Other U.S.Kelly RamseyAugust 05, 2018Crater Lake National Park, Oregon Hikes, Oregon Swimming, Crater Lake

Crater Lake

Other U.S.Kelly RamseyAugust 05, 2018Crater Lake National Park, Oregon Hikes, Oregon Swimming, Crater Lake

Hi y'all! I moved to Northern California for the summer to work for the Forest Service. It's awesome! And I neglected to blog for four months. My bad. Trying to get back in the saddle now! Here's an excerpt of a piece I published last week in the Medford Mail Tribune about my new favorite swimming spot, Crater Lake.

We set off on a bright, cool morning laced with birdsong. The night before, we’d camped near Toketee Lake in the Umpqua National Forest, where we visited the famous (and satisfyingly hot, but somewhat begrimed) Umpqua Hot Springs. Now, we were bound for clearer waters. The clearest, in fact.

After a beautiful drive on rural, two-lane highway that hugged the shoulder of the Rogue River and took us through dappled forest light, we swung northwest — and found a line of cars idling outside the Annie Spring Entrance Station. Well, it was midday on the Sunday before Fourth of July. What did we expect?

Luckily, the line moved quickly, and soon we were following a steep, winding road through sparse country overlooking a valley and stark mountain ranges beyond. Climbing a final hill, the road emerged on the rim, and Crater Lake slid into our field of vision like a backdrop hoisted by glittering stage hands.

“Wow!” Ben cried.

“Oh, my god,” I said.

“Right?” said Amanda, who’d seen it before.

The sight of the lake was arresting. Under a blue sky, the water was a deep, headstrong, glassy cobalt, a color I couldn’t remember seeing elsewhere in life. At almost 2,000 feet, it’s the deepest lake in the U.S., and its self-containment (no streams flow into or out of the crater) makes it one of the purest and clearest bodies of water on earth.

To read the full article, click here.