Images of Crater Lake

Without doubt the vivid blue vista of Crater Lake has been a real highlight of our road trip.  Here are just a few images of our all too brief visit.  The first two images above show a rock island on the lake's eastern shore called the Phantom Ship.  It's so named for the rocky crags said to resemble the sails of a tall mast ship.  The second island shown here is Watchman Island, the most prominent feature of Crater Lake.

I've also included a couple of panoramas that I've stiched together using an application called Autostitch.  Sadly, these barely do justice to the actual vista that literally wrapped around us as we stood on the rim of Crater Lake. Click on each panorama to bring up a more dramatic full screen image.

Finally, let me leave you with these two images.  The first is a friendly chipmunk that literally ran up to my feet during one outlook stop at Crater Lake.  The second shows the road leading east away from the National Park.  Crater Lake sits almost 7,000 feet above sea level.  As a result, all roads leading into the park progressively rise with every mile that passes.  The western entrance winds up through attractive river valleys while the eastern entrance crosses a broad plain of ancient volcanic ash that you can see in the final image.