John Donohue's National Park Photos- Crater Lake

Crater Lake National Park

From the Rim

Phantom Ship from the south rim. In the lake, just beneath phantom ship, a white tour boat is visible.

View from east rim looking west at sunrise. Behind Wizard island on the rim are "The Watchman" on it's left and "Hillman Peak" on it's right.

View from west rim looking north. Llao Rock is the flat topped cliff in the middle distance. Llao Rock towers about 2,000 feet above the lake surface. The deepest parts of the lake sink down another 2,000 ft.

View from west rim looking east. Mt. Scott, dappled with snow, is behind the far rim wall. To it's right the rim dips down in two U shaped valleys- called "notches". The first of these is Kerr Notch and to it's right is Sun Notch. The top right of the Sun Notch valley is Applegate Peak. The valleys were carved by glaciers on the ancient Mt. Mazama. When Mt. Mazama erupted and collapsed these valleys were abruptly truncated. In the foreground is Wizard Island. Wizard island has a skirt of land that nearly touches the rim wall.

From south-west rim looking east. Visible from the left to right are, Mt. Scott, Kerr Notch, Sun Notch, Applegate Peak, and Garfield Peak.

Phantom Ship. Looking west.

From the Kerr Notch area looking south west. Phantom ship stands offshore below Dutton Cliff. Sun Notch is hidden between the two peaks on the left- Dutton Cliff and Applegate Peak.

Phantom Ship. Looking west.

Wizard Island with Llao rock on the rim behind it. Looking north from Discovery point on south west-rim.

Wizard Island from the Watchman. Mt Scott is in the tall peak on the left. A wake from the tour boat is visible to the right of Wizard Island.

South-west rim looking east.

The west rim from atop The Watchman. Looking north toward Hillman Peak and beyond it Llao rock. The Watchman Peak is a easy climb 500 ft. up from the parking area. However if the trail is snowed over it can be treacherous.

East Rim Wall. Pumice Castle, colored bright orange, is visible on the right edge and center of the photo. Skell Head is immediately to it's left. Skell Head is the highest cliff in the photo. With a greenish cast to it's rocks and above them a bare hill topped with a thin line of trees. In the distance a Mt. Thielsen juts up.

South-east rim looking west.

On north rim looking south west toward Wizard Island. Hillman Peak and The Watchman are on the right.

From south rim looking north west. Wizard island in the foreground, and on the rim ( from left to right) The Watchman, Hillman Peak, and LLao rock.

Llao Rock from south rim.

On the boat tour

Llao Rock from boat ride

The East Rim Wall from the boat. The bright orange "Pumice Castle" is above.

The East rim wall from the boat ride. The orange rocks, halfway up the rim wall, on the right, are "Pumice Castle". Skell Head is the greenish cliff face to the left.

Snow melt greens the barren rim cliffs.

LLao Rock

Devils Back bone

Devils Back bone. These fins were formed when magma forced it's way into a fissure in the surrounding rock. The solidified magma was a harder rock that was left behind as the softer rock around it eroded away.

Phantom Ship

Close up of Phantom Ship from boat tour.

Close up of Phantom Ship from boat tour. Wizard Island is in the back ground.

Phantom Ship from boat ride. Skell head is behind it on the rim- shadowed by a cloud.

Phantom Ship from boat tour.

Wizard Island from boat

Wizard Island from boat tour. The boat is passing through the narrow channel between Wizard Island and the west rim.

Wizard Island from boat tour. Hillman Peak is in the background.

Wizard Island from boat tour.

Shore of Wizard Island is in the foreground. In the background Mt. Scott stands behind the east rim wall.

Shore of Wizard Island is in the foreground. In the background is the west rim wall.

Mt.Scott

View from the base of Mt. Scott. A fire lookout post tops the mountain.

On the trail up Mt. Scott. Crater lake, with Wizard Island, is visible to the left.

View of Crater Lake from Mt. Scott to the east. Mt. Scott at nearly 9,000 feet is 1,500 feet above the crater lip. We are looking west.

On Wizard Island

A view from the top of Wizards Island looking west. On the rim are, from left to right, The Watchman and Hillman Peak.

A view from the top of Wizards Island looking west. On the rim is The Watchman.

On the trail that spirals up Wizard Island. The trees are covered in lichen.

A view from the east rim of the crater atop Wizards Island. We are looking west. The distinctive crabs claw of Hillman Peak is visible on the rim wall. There are two nested volcanic craters in this photo.

Looking up from the bottom of the crater atop Wizard Island.

View from atop Wizard Island.

View from atop wizard Island. The Watchman is in the background on the rim wall.

A view from the east rim of the crater that sits atop Wizard Island. We are looking west. The trail that leads down into the crater bottom is visible here. Starting at the rim on the right, the trail slopes down from the rim to the left - before switching back to the right about halfway down. There are two nested volcanic craters in this photo. The east rim wall of Crater Lake, with The Watchman on it, is in the background.

Misc

The Pinnacles. These pinnacles formed as the heat of the volcanic gases bubbling up through a layer of covering ash fused the ash into rock. The hardened chimney walls remained behind as erosion removed the loose ash around them.

The Pinnacles.