The Oregonian Life

Crater Lake August 10th, 2013

When all else fails, just observe.

For the last four weeks I've been in an accelerated Biology class to help me get some credits to graduate faster. It's technically been a class on Forest Ecology and we got to spend the majority of our time out in the field learning about the forests we travel to. Ill do a post for most of the trips, but this one had to come first,  cause honestly... I'm impatient and this was my favorite!

For all intensive purposes the trip definitely started out the shittiest.

Rain?
          Thunder?
                            Lightening?
                                          Freezing Temperatures?
                                                                                                                                                                                               No Problem -.-


It was all of the above when we first got to camp. Luckily we got most of it set up before the real heavy rain started and in true Oregonian fashion none of my class mates really seemed to mind it. Most of them actually seemed to enjoy the rainy clashing and flashing of the storm with the exception of some students who obviously had recently relocated from some sunnier regions in California.

FACT: Nobody from Oregon is that tan... Or that afraid of rain. 

      Wanted to Samuel L. Jackson yell,"Get yo ass out from underneath that tree!"

After we setup we went to the rim of the lake and let me tell you, it's sheer beauty just about knocked the wind out of me. Of course I had heard of crater lake before but, I'm kinda ashamed to say that after living less than 4 hours away from it, this was my first time actually seeing it.  The picture from above was the first picture I took and even though the clouds were out, you can still see how majestic this place really is.

History Lesson: 

In case you didn't know Crater lake was once a volcano, Mt. Mazama to be exact, and some odd hundreds of thousands of years ago it erupted. Now, when the volcano erupted all the magma that the hard rock was sitting on escaped and the mountain caved in on itself. Just in case you are old enough to remember Mt. St. Helen's erupting in Washington, take that and multiply that about a hundred times; That was the size of the eruption. (If you don't believe me fact check me at the Crater Lake Website)  After the concave happened Wizard Island Formed inside the caldera and is now one of the only real visible piece of land above water in the lake. After thousand and thousands of years snow melt and rain water  filled the caldera, badda bing badda boom, lake!

Wizard Island, Crater lake, Oregon

May 22nd, 1902 the lake has been turned into a national park and people from all over the wold, since then, come to visit and see its impressive blue waters, sheer beauty, and vastness. 

After a while it got dark and one of our group members told us that the night we were staying was the first night of a meteor shower. Every one in the camp started getting antsy and we all decided to drive up to the rim of the lake to watch the meteor shower. Never had a heard such ... nothing and seen such...  everything. That's the only way to describe it. We all just sat there and from the moment we got there to the moment we left we all just enjoyed the comfortable silence with each other, observing the amazing beauty that was around us. We would look to the left, meteor. We would look to the right, meteor. It was a never ending light show put on by mother nature herself.

I didn't bring my camera and I was really mad at myself for not snapping a picture of it. It's okay though, some things you're just gonna have to see for yourself because a picture just wouldn't do it justice.

All is well that ends well I suppose. After a long freezing night and a VERY real/imaginary encounter with a bear, that turned out to be a snoring class mate, we went back to the rim the say farewell to the lake. Oddly enough it kinda said goodbye too in its own little nature-y way... after all the rain there was a rainbow.

Crater Lake, Rainbow

For those of you now inspired to visit the beautiful park...

Here are some tips that you may find helpful on your journey.

• The closest gas station to the lake is pretty far away: Fill up before you drive around up there.
• The food at the lodges and stores are VERY overpriced: If you have the room, try to pack your own sustenance. 
• There is a lot of wildlife here, being a national park in all: DON'T FEED THE ANIMALS. No matter how cute. Once fed, some animals stop trying to feed themselves and during the winter this is really devastating to their population
• The nights there get extremely cold, even in the summer: Brings layers and thick blankets.
• Stay away from the edges: Doesn't matter how ninja you are, if you fall you're most likely going to die.
• Don't plan on swimming: There are no locations to swim and the water would be too cold anyways.

All in all just enjoy and have a great time.