Oregon: Crater Lake National Park

 Another day of wonder, another first for us, a caldera formed 7700 years ago.

Riding the Rim Drive, the 33 mile road encircling Crater Lake. What a privilege to drive this road.

The scenery is unmatched and each stop is yet another viewpoint of this deep blue lake formed when the volcano blew and then collapsed on itself.

The lake is almost 2000' deep at its deepest point and the encircling rim ranges from 500' to nearly 2000' above the lake.

                                                          Crater Lake GoPro video…...

A layer of exposed orange pumice, creating Pumice Castle

The oldest exposed rock within the caldera - Phantom Ship

Rock formation at Watchman Overlook

Wizard Island

And Crater Lake

Just beautiful.

Crater Lake National Park: The Pinnacles

Just when I thought that I had seen it all!

These are The Pinnacles, in the Crater Lake National Park and they are fossil fumaroles.

They stand as tall as the Ponderosa Pines.

The fumaroles are formed when hot volcanic gases rise up through a layer of volcanic ash and the heat cements the ash into solid rock.

Erosion of the soft rock exposes these weird and wonderful forms.

Quite remarkable volcanic features