Crater Lake National Park – Oregon – Part 6 – 2021

The southern Oregon coast photo workshop was over but my flight out of Medford, OR was not until the following day so I decided a side trip was in order. I got on my phone and found the perfect place to visit…

Crater Lake National Park!

It was only a couple of hours out of my way but I knew it would be more fun than sitting in a hotel room in Medford.

Oh! Boy! Was I right! As I drove through the forested area I realized I was going up in elevation. At some point, I started noticing what looked like old snow off in the forest in the darker spots. As the elevation increased the presence of snow increased until, after some pretty winding turns (good road though) I reached the summit.

I got a glimpse of what was to come as I took the last turn into the parking lot. I quickly grabbed my gear and walked over to what I had seen from the vehicle.

This is a volcano lake created 7,700 years ago and is the deepest lake in the US. The purity of the water is very evident.

This first view literally took my breath away! There was snow all over but the sun was shining (something I had not seen much of since landing in Oregon) and the temperature was in the upper 60’s with very little humidity! I was in heaven!

Taking a look at the whole area I could see that the snow had not been cleared from all the sidewalk that goes along the rock wall that surrounds the cliff edge.

I proceeded to walk out onto an area of snow hoping to get to another view of the beautiful lake. But being the Floridian I am and not having walked on snow in a long time, I forgot I had on my smooth-bottomed walking shoes and within a few steps, I slipped and fell in the snow! It was actually not too bad, nice cooling effect on my legs!

I picked my way back carefully and walked on the sidewalk to another area. I wanted to give my Infrared converted Nikon Z6 a shot so made the image below. Makes the trees look snowy too!

As I walked along one stretch of sidewalk I heard what sounded like a jay screeching in the trees. I carefully looked around and realized it was in a nearby tree. It suddenly flew down onto a branch nearby and as I grabbed the regular camera with the 24-70mm lens it flew down onto the wall in front of me. I quickly made a few shots before it flew off. The Steller’s Jay is a gorgeous bird that fits in nicely with the very blue feeling of Crater Lake National Park!

I continued walking along the sidewalk and getting different views of Crater Lake.

I was hoping for another full view of the island but the pine trees are very thick along the sides.

This old dead wind ravaged tree was a perfect subject for a high contrast infrared image!

It was not quite as impressive in regular color!

I found a fairly unobstructed view so I could get a reflection of the surrounding caldera in the lake.

I pulled out my iPhone 12 Pro Max to make a few images as well. I love this phone!

As I walked on I realized that there was a lot more sidewalk and there was a huge chalet-looking building further on down the road. So I decided to go back to my vehicle and drive to the other end of the parking area.

I parked at the very end and this time pulled out my 70-200mm lens. The view from this area to the east and south of the lake was filled with more valleys and mountain peaks. Using the telephoto lens I could see the layers in the distance that I love to capture.

I converted this one to black & white to better emphasize the layers!

From using the telephoto I decided to try a panorama to get the full view of what I was seeing.

I had to get one more image of the surrounding mountains.

I walked around the chalet-looking building which is a huge hotel and restaurant and saw another view of Crater Lake.

I decided another panorama was called for here!

I took one last image with the telephoto lens to get the cool reflection in the lake.

I made a quick stop at the gift shop, picked up my Crater Lake National Park coffee cup and lapel pin! Then made the trip down the mountain and to Medford where the temperature was in the upper 80’s and humid! Oh! to be back on that brisk, cool, mountain again!

If in Oregon, you must visit Crater Lake National Park.

For more details and info on the park please visit their website.

To see larger versions of these and even more images, please visit my Gallery.

Please check out Oregon Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

My next post is a Travel Photography Tips post – The Plane View!

That is all for now.

Lynn