1. When you buy bottled water in Oregon, you are charged $0.05 / bottle (which adds up when you are buying 24 bottles). I asked why and they said it was a bottle tax encouraging people to return and recycle the bottles, where they would then get their money back.
2. You are NOT allowed to fill up your own tank with gas. It's a $10,000 fine to the gas station if they are caught letting people do that. (Don't ask why.) This would get tricky down the road when I kept going from state to state, bouncing around, and having no idea what state I was in...
3. The speed limit on the main highways is only 55 mph! (In the surrounding states on the same types of roads, it is 65, 70, or 75 mph, but in Oregon, you have to drive slow. MJ was NOT pleased, but got no speeding tickets in the state.)
Well, once in Oregon, I headed to Crater Lake. The Crater Lake caldera consists of several peaks - Crater, Applegate, Dutton Ridge, and Cloud Cap. Mt Mazama is estimated to have been at about 12,000 feet, but after erupting about 7700 years ago, it vanished. Rock and ash exploded and landed hundreds of miles away. Avalanches of glowing hot rock poured from the volcano, creating a flat valley. Then, the top of the mountain collapsed, resulting in a 6 mile wide caldera. The base of the caldera is the deepest lake in the US - Crater Lake. It's about 1900 feet deep!
When I reached the park and started climbing to get to the lake, I was surrounded by more and more snow. I felt like I was driving up to Grand Mesa, CO.
Although the Rim Road was still closed due to snow (they just got another 8 inches a couple days ago), I still had some good shots of the lake.
On June 12, 1853, John Wesley Hillman was riding on top of a mule, when the mule suddenly stopped just a few feet before the edge of the crater's rim. That was the first time the lake was discovered, and this point is now called "Discovery Point" (which is the farthest I was able to go along the rim before the road closed).
Hillman had joined a group of goldseekers, in search of the fabled Lost Cabin Mine. The scenic treasure they uncovered was far more exciting than gold (okay, at least from my stand point). They named the lake "Deep Blue Lake". In the years that followed, the lake was rediscovered and renamed several times. It was finally given it's current name - Crater Lake.
"I knew when I gazed upon Crater Lake that even though the West was filled with undiscovered wonders, Crater Lake would hold it's own." - John Wesley Hillman
My car wanted her picture taken next to the lake as well. :-)
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