Geography 368: Field Seminar
Day 4 | Crater Lake National Park
Not Just an Ordinary Lake
Early Sunday morning, we left Bend for Crater Lake National Park, where we met with Park Ranger Dave Grimes. Due to the thick fog, Ranger Dave’s original plan to take us for a hike up to the Watchman Lookout didn’t work out. Instead, he took us to the Sinnott Memorial Observation Station, where he gave us an interesting and pun-filled presentation about the history of Crater Lake.
Crater Lake is the former site of Mount Mazama, a mega volcano formed by millions of years of tectonic plate movement. 7,700 years ago, Mount Mazama gushed hot ash and magma in a violent eruption, evidence of which can be found as far as Greenland today. As Mount Mazama erupted, the magma chamber underneath the volcano slowly emptied, compromising its support. The volcano collapsed in about two or three hours and left a giant caldera. Over the last few thousand years, precipitation slowly filled up the caldera to create Crater Lake. Because the lake is only fed by rain and snowmelt, it is one of the cleanest and clearest bodies of water in the world. The national park receives around 43 feet of snow each year. Crater Lake is also the deepest lake in the US, measuring 1,943 feet deep.
There is some mystery surrounding Crater Lake. Precipitation levels in the park are very high and evaporation rates are very low, yet the water level of Crater Lake stays about the same. Ranger Dave said this is because Crater Lake is the world’s largest bathtub. It has a porous layer that acts as an overflow drain—every hour, two million gallons of water seep out of Crater Lake at this location, and no one knows where it goes. Rivers and springs around Crater Lake have been tested to see if they contain the same minerals as Crater Lake, and none of them are matches.
Based on archaeological evidence, people have been living near Crater Lake for the last 12,000 years. Native American tribes, many of which are no longer around, told similar stories about the massive eruption and the spirits associated with it. Although this caldera was last volcanically active 7,700 years ago, Ranger Dave said that Crater Lake is likely to erupt again.
After taking tons of pictures, we said goodbye to Ranger Dave and headed to Crater Lake Lodge to eat lunch. The lodge first opened in 1915 to attract tourists to southern Oregon. The expansion of the lodge to accommodate more guests was finished in the mid-1930s, just in time for the redevelopment of the surrounding landscape by the National Park Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps. Heavy vehicular traffic from lodge guests wrecked most of the vegetation around the lodge, so native trees and shrubs were reintroduced to the landscape and walkways and roads were built to control traffic. After decades of wear and tear, Crater Lake Lodge was renovated to fix structural issues while maintaining its historical integrity. Three years of construction and $15 million later, the lodge reopened in 1995.
Today, guests can enjoy incredible views of Crater Lake from the comfort of this charming lodge. The inside is completely covered in wood paneling, some of which includes the bark. The furniture is made from wood as well, and the massive stone fireplaces take up entire walls from floor to ceiling. On the main floor, there is a deck facing Crater Lake that many of us went and sat on during lunch to look at the lake and catch a glimpse of the Cascade Mountains.
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Preparation to travel outside of the main park area was done so the class could complete a short hike before the end of the day. Driving out of Rim Village conditions were still overcast and foggy but the clouds were starting to break over parts of the lake creating some interesting scenes before we departed. One phenomenon that Doug brought up while overlooking the lake was the unique light shades of blue appearing in spots on the surface water contrasting from the deep dark blue that the group had been seeing all morning. At first there was speculation that these were colonies of microorganisms becoming visible to the human eye but, we realized that it was actually rays of sunlight finally being able to break through the clouds and hit the water surface creating a cyan blue color. It was surprising that a lot of us were confused by this phenomenon and shows just how otherworldly the Crater Lake environment is to people who haven’t seen a natural landform like this before.
The drive along the rim of the lake presented interesting
changes in the landscape from steep cliff faces to mudslides
occurring on unsupported rock and runoff plains that have
experienced substantial erosion overtime. Sparse pine forests
dotted the ridges and slopes making visibility off the sides of
the rim minimal until the hike at Sun Notch Point. This short
walk was in an excellent location to get some of the best views
of the Phantom Ship rock formation. Conditions were still very
cloudy except for near the bottom of the lake where the
morning haze was clearing. Many of the pines here were some
of the largest and fullest witnessed on the entire trip, most
likely due to the incredibly high amount of precipitation that
falls on the rim edge. The Phantom Ship rock formation
was certainly an interesting sight to see because the only
other large landform within the lake is Wizard Island. The
formation’s presence is largely attributable to erosional
processes taking place over a long period of time.
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Leaving Rim Village
Balcony with panorama view at Crater Lake Lodge.
Photo taken by Caroline Saksefski
The Phantom Ship formation as seen from Sun Notch Point.
Photo taken by Paul Schmitt
The Pinnacles
After the leisurely hike at Sun Notch, our group left the area and got to witness more of the surrounding landscape of Crater Lake, getting insight along the way from Doug on what environmental forces have made this place such a diverse site of physical geography. Driving towards Pinnacle Point, our caravan rode along the side of an outwash gorge where major fluvial changes have taken place affecting vegetation growth, surface stability, and rock formations. Stopping at an upper-mid portion of the gorge before reaching the Pinnacles, we noticed how steep the cliff faces were and the extreme narrowness at this location. Farther down the road when the group reached the trailhead there was a significant change in the gorge’s features which is important in understanding how this landscape formed and in what ways material has moved through it. At the Pinnacle Point Trailhead, this gorge widened and there was more vegetation thriving due to frequent landslides bringing necessary nutrients into the environment. The Pinnacles themselves were unlike any natural feature I’ve ever seen before and much of the class was in awe of how something like these could have formed under natural processes. Luckily, with the help of our fluvial geomorphologist Doug and the reading information on park signs, such unique formations were described as becoming cemented into their current structure from rising smoke and other gasses solidifying ash material per the eruption of Mount Mazama.
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To cap off our day at Crater Lake the caravan headed to the end of the highest paved road in Oregon to witness a spectacular panoramic view of the lake. Situated on the eastern rim, Cloud Cap overlook is a smaller side summit of the park and reaches one of the highest points in the area. Driving up to the overlook alone was an experience in itself with the road winding up a valley until reaching a dramatic opening at the rim and luckily at this time of the day the sun was breaking up a lot of the overcast conditions that stuck around since the morning hours. Even though there is a decent amount of tree cover in this area, the sights that were visible off the summit were amazing thanks to an elevation of over 8000 feet. Hiking up to a spot where our group could sit and take in the views, several mountains could seen to the south and west of Crater Lake.
(Left) The upper portion of the gorge before reaching the pinnacle formations. The change in landscape displayed incredibly steep sides with a narrow channel.
Photo taken by Paul Schmitt
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(Right) The Pinnacle formations with clear evidence of different soil properties present. Photo taken by Andrew Moen
Cloud Cap
Cloud cover over Crater Lake at the peak of Cloud Cap.
Video taken by Ezra Zeitler
The class taking in this amazing landscape. Sitting here for a moment in silence, many reflected on this moment as one of the best of the entire day and even the whole trip.
Photo taken by Paul Schmitt
Source: "Publications." National Parks Service. https://www.nps.gov/crla/planyourvisit/publications.htm.