17.04.2012- 17.04.2012   2 °C

A yummy brekky was the start to our day today Redmond thru to Crater Lake National Park (Best Western don’t do too bad a brekky!). Not too far down the road we ran into one of the US’s lava parks. Unfortunately the park was closed for the winter but the bit we could see from the road reminded me a lot of the lava flows that we saw on the Big Island of Hawaii. Only difference was that this lava was a rich red colour and from what I remember the lava on the Big Island was more a dark brown/ black colour. Still, seeing lava flows this time round was just as exciting as when I first saw them on the Big Island. I also saw a deer jump out in front of the car inside the park which is pretty exciting as this is the first deer I’ve seen on this trip! (no photo op though, he was a bit too quick for me!)

Morning tea was at a local rest stop somewhere on the main road. When we got out of the car we immediately dove back in for more jumpers.. Holy dooley, it is colder here than it was skiing at Whistler.. the wind is blowing and the temp is just above freezing.. Our stop was probably the quickest coffee stop we’ve had yet! D got out his gloves and beanie it was that cold (and the beanie didn’t get a run at Whistler…)

As we continued southward the mountains became more and more dominant on the skyline with their snow capped peaks. Slowly we climbed into the mountains and took a detour to Diamond Lake. Diamond Lake is this huge lake near to Crater Lake that at the moment is covered in snow! In fact, the snow banks are so high in these parts that I swear there must be snow here all year round! Diamond Lake is pretty hard to describe, blinding white light (reflected off the snow) in stark contrast to the darkness of the volcano behind..

By the time we made it to Crater Lake National Park the clouds had really come in low and the snow was just starting to fall. I thought there had been big snow banks at Diamond Lake but they were minnows compared to the banks in the park! The snow banks here are at least three times the height of the car! Just amazing! The two story lodge at crater lake is almost completely buried in snow! The fir trees are all still covered in snow.. completely awesome! (In fact way better snow conditions than what we had skiing… and I thought they were good!)

Because it was v cold and snowing we headed straight in for a bowl of soup and to watch the video about how the crater was formed. The crater was created when a huge volcano blew and as the magma chamber emptied the top of the mountain collapsed down on itself forming this perfect crater with a tiny island in the middle. Over the intervening thousand years the crater has slowly filled up with water forming the lake as it is today. Surprisingly, the lake has only frozen over twice since it was named as a Nat Park. It doesn’t freeze because the lake is so deep and kept warmish (a toasty 5 or 6 deg) by the volcano (which is still active it will just take a long time to refill its magma chamber!)

We braved the cold and snow to get a snap of the crater (even with it being almost fogged in) before heading back down the mountain to find our digs. The drive down was really awesome because it was snowing heavily for most of the drive down the mountain.. a bonus was us seeing a wolf or coyote running across the road! Two lots of wildlife sightings in one day!!!

Today was our last day in Oregon as tomorrow we are driving out of the state in to Northern California to see the Redwood National Park. I’m a little sad to leave the state because it is truly spectacular.. huge mountain ranges, fir trees galore, snow ++++ and this is all coupled with the arid high desert! Amazing changes and landscapes! I think this part of the world will deserve another visit at some point in the future.

Song of the Day– Dean Martin, Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!