Crater Lake Blue

We had the most perfect day touring Crater Lake National Park. The blueness of this beautiful spot is just astounding. I literally could not stop taking picture after picture. Another volcanic geological wonder and the deepest lake in the US. Super blue and clear because it is fed only from rain and snow, no springs, creeks, or rivers.

We were a little worried, because the road through the park is basically a circle, and we had planned on entering from the south and just doing a loop, exiting the same way. Then we found out the road was shut down just before our entrance/exit. So that meant trekking all the way back after going one way. We didn’t know what that would mean time-wise.

It turns out we had nothing to worry about, because we had the entire park to ourselves!!! At almost every scenic overlook we were alone or maybe there was one other car overlapping us. It was a phenomenal way to experience this park, which is crazy town in the summers. Absolutely perfect weather, the bluest sky to match the water, and a relaxing incredibly scenic drive to enjoy!

Hope you enjoy the color BLUE!

Found a terrific little secluded picnic spot for lunch.

This jutting rock formation is called the Phantom Ship, which it really does resemble. The rocks are the oldest in the park, over 400,000 years old.

In addition to being generally happy campers with this roadtrip, like always, we were also particularly excited that we almost have BINGO (top line) on the custom Roadtrip Bingo card I made (yes, it’s laminated) when we saw two baby fawns with their mother after also seeing rangers wearing their official hats and passing through a town with the mascot name the Tulelake Honkers

Oh, and I became obsessed with the roadside snow markers used in Crater NP - identically spec’d lodgepole pine cut from straight, live, standing trees, with every limb and branch removed. They actually specify how straight and narrow the trunks must be. Normally they are just metal, so I thought these were pretty cool. Apparently recently they put in an order for 900 more for this season.