Crater Lake

I was at the Grand Canyon once. I remember it being incredible when first seeing it. I also remember after about two minutes thinking, "OK. Guess I've done that." Unless you are going to ride the trail down on a donkey (not in a million years) I don't think there really is a lot to do there after that initial viewing. I'm glad I went there, but I doubt if I'll go back.

Crater Lake doesn't get nearly the publicity the Grand Canyon does, but I think its as good or better. Crater Lake is a former mountain that blew its top off in a volcanic eruption and then filled with water. It is now an enormous lake inside a volcano. Have some of that, Grand Canyon!! Its, I beleive the seventh deepest lake in the world, and because the sides go straight down, it has greatest average depth of any lake. Because of the depth, the lake is, as one of the lamest songs of the eighties says, bluer than blue.

I've been there a bunch of times, but I've never taken a boat trip on the lake until today. It costs $40 a person. Cheap me thought that was expensive, but I easily waste that on bad movies each year, so I went for it today. You have to hike down a steep trail for about 20 minutes, which is somehow steeper on the way back. Then you board a boat and 30 strangers and away you go. It lasted an hour or two and we had a geologist as a guide who really knew his stuff. So a lot of fun. It was a tiny bit hazy because of the wildfires, but no big deal.

Here are pictures I took today, so they're hot off the presses. So cancel that trip to the Grand Canyon and come to Crater Lake.