Crater Lake Lodge

While visiting Crater Lake National Park, we spent a night in Crater Lake Lodge.  Built in 1915, this old timber lodge is perched more than 1,000 feet above the lake on the southern rim of the caldera.  

Below, we can see Sheila looking out over the lake near the eastern end of the lodge...

As a reminder, here is my reference panoramic photo showing the placement of the lodge...  the lodge is at the yellow box labeled with a "1" at the left edge of the frame.

You don't really realize just how steep this 1,000 foot drop down to the lake actually is until you are standing right at the rim looking downward.  Naturally, some areas are significantly steeper than others but slipping off the trail at any location would likely be fatal because, even if you slipped in an area that was just a very steep incline rather than a dizzying cliff, tumbling 1,000 feet down a steep incline would likely be unsurvivable.   

This photo, below, was captured looking down to a rocky beach 1,000 feet below.  What appears to be sky at the top half of the image is really the sky being reflected off the surface of the crystal clear water of the lake.  We are so high above the lake that ripples or even waves have little effect in disturbing this reflected light.  That being said, because the lake is completely surrounded by 1,000 foot walls, not much wind actually reaches down to the surface of the lake.  The surface of the lake simply becomes a big round mirror reflecting the blue sky.  

This reflected blue is very common around lakes in mountains.  The higher your view is looking down toward a lake, the more that lake looks like a mirror.  When I first visited Burlington, Vermont, I was frustrated by how blue most of my photos appeared.  I've also seen this from mountaintops around all the northeast.  This natural effect of physics and reflected light occurs everywhere but, due to the unique topography of the Crater Lake area, it is much easier to see here.  

Since I mentioned the crystal clear water of the lake, this would probably be a good time to explain more about this unique and distinctive lake.

The area of Oregon is a mountainous land (Cascade Mountains, in this case) brimming with over 3000 volcanic features from massive mountains in size to small lava flows dotted throughout this region of the Cascades.  Every place we visited during this trip, we found hardened lava flows and even scattered lava rock that seemed to have been scattered across the region by immensely powerful and explosive eruptions.  This lava rock varied in size from small stones to boulders but it was scattered everywhere.  Every now and then we would find ourselves standing on a mountainside field scattered with lava rock boulders and it was easy to imagine the damage just one of these flying boulders could inflict on the human body during one of these eruptions.  

On our first trip on Amtrak through Oregon in 2019, Sheila asked our conductor how many volcanos were in Oregon.  He incredulously asked, "There are volcanos here?"  After a quick online search, we found that there are approximately 84 volcanos in the state including five major active volcano systems, 21 potentially active systems, and the rest being dormant and extinct volcanos.  This doesn't include the thousands of volcanic features creating lava flows throughout the landscape.  

Crater Lake was created after 12,000 foot tall Mount Mazuma erupted in a massive eruption over 7,700 years ago.  This eruption was 50 times more powerful than the recent Mt St Helen's eruption.  Rock, pumice and ash were thrown upwards of 1,000 miles.  This eruption ejected about 14 cubic miles of molten rock, pumice and ash losing the top 4,000 feet of this  towering mountain and creating a caldera six miles in diameter and more than 2,000 feet deep.

Crater Lake only partly fills this 2,148 foot deep caldera.  This six mile diameter caldera is what is remaining of Mount Mazuma which violently erupted over 7,700 years ago.  At 1,900 feet deep, this lake is the deepest in the United States.  

No rivers flow into nor from this caldera.  The lake water is strictly from annual snowmelt and rainfall which creates water which is pristinely clear.  Although there are no rivers running from this lake, a series of fissures in the rock have been found which happens to keep the lake at the same level year after year.  Natural evaporation also helps keep the water level down near these fissures.  

Archeologists have found Indian artifacts buried in ash, cinder and pumice which pre-date the massive eruption that occurred 7,700 years ago.  

Below, Sheila, Joi and Adam are looking out over the lake from behind the lodge.

After our night in the lodge, I arose far earlier than everyone else so I could catch the sunrise.  While planning this trip, I knew I wanted some photos of the sunrise if it was possible so, when I awoke earlier than everyone else, I quickly got into some clothes, gathered photography gear, and made my way outside.  

I wandered out into the chilly morning air to find good light.  This cooler, crisper air actually felt great after all the sweating we had done in getting here but I would be hot and gasping for air within minutes.  I literally ran from one area to the next chasing the light as the sun rose over the mountaintops.  As the sun slowly rose higher and higher, I kept running downward in elevation to capture the sun just coming over the ridges again.  I definitely got a workout on this morning before everyone even woke up.

Although I had all my photographic gear in a backpack on my back, I forgot to grab two important things before heading outside.  The first thing I realized that I forgot to grab was my cellphone in case I needed to call for help (the most likely reason would be for my crashing health or if everyone was wondering where I was).  After my first sprint, I was breathing very heavily and it was at this point that I realized I had no extra oxygen canisters with me.  I did keep one of my inhalers in my hand though and used it a few times.  I had found the oxygen used in conjunction with my inhaler was most effective in helping me breathe more effectively.  Unfortunately, I failed to remember to grab an O2 canister on this morning.

This photo, below, happens to be a sunset photo from the previous night...

While I was chasing the light of the rising sun, I found myself down at a lower elevation.  When I turned around toward the lodge for the climb back up to the rim trail, I caught a glimpse of the lodge between the trees and thought it would make a good photo as the early morning warm light was illuminating the lodge.

Incidentally, I want to point out that although I was running from the higher rim trail to lower places to capture photos of the rising sun, I never left the safety of the trails.  

The sun had risen above Garfield Peak and was now breaking through the trees off the eastern end of the lodge...

As I was arriving back at the lodge and hearing my grumbling stomach list breakfast ideas, I noticed the sun glimmering off one of the lodge's windows as first light warmly and softly illuminated the south side of the lodge...

The views through the windows are the views we had through our loft suite windows...

There are very old photographic prints throughout the lodge.  I would even say that most of these photos are historic in that they are extremely rare and depicting events in the history of this area of our country.  

This photo, below, happens to be Charles Lindberg in the Spirit of St Louis flying over Crater Lake...

It certainly would have been nice to spend a bit more time here but we were very lucky to have stumbled upon this single night reservation and get a loft suite overlooking the lake.  Getting any reservations here is incredibly difficult.  We heard countless visitors begging for rooms being turned away at the front desk throughout our stay.  

There is much more to share about Crater Lake National Park and I have plenty of photos of the area so I'll be revisiting this topic in my blog.