Picnic at the Lake

Jill's Journal: Apparently it’s impossible to take a bad picture of Crater Lake. Here’s the beautiful scene yesterday, when we were scheduled to go on a boat tour. We arrived on the rim only to find all boat tours for the day were cancelled. Apparently there was a hint of a storm brewing on the lake and the rangers don’t take any chances. We were disappointed, but better to be safe than sorry. And we were thankful they cancelled before we did that brutal hike to the bottom…not after!! We then grabbed the last few tickets available during our stay (on another day), so hopefully the weather on the lake cooperates and we’ll still get to go.

If you look closely, you can see the wind patterns on the water.

We had planned to picnic at the bottom before our boat tour, so we called an audible and instead hiked the Discovery Point area, looking for a nice quiet ridge to enjoy our lunch. I think we found it.

Discovery Point is the area where the first non-Native American to lay eyes on the lake discovered it. He was a prospector looking for gold and plodding along on his mule when the mule suddenly stopped short. Startled, he looked up and found himself only a couple of feet from the edge.

“I knew when I gazed upon Crater Lake that even though the West was filled with undiscovered wonders, Crater Lake would hold its own.” –John Wesley Hillman

Even the critters enjoy the view here.