When you turn off of hwy 97 to drive the 20 miles to Crater Lake, the first thing you notice, is that this is the longest stretch of road you have ever seen. It is 15 miles to the first bend and because it is going up you can see em all. Crater Lake is a caldera formed by a collapsed volcano and is in addition to being as much as 1900 feet deep, it’s 5 miles by 6 miles in size. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States, and the park is a National Park. The rim of the lake is between 7 and 8000 feet in elevation. It may seem odd at first to drive to the middle of Oregon to look at a lake, but the pictures don’t completely tell the story of seeing the lake in person. The road is closed much of the year, and when we stayed at the lodge a few years ago in August, it got below freezing at night even then. I have made the bottom photo my current desktop and if anyone wants a full sized picture, just email me.
