One of the things I love about nature photography is that after weeks, months, or even years, when I look at a picture I can often remember how it felt to see it in real life. Crater lake’s beauty is definitely going to be one of those places! As you drive through the forest slowly sloping upward you would never have expected to stumble across such a thing. Both days we were here the sky and the water were both stunning shades of blue.
The next few pictures were taken as Abby and I hiked down to the water. The trail was mostly steep switch backs but it wasn’t too long. Definitely more work coming back up 🙂
You can see how clear the water was!! We put our feet in and the water was pretty cold! Some people down here were fishing or even swimming in it! We didn’t stay long at the bottom, but even after making the climb back up we both thought it was worth it.
Here is a beautiful waterfall just a short hike from the trailhead!
The next few pictures were all taken in the Castle Crest Wildflower garden. You should know that the mosquitoes were brutal in here! Abby was a great sport letting me stop and snap some of these great pictures of the flowers – but we both paid dearly for it later. Let’s just say we needed a LOT of Cortizone.
This is a picture of the “phantom ship”. Abby didn’t agree with the comparison – but there are some similarities. We got a few good views of this one while we were there!
Off in the distance you can see the island in the lake. During normal operation the park runs boat tours of the lake and I believe they let you get off and hike around on that island. Due to COVID they were not running this service – so we had to make due with admiring it from afar.
As we were leaving the park that afternoon I asked Abby what here favorite part was. We had just decided to drive back up to see the sunset – and she said well what if THAT is my favorite part?? I told her she could switch afterwards if that was the case. I think we both ended up switching because the color and the view for the sunset were unparalleled! I will admit I may not have chosen the BEST spot for capturing the color, but it wasn’t crowded to so we didn’t mind 🙂
Crater lake was beautiful! I don’t know if I would spend much more time here than we did given that once you’ve driven the rim, hiked to the bottom, and explored the surrounding area there wasn’t much more to do. 1.5 – 2 days seemed to be a perfect amount of time. Loved seeing this gem and wouldn’t mind returning again!!
Kelsey's Climb to 59 (+4) 