Crater Lake Oregon

The smoke from various wildfires has made it hard to even see across the lake the last few weeks, we were told, so we were lucky to have a rare clear day at Crater Lake National Park. After viewing a short film on the history of the park at the visitor's center, we went up to the lodge, built in 1915, and had lunch in the dining room. From the windows on either side of the room we could see Crater lake to the north, and Klamath Lake to the south.
Then it was time to head to the start of the Cleetwood Trail, the only one that takes you down to the edge of the lake; we caught our boat there - it was a ranger tour of the entire lake, and gave us a totally different perspective. Of course while the walk down (the mile long trail drops 700 feet) was easy, the hike back up took longer!

But we made it to the Watchman overlook in time to join the last ranger led Sunset hike of the season. Ranger Darby took us up the trail, stopping to point out marmot habitat and black and white nutcracker birds. As the sun went down and the light became more and more beautiful, we climbed higher, right up to the top, to the 8000+ foot fire lookout tower. It has windows all around, as well as a rustic walkway, so you can see in all directions; it gave us yet another view of the lake.