Crater Lake

The drive down from Blue River was uneventful and quite pretty. Went past a few of these lava flows again. We set up in an RV park just north of Crater at Diamond Lake. We went down to the top of the lake and decided to go clockwise around it. Crater Lake was formed when 12,000' Mount Mazama erupted and then collapsed about 7,700 years ago. Later eruptions formed Wizard Island inside the caldera and the flows from the new caldera coated the inside of the opening. Since then, rain and snow melt filled the hollow creating the lake. Today, precipitation and evaporation are about equal and the lake fluctuates about three feet in height. The area rceives about 66" of precipitation per year with annual snow fall of 500". No streams flow in or out of Crater Lake.
The ride on Rim Road is just spectacular. Yesterday we stopped at a few spots including Cloudclap Overlook, Phantom Ship Overlook and walked along the Sinnott Memorial Overlook. We also took a short side trip out to The Pinnacles, a group of spires which eroded from canyon walls. The spires are fossil fumaroles where volcanic gases rose through hot ash deposits cementing the ash into harder rock.
On the way way back around, thunderstorms began building and moving over the lake. We stopped at an overlook on the lake to watch. The storm slowly moved across the lake and finally got to us. It then intensified and began to hail. We vacated the area and headed for home, but the storm caught us and we finally had to pull over in the midst of a severe hail storm. The temperature had fallen to 40 degrees. The ice stayed on the truck for several hours after the storm, but fortunately no dents to the truck. Thunderstorms continued late into the evening and I wouldn't be surprised if some flash floods occurred.
Rim Road is about 33 miles around the lake. We will do it again today with a detour down to Klamath Falls if time allows.