Greetings from Crater Lake National Park

I had the best day of my life at Crater Lake National Park. The massive amount of snow led to the closure of the Rim Drive. We decided to bike the road. 10ft high snow piles lined the pavement. It was so quiet, the air so clean. We brushed our hands against the massive snow piles making snowballs and throwing them at each other on our ride. Laughing so hard we could barely steer our bikes. We hiked the Cleetwood Cove trail to Crater Lake where we did cannon balls off the rocks into the frigid water. A few kids even started a snowball battle with us. We laughed until we could barely breathe. We sat along the rim gazing into a lake so beautiful, so blue we question whether we are looking at water or the sky. I didn’t know the month, the day, or the hour, all I knew is that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I never stopped smiling. John Muir wrote about the national parks, “Wander here a whole summer, if you can. Thousands of God’s wild blessings will search you and soak you as if you were a sponge, and the big days will go by uncounted. The time will not be taken from the sum of your life. Instead of shortening, it will indefinitely lengthen it and make you truly immortal.” My best friend and I spent 5 months camping in the National Parks. The beauty we witnessed, along with the happiness we experienced, and the gratitude we gained will leave us humbled forever.

Sincerely,
Katie

Crater Lake National Park

Crater Lake sits in a rugged portion of the Cascade Range and is famous for its deep, jewel-blue water. An impressive 20-mile ring of cliffs encloses the basin and adds to its magnificence.

State(s): Oregon

Established: 1902

“their majesty and beauty only exists because people were selfless enough to put the land, the wildlife and the future before themselves. They make me proud to be an American”

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