Rodriguez Road Trip: The Eighth Wonder of the World

CRATER LAKE

THE BLUE ENIGMA

By Russell Andrews, Park Ranger

Blue enigma of ages, ringed with immutable rock,

Fiery cradle of mountains whose barren ridged mock

Man's puny and ceaseless endeavor, his straining and pigmy strife;

Let him look on the patience of ages and know the end of life.

Mighty forge of the Titans where mountains were welded and made,

Glaciers have cooled your seething, hemlocks reared their shade,

And now you mirror your cradle, your mountain-making done,

And now your inscrutable depths reflect the dwelling of the sun.

Now men stand safe on your lava brink with awe intaken breath

Lost in the contemplation of a mighty mountains' death.

Incredible! Breathtaking! Better than we'd ever imagined! I grew up in Oregon and never saw Crater Lake until now. Our one and a half day excursion taught us so much about Mt. Mazuma, the volcano that folded in on itself to form the lake 7,7000 years ago. We went the first few weeks that the park was open for the Summer. We learned we should have waited until August when the mosquito population dies down. We camped in the national park which didn't have any camp sites with electricity, water, or sewer. We weren't prepared for dry camping and had a fridge full of food, so we could only stay one night.

The drive in Crater Lake National Park was gorgeous and trecherous! They had recently just cleared all the roads of snow to open the park...and it was July! It is only open for driving around the rim (33miles) July - October. They were doing some construction on the road shoulders while we were there. With good reason....check out the video below...Tim's knuckles seemed permantantly white after traveling this road with a 5o ft. camper in tow! Nana would have peed her pants on this trip! I almost did!

We all wanted to know...WHY IS CRATER LAKE SO BLUE?
Answer: The water is so blue because there is hardly anything else in it – just water. It’s not pure water, but it’s close. Water molecules with no sediments, algae, pesticides or pollution, will absorb all the colors of the spectrum except the blues. Those wavelengths will bounce back and make the water appear blue. The key is to have relatively pure water and lots of it. There has to be enough molecules to absorb all the other colors. (There are 4.6 trillion gallons of water in the lake, so it works really well.)

Everybody had their pictures overlooking the lake...