Had a wonderful visit to Crater Lake National Park prior to my business trip to Portland and Seattle. It was a lot of driving, but worth it. Crater Lake is my 30th national park and I have another 18 to go on my official park list. (Technically, there are 63 national parks but I am concentrating on those in the lower 48 that don't need a boat to visit.) Crater Lake is one of our smallest national parks as the rim road is just 23 miles long. However, it has some distinctions. First off at 1,963 feet it is the deepest lake in the United States and holds some of the cleanest, clearest water anywhere in the world. Since the crater was formed by an eruption, no water runs in or out of the crater, except via rain water or evaporation. So, those facts make it a cool place to visit. I was able to get in and out last weekend, which was quite lucky as a snowstorm rolled in a few days later and it looks like park roads will soon be closed for the rest of the season. Roads may not open until late June as the park has a very short visiting season. At almost 9,000 feet, you could feel the difficulty in breathing as even a modest walk gets you out of breathe. Besides the success of visiting the park, I was also able to record two western bird species that I hadn't seen before so it was a nice win all around. More pictures to come during the week.
Anyway, 30 down and 18 to go.
