Something Beautiful in Oregon


                I, too, experience a yen to go exploring. I look across the water, up the mountains, deep into the forest, and I wonder, and long to take off just to see what’s out there.

                But that’s about as far as I ever go.

                Can you imagine yearning to explore so deeply that you’re ready to haul a half-ton of boat hull up the side of a mountain (with the help of about 15 of your healthiest colleagues)? Well, someone did this. It was 1886 when CaptainClarence Dutton and his U.S. Geological Survey party hauled the good ship Cleetwood up the steep, forest-covered incline towards the distant top.

                And what did he find there? Exactly what the Klamath Natives said was up there.

                It was the ancient and beautiful Crater Lake, one the world’s amazing bodies of water that has formed, of all places, in a long dormant volcano.

Mount Mazama used to tower where now this lake splashes placidly. The scientists say this volcano saw an enormous eruption about 7700 years ago, which resulted in the top 5000 feet of the mountain caving in. Once the basin cooled down, subsequent lava flows sealed off the bottom, and, over about 720 years, the basin filled with approximately 4.6 trillion gallons of water. This comes from rain and melting snow. That’s a lot of water in one place, and the result is the deepest lake in the United States of America at 1949 feet.

But, not contented to rest, yet, old Mount Mazama had one last hurrah and hiccupped again. The result of this activity was a wee volcano protruding from the surface of the lake. This new cone is known as Wizard Island, a volcano within a volcano! Actually, Mazama did that a total of three times, but two of the little volcanos are completely under water.

                The lake is beautiful. The unbelievable blueness of this Oregon lake, they say, defies both words and cameras, and its waters consistently test as incredibly pure and clean.  Such a lake is surely one of Mother Nature’s finest accomplishments.

                As an endnote, there is another odd anomaly associated with this beautiful place. Everyone who knows anything about this place always keeps an eye out for the OldMan of the Lake. Why not? The Old Many is a very unique sight, as Crater Lake’s most famous resident of over 100 years. The Old Man is a full-sized tree, about 30 feet tall, which has been bobbing around in the water, perfectly vertically, since at least 1902. He’s become a huge part of the local lore. Some have said he controls the weather on the lake. One story goes that, in an effort to avoid boating accidents, scientists once try to tie the Old Man up near Wizard Island, but, instantly, the sky darkened and storms began crashing in. Quickly, they untied him and set him free and, amazingly, the sky suddenly cleared to a crystal blue. Scientists continue to debate as to why this tree never seems to decay, and how it remains perfectly vertical, but the lake hasn’t revealed its secret, yet.

                And Crater Lake, Oregon, no doubt, has many secrets.

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