Today we hiked into a volcano! We woke up at the crack of dawn and drove to Crater Lake National Park where the weather was perfect (no fog) as was our timing -allowing us to secure boat tickets for the 11AM cruise. My Dad was a little concerned about the "strenuous hiking trail" being advertised on the web site and at the ticket booth. The hike down to the boat is the equivalent of descending/ascending a 75 story building - roughly 2 miles roundtrip. The hike down was a breeze and the 2 hour boat tour around the perimeter of Crater Lake was well worth the drive and hike. The hike out of the crater was definitely tough but we eventually made it back to the car.
Crater Lake was formed when Mount Mazama erupted/collapsed 7,700 years ago (I believe it was the largest volcanic eruption ever recorded around the world) and formed a caldera . Some time ago scientist were able to measure the clarity of Crater Lake by dropping a white plate attached to a rope down 144 feet - currently the record.
Will post a ton of great pics tomorrow morning - pretty exhausted after a four hour drive from Crater Lake to Salem, OR - although the drive was very, very scenic through thick forest and by huge rock formations and along a few lakes and rivers (Willamette River being one of them).