Incredible BLUE water...............

I don't think we've ever taken as many photos of one place....Our 3 days of picture perfect weather with total blue skies must have helped.  Crater Lake just took our breaths away.  Such a jewel of a place!

We were able to get on the last boat trip of the season the day we arrived.  At 3:30 pm we pulled out from the dock (after having walked down a  trail with a 700 foot drop).  Cruised around the lake in the next two hours for incredible views.  On board, the Ranger gave us some great history, facts and figures.  Over 1700 feet deep makes this the deepest freshwater lake. The last eruption was 7700 years ago and the top of the Mazama volcano dropped, forming the caldera where we were currently boating.  And finally, the lake is at equilibrium with the snow melt matching the evaporation.  All really neat!

We also hiked some pretty magnificent hikes.  To the top, we headed...first on the Garfield Peak trail (3.4 miles, 1000 ft climb), and then on the Mt. Scott trail (5 miles, 1200 ft climb).  We just couldn't stop taking more and more pictures.  And we've gotten to be good elevation hikers.



Crater Lake is just plain....a WOW  !!!