic caldera-forming eruption, a series of smaller eruptions over the next several hundred years formed several cinder cones on the caldera floor. The highest of these cones, the only one to rise above the current lake level, is Wizard Island. There is a second large cinder cone, Merriam Cone, but it isn't high enough to break the surface.

After I took the last picture of Wizard Island, we saw that there was a trailhead for a short, half-mile trail, that led up to the top of The Watchman, one of the many peaks around the rim of Crater Lake, so we walked up to the top to see what we could see. What we could see was a beautiful view across the lake to the "Phantom Ship".

Also from the top of The Watchman we had great views to the north and northwest. The mountain in the distance, just to the left of the tree, is Mt. Thielsen.

Mount Thielsen, or Big Cowhorn, is an extinct shield volcano. But it doesn't look like one, as glaciers have heavily eroded the volcano's structure, creating precipitous slopes and a horn-like peak. The spire-like shape of Thielsen attracts lightning strikes and creates fulgurite, an unusual mineral. The prominent horn forms a centerpiece for the Mount Thielsen Wilderness, a reserve for recreational activities such as skiing and hiking.

Thielsen was produced by subduction of the Juan de Fuca Plate under the North American Plate. Volcanism near the Cascades dates back to 55 million years ago, and extends from British Columbia to California. Thielsen is part of the High Cascades, a branch of the main Cascades range that includes Oregonian volcanoes less than 3.5 million years old; it is also a member of a group of extinct volcanoes distinguished by their sharp peaks.

We continued our drive around the lake, passing the place where we entered yesterday. Beyond that intersection, the road becomes one-way, even though it is still two lanes. Why this is true, I don't really know. On the extreme north side of the lake, we came to Cleetwood Cove, and the parking area for the only trail that accesses the shoreline of the lake, so of course we had to hike down. The trail descends 650 feet and was opened in 1960. The 1.1-mile trail has an 11% grade- nice going down but very strenuous on the return trip. A dock with concessionaire boats facilitates tours around the lake with a stop at Wizard Island for dropping off and picking up passengers. Swimming and fishing are permitted. Snow may cover the trail from October to July with some variance depending on yearly snowfall conditions.

This is Cleetwood Cove, and this picture was taken from a point about halfway down the very steep trail to the shore of Crater Lake.

This picture is one that not many people take, as you have to hike the Cleetwood Cove trail to get it. Signs at the top of the trail warn of its strenuous nature on the way back up. Even for us, the trip up seemed a lot longer than it actually was.

But we did make it back up in good shape, although I will proudly point out that we passed quite a few folks taking it a good deal more slowly on the way up the trail. On the other hand, I'll admit that we were both a bit winded, and that before we headed off again on the rim drive, we stopped to relax and have some lunch.

The View from Grotto Cove
Continuing on the drive, we came around the northeast corner of the lake and found a parking area at Grotto Cove, where we got out to have a look at the view. The picture at left, taken from that overlook, is another good view of Mt. Thielsen off in the distance.

At this overlook, there were a number of signs detailing some of the history of the National Park itself. That history began with the local Native Americans who witnessed the collapse of Mount Mazama and kept the event alive in their legend of two Chiefs- Llao of the Below World and Skell of the Above World- pitted in a battle which ended up in the destruction of Llao's home, Mt. Mazama and the creation of Crater Lake.

In 1853, a trio of gold prospectors including John Wesley Hillman became the first white people to visit the lake, which they named "Deep Blue Lake" and the place on the southwest side of the rim where he first saw the lake later became known as Discovery Point. But gold was on their minds and their discovery wasn't publicized; locals began calling the feature Crater Lake. One such local, William Gladstone Steel, thought the feature should be protected, and in 1870 he began his efforts to bring recognition to the area, participating in surveys and naming many of the lake's landmarks, including Wizard Island, Llao Rock, and Skell Head.

With the help of geologist Clarence Dutton, Steel organized a USGS expedition to study the lake in 1886. The party carried the Cleetwood, a half-ton survey boat, up the steep slopes of the mountain then lowered it to the lake. From the stern of the Cleetwood, a piece of pipe on the end of a spool of piano wire sounded the depth of the lake at 168 different points, and their deepest sounding turned out to be just 50 feet off the modern determination.

Partly based on data from the expedition and lobbying from Steel and others, Crater Lake National Park was established May 22, 1902 by President Theodore Roosevelt. And because of Steel's involvement, Crater Lake Lodge was opened in 1915 and the Rim Drive was completed in 1918. Shortly thereafter, highways to the park were built, and tourism took off.

The 1929 edition of O Ranger!, a publication that was intended for tourists in the Pacific Northwest, described access and facilities available by then:

"Crater Lake National Park is reached by train on the Southern Pacific Railroad lines into Medford and Klamath Falls, at which stops motor stages make the short trip to the park. A hotel on the rim of the lake offers accommodations. For the motorist, the visit to the park is a short side trip from the Pacific and Dalles-California highways. He will find, in addition to the hotel, campsites, stores, filling stations. The park is open to travel from late June or July 1 for as long as snow does not block the roads, generally until October."

Continuing south, we came to the Pinnacles Highway, and so we took the side trip three miles to the southeast to visit that geologic feature of the Park.

(Picture at left) Just southeast of the lake, the Pinnacles are a group of volcanic pumice spires, colored various shades of grey and brown, formed by erosion along the south edge of the steep-sided canyon of Wheeler Creek. Some cones are especially tall and graceful, dozens of feet tall and tapering very gradually to a sharp point - perhaps the narrowest erosional features in the West, certainly more slender than, for example the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon in Utah or the strange pillars of the Tent Rocks in New Mexico.   (Picture at right) The pinnacles, also known as fossil fumaroles, are surrounded by a belt of vegetation-free earth, which contrasts greatly with the lush greenery all around; pine woods on the canyon rim, bushes and grass along the valley floor. We walked the half mile Pinnacles Trail to the viewpoint for them. This was a very short hike, but popular owing to the unusual geology.

Returning to the Rim Drive, we were almost back to our starting point. In fact, the last overlook that we stopped at, and the last picture that I took here, were both for The Phantom Ship.

The "Phantom Ship" Formation

The Phantom Ship is a small island in the southeast corner of the lake. It is a natural rock formation pillar which derives its name from its resemblance to a ghost ship, especially in foggy and low-light conditions.

There was no trail down to the shore here, so I couldn't get a much better picture than the one at left. But a closeup view of the island (seen through the telescopes here at the overlook) was really neat, so I went out and got a stock photo of the island, which was taken from a boat along the shore. That photo is at right.

Phantom Ship Island is mainly formed from andesite rock that dates from about 400,000 years ago, partly altered by hydrothermal activity. The island is situated about 650 feet out into the lake from the wall of the caldera. The island is not very big- only about 500 feet by 200 feet, but the rock features are a couple hundred feet high. There is relatively little vegetation on the island, due to the sheer rock walls.

All I can say about Crater Lake is "Wow!". I'd seen pictures of it before, of course, but as in so very many instances, the pictures simply don't do it justice- even those taken by professional photographers, which I certainly am not. If you ever get the opportunity to visit this natural wonder, take it. You won't be disappointed.

So what interesting and/or beautiful places will we see tomorrow? To find out, just click the button below:

	November 29-30, 1975: A Weekend in Los Angeles
	June 8-12, 1975: A Week in Toronto, Canada
	Return to Index for 1975