Mount Scott at Crater Lake - Day 94

It's a dark and stormy night. I am sitting at my campfire, typing this into my blackberry. I am camping!

Actually the light sprinkle and threatening lightning and thunder seem to have just passed. I hope the stars come out soon.

With just my popup tent and a sleeping bag and using my duffel bag as a pillow, I am ruffing it. It's now midnight and it seems most of the other campers near by have gone to sleep. I'm wide awake. We'll see how the sleeping goes, but so far I am totally jazzed about this whole camping thing. I am stationed just below Crater Lake. My tent is a very short stroll from a plunging canyon.

Crater Lake was the 7th park to ever receive National Park status, and it is magnificent.

Formed eons ago, the top crater of this volcano has become a pristine lake. The lake is royal blue. A magical blue unlike any blue I've ever seen before in such quantity. The lake is 1700 feet deep in parts, it's one of the deepest in the world and the depth somehow adds to the overall blueness. It's really, really blue.

An added bonus is that the layout of the park was set up really well for visiting. They created a road that skirts around the entire rim of the crater lake, offering constant opportunities to pull over and blurt out a hushed "Wow!".

I did the 30 mile loop in about 3 hours. The highest point in the crater is Mount Scott. Cool. Besides the awesome views there are many hikes to take short and long. I did a few of the short ones, and was thrilled by all except I was underwhelmed with the wild flower hike. I guess I had expected a "Sound of Music" type of setting, and all I got were some yellow and purple things. No tulips or anything great.

On my way here, I circled around Mount Shasta. I guess they named it after the soft drink. Next thing you know there will be a Mount Fresca, not to mention Dew. Normally, Mount Shasta would warrant a bit more blather from me, but it pales in comparison to Crater Lake.

In my ranking of greatest sites I've visited based mainly on their aesthetic beauty, this is now number 2, behind only the Grand Canyon Southern Rim, and moving in front of Monument Valley. Just a mental list I keep.

One of my other mental lists I am making is "Greatest Adventures". Counting down the top 5:

5. The Loneliest Road
4. CuzJoe
3. Airplane Glider Ride
2. World Series of Poker
1. Idaho Walleye State Championship

I bring up this list because before the week is out, there are a couple of opportunities for this list to change. Besides "Camping Out at Crater Lake", which is gonna be there and will bump Loneliest, I may decide that "Crater Lake Boat Ride" or "Captain Bill II" could also break into the leader board.

I think I hear a bear. I might be a bit paranoid...so many dark shadows and strange sounds. I'm going to hide in my tent now.