Visiting Crater Lake National Park
CRATER LAKE, OREGON
Crater Lake National Park has been on my list for a while. I wanted to go when there was still snow but the roads were open and it was warm enough weather to do some night photography. This past weekend turned out to be the perfect time. The weather forecast called for temperatures from 34 degrees to 91 degrees.
The flight up there is around five hours in the Cessna so it took two legs to get there. The first leg was to Stockton. On final approach there was an old WWII bomber in the pattern taking people for a ride that were enjoying a few days at the 2016 Bomber Camp. It was a treat to see them from the air and up close while landing on a parallel runway. After lunch and fuel it was off to Klamath Falls, which is the closet airport to (with car rental at the airport) to Crater Lake National Park. The flight to Klamath Falls included an close flyby of Mount Shasta. The views were amazing!
The hour drive up to Crater Lake was spectacular and with amazing lake views! Finally climbing up to the rim and seeing the lake for the first time made the trip worth it. Crater Lake was actually Mount Mazama before it blew its top off some 7,700 years ago. So, in fact, the lake sits in an ancient volcano and has no rivers that flow into or out of it. It also just so happens to be the deepest lake in the United States and the ninth deepest in the world at almost 2,000 feet deep. Upon arrival, I noticed that there was still a ton of snow everywhere, despite the temperature being in the high 80s. I am glad that it was warm because I was in shorts, a t-shirt and flip flops. This was the first weekend this season that a portion of the rim road was opened and so all of the facilities were still gearing up for the year.
The sun was at a great angle, giving the lake its famous deep blue look. Running around to all of the overlooks, I tried to get as many photos as I could. I had it on my list that I wanted to climb up to Watchman Overlook to take in the view from high atop one of the peaks. However, the trail was officially closed. There were a couple tracks going up the hill so I decided to give it a try. The trail was steep and the snow was shin deep but icy so it made it slick. It was a bit of a climb to the top but I made it and was rewarded with a great unobstructed view of the lake. the sun was setting so it was time to climb down from the fire tower and get setup for some night photography.
As the first stars started shining, it was evident that Crater Lake was a very dark place at night and a lot of stars would be visible. I used my 24-105mm f/4.0L and while the stars and Milky Way appeared nicely in the photos, it wasn't quite wide enough to capture the whole lake. I overheard some photographers talking about the northern lights being predicted for that night. I was highly excited because that is something that I have also wanted to see for quite some time. I learned that there is a scale from 1-9 that NASA and NOAA use to predict the northern lights. They use data from the ACE spacecraft by measuring solar winds. The higher the number, the more active the lights will be. It takes a three to see them in southern Canada and a five or six to see them in the northern part of the United States. It turns out that the prediction was downgraded to a three and I never did see the lights that night. The next night was predicted to be a six but the skies were going to be overcast and I was not going to be there.
I got a few hours sleep while waiting for the first lights of morning to show. Just after 4:00AM, the sky started showing signs of the coming sun. The morning light proved that Crater Lake is very photogenic, no matter the time of day. I watched the sun rise over the rim and decided to get some breakfast before taking some last photos of the lake.
On the trip back to the airport, I made a couple stops to photograph an old barn along the roadside and some cows in the pastures. The last few photos are some that my friend took of me while out and about at Crater Lake. I am not usually on the other side of the camera these days but the lake was too tempting not to be. If you get the chance, make sure to visit Crater Lake National Park.
It was now time to start heading back and a stop in Point Reyes to break up the flight back. Stay tuned to see what I found in Point Reyes.
