Day 43: Crater Lake, Oregon

When you hear and then see Crater Lake, you start to understand the power of Mother Nature. The crater was created by a large amount of magma building up inside the volcano and spreading out horizontally. When the volcano erupted, all the magma shot out and left the inside around the peak hollow. The peak was too heavy and crashed and everything fell into the hole. Thus, the huge lake was formed. The lake does not connect to another body of water. Crater Lake gets water from rain and snow.

Yesterday Theresa had called the Visitor Center to make sure the RV could get up the mountain. The ranger told her that the roads were plowed up to the Visitor Center only. The ranger said the RV shouldn't have any trouble. Crazy! In Shasta we were swimming and in shorts. In 3.5 hours we would be in snow! 

2.5 hours into our drive we were still in 70 degree weather and the sun was shining. The scenery completely changed the last hour. As we slowly made our way up the mountain, you could start seeing patches of snow in the forest. The patches turned to thick layers of snow. The snow bank from plowing the roads were getting higher and higher. When we reached the visitor center, you could barely see the center. There was a tunnel to get to the front door. The ranger informed us that they got 46 feet of snow this year!

After walking through snow that came up to our calves (or sometimes our knees), we got to the viewing point. It was breathtaking and absolutely amazing. We almost skipped this and we are so glad we made the trip.