Crater Lake National Park

We drove to Crater Lake National Park today.  We basically drove a road that circled the lake, called the rim road.  It was a 33 mile long road.  The average temp today was 47 and it was quite windy.  For the last few weeks the north entrance of the park has been closed due to forest fires.  Today the north entrance was open, but there was still a significant amount of smoke in the air.  It wasn't a good day to take good clear pictures, but the National Park was still amazing. The lake was formed when a massive volcanic eruption 7,700 years ago left a deep basin in the place where a mountain peak once stood.  Centuries of rain and snow filled the basin, forming a deep blue lake.  Here are some amazing stats of Crater Lake:

• The lake is 6.02 miles across (maximum) and 4.54 across (minimum).
• The lake is the deepest lake in the United States at 1943 feet at its deepest.
• It holds 4.9 trillion gallons of water.
• Snowfall in the area averages 44 feet.

The small island in the lake is called "Phantom Ship".  Though is resembles a small sailboat, the island is as tall as a 16 story building.

This island is called Wizard Island.  It is a volcanic cinder cone which forms an island at the west end of the lake.  The top of the island reaches about 755 feet above the average surface of the lake. The cone is capped by a volcanic crater about 500 feet wide and 100 feet deep.

Took this picture looking north of Crater Lake.  You can see how smoky it is.

A picture of the lake that I didn't take.  It shows what it would look like on a clear day