Introduction
<<
Previous
|
Table of
Contents |
Next
>>
Located in south central
Oregon, Crater Lake National Park embraces a portion of
the Cascade Range. The park's main feature, Crater Lake,
is the deepest volcanic lake in the world. Framed by
jagged, steep-walled cliffs of a caldera produced by the
climactic eruption and collapse of Mount Mazama
approximately 7,700 years ago, Crater Lake is renowned
for both its clarity and intense blue color. The rim
rises anywhere from 500' to almost 2,000' above the
lake's surface, creating a spectacular visual effect.
Crater Lake National Park was
established in 1902 and has been expanded twice from the
original 156,902 acres reserved for the "protection and
preservation of the game, fish, timber, and all other
natural objects therein." It currently encompasses
183,224 acres and ranges from the summit of Mount Scott
at 8,929' above sea level to a point on the park's
southwest corner where the elevation is 3,980'. About 80
percent of the park area is formally recommended as
wilderness, though one legislative proposal submitted in
1994 supported wilderness designation for 97 percent.
The latter includes all but a small buffer around the
developed areas and roads currently in use during the
summer season.
More than three-quarters of
the total number of park visitors come during the four
summer months (June, July, August, and September).
Annual totals reached a plateau of a half million in the
early 1960s and have remained around that figure ever
since, though these numbers can fluctuate as much as 20
percent from one year to the next. A majority of summer
visitors make their first trip to the park, but the time
spent within its boundaries averages just four hours.
Visitor services and access are restricted during the
winter months, when snow removal operations are
necessary to maintain a road connection from the west or
south entrances to an observation point at Rim Village.
Winter weather over this period of eight months thus
forces closure of roughly two-thirds of the park's road
system.
