We had visited Crater Lake in 1987, which was another lousy snow year at Bachelor. There was adequate snow at Crater Lake, though, and plenty of fog so we could see nothing! We were going to give it another try on this trip.


Fumaroles

The trip along Annie's Creek to Crater Lake passes an array of fossil fumaroles. I've been unable to find a succinct WWW discussion of how these are formed over time. It's just enough to look at them.

These are probably left over from the eruption of Mt. Mazama that formed the lake.


Visitor Center

The Steel Visitor Center at the base of what is left of Mt. Mazama is open year-round. The picture at the link was taken when the winter was rather more snowy that the time of our visit!

We watched a video explaining the cataclysmic eruption and origin of the lake.

Europeans discount traditional "legends," but there were Native Americans living in the vicinity when the mountain erupted. Their stories took on a mythological cast, but perhaps they do reflect actual memories passed down over the generations.


Crater Lake

I'm sorry that the sun flared across this image because, of the three times (including 1987 & 2017) we've visited Crater Lake, it was the only one that was clear. So the picture didn't turn out so hot. Tough.


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