When we caught our first glimpse of bright blue
from the back seat windows, Joe and I began clamoring to stop. "Oh my god!
We need photos -- now!"
Not only is this entire lake the filled-in crater
of an ancient volcano, it's also the deepest in the US at almost 600 meters. To
put it in perspective, our Castle Lake is only 35 meters - or 124 feet - and it
feels like you're hauling for a long time to bring up an anchor or Van Dorn
pull of water. In contrast, I did a secchi reading for water clarity at Crater,
and I could see a dinner-plate sized object 34 meters below me in the
water! Because of its tiny watershed to lake volume ratio, Crater Lake is
also unproductive, as far as lakes go, which contributes to its unbelievable
clarity and blueness.
While most park visitors only get to drive around
the rim of Crater Lake, we got the grand tour via boat around the whole lake
with the park biologist, Scott. We slept on Wizard Island, the mini volcano in
the middle of the first photo (almost noone gets to do that). Wizard Island
looks like a cascade of black volcanic rock, and it always amazes me where
trees will grow...
... trees and bleeding heart?! There wasn't any
other plants in its understory. (Update: The plant below looked like bleeding heart to me, but it is actually shorthorn steers head.)
Beautiful lake, but naturally fishless. In fact,
Crater Lake's natural top predator is the newt. But because people expect lakes
to have fish, they started stocking Crater with trout in the late 1800s. And
because trout need more food in this very unproductive ecosystem, they
supplemented with crayfish. The crawdads have
spread to most spots around the shore and are out-competing the native newt. On
behalf of the newt and amphibians that usually get the shaft with lake
management, we took our revenge at dinner. (After first recording number, sex,
size measurements of the body, segments, claws, etc. We are scientists first,
of course.)
After dinner, there were presentations in the
hanger/boathouse as rum and ginger ale was being passed around. Then Clint and
Annie played some old-time for us on banjo and fiddle. You would think the
night couldn't get any better, but a full moon rose, and we got to sleep under
it on the dock where we ate.
The next morning, Alecia sampled for her Master's
project, and we got to see the sophisticated winch system that the Crater crew
uses. It takes a long while to reach 580m, so most people dove in from the top
of the boat as we waited.
The newts are fascinating at Crater Lake, and also
the underwater moss - turning into peat - layers. There are also sinkholes
(fumeroles) in the peat. Can you see the hole in the picture below?
What geologic forces were at work to create these
bends in the rock?
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