![]() We rushed to take photos with that small gap. While looking at the lake, we noticed a gap in the clouds to see across the lake. It was socked in, but we decided to take a short walk. After watching the bird and throwing a few snowballs gently at each other, we made our way toward the west rim road. It didn’t seem to mind the frosty, blitzing wind. When the wind changed, could see a sliver of the lake – it was so much closer than we anticipated! There was a Clark’s Nutcracker bird in the tree, which had a little white head and breast with dark feathers. We made jokes about beautiful Crater Lake with absolutely no view. We decided to take a walk over to the rim to check it out. ![]() The cashier let us know that it was a mild winter, and they had only gotten about 18 ft of snow at that point. I spent a while in the extensive gift shop and walked away with the grey beanie(featured in some of my photos). You can visit the gift shop on the floor below, rent snowshoes, and buy food at the cafeteria. There are some tables on the top floor if you want to eat indoors. We couldn’t tell how far we were from the lake and I bet it is a nice view in clear weather. There is also a “viewing window,” which was comical in dense clouds. Plastic tables with presentations boards were set up with the history of Lake and were informative. The visitor’s center was on the top floor, but didn’t seem like the permanent location. With the news from the ranger at the entrance, we reset our expectations from “we are going to get great views of Crater Lake today!” to “let’s go see what we can see and enjoy the snow at Crater Lake.” We checked out the visitor’s center and gift shop after using the restroom (which was thankfully heated inside). When we arrived on the first day, it was lightly sprinkling and didn’t look promising for clear skies. A massive volcanic eruption created a caldera 7,700 years ago-snow and rain filled in all of the water you see today.It’s only ever frozen over one time in recent history (in 1949) because of the volume of water in the lake (5 trillion gallons).It’s only about 6 miles across at its widest.The lake is 1,943 feet deep, making it the deepest lake in the United States and the 8th deepest in the world.Other notable facts about Crater Lake include: ![]() With this in mind, we arranged our trip so that we could visit on Monday, February 28, and Tuesday, March 1.īy driving up to the South Rim, you can visit the “Rim Village.” It’s pretty cute that they call it a village because, in winter, there are only two buildings open – the visitor’s center/gift shop and the bathrooms! There are more buildings around that were boarded up until summer. They clear one road up to the south rim most days (I read that they close it some days, so check the National Park Website for current conditions). I was super shocked to hear this and wondered what the National Park does to have visitors in winter. Winter is a bit of a different story as it gets buried under an average of 43+ feet of snow each year. Crater Lake in summer is a sight to behold with deep turquoise water and slopes on all sides. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |