CRATER LAKE LOVE AFFAIR
AN ERUPTION OF LUSTFUL DESIRES
AND
PASSIONATE LOVE FULFILLED CATβS STORY PART 4
Cat could not believe the incredible sight before her, its unbelievable beauty, the power of what nature had created, and the feelings of romance she now felt lie ahead.
Cat was mesmerized by the beautiful portrait nature had painted over thousands of years using the sun, wind, fire, ice, rain and snow as she was in search of an explanation for our surroundings.
"Burt, where are we? I have never ever seen anything like this in my life before, what happened to the top of this mountain?"
Cat inquired of me
"Sweetheart, we are at "CRATER LAKE", and it lies inside the top of an ancient dormant volcano that is 420,000 years old, it is known as Mount Mazama, which is in the Cascade Mountain range of Oregon. I'm sure you have heard of the Pacific Rim's "Ring of Fire." Well this is a part of that. The rim of this ancient volcano is a twenty mile circle of cliffs, some of which drop almost 2,000 feet before reaching the unbelievably blue waters of the deepest lake in the United States and the seventh deepest in the world"
I enthusiastically informed Cat
Cat just continued to stare at the astonishingly beautiful view before us and then again questioned me by asking,
"Why is the water such beautiful colors? And if this is a volcano why is there an island out there?"
"Sweetheart, the water colors of vivid blues and greens are created because this is one of the clearest and purest lakes in the world. It has no water entering it other than pure rainwater and it also is just under 2,000 feet deep and five miles across. This water being so clear it kind of works like a prism, except that it absorbs the longer wavelengths of light better (reds, oranges, yellows, and greens) and reflects the shorter wavelengths of blue in the deeper waters, giving it the brilliant shades of blue, from dark blue, sky blue, turquoise, light blue and many more shades of all of those. The shades of bright green around the edges are from the green wavelengths being reflected back up in the shallows making them more easy for us to see."
"As for the island, it is called Wizard Island and is a very old lava dome made up of black lava rock. Over hundreds if not thousands of years trees as well as other vegetation have found their way to the island and have taken root making it a true island paradise. There is also an assortment of wildlife on the island, though it is not inhabited by any people. Actually when this volcano blew up 7,700 years ago, it was a huge cataclysmic explosion, 50 cubic kilometers of magma, or molten rock⦠By comparison, when Mount St. Helens also in the Cascade Mountain range but in Washington state erupted in 1980 it was only about half a cubic kilometer of new magma; this explosion was a hundred times more powerful"
I answered Cat's question and then laughing added,
"I sound like a damn tour guide"
Cat walked at my side as we both followed Sierra out of the parking lot and began our hike through the forest of the volcano's rim trail, Sierra leading the way, as he could not contain his excitement sensing our plan to camp in the wilderness of the area along with his obvious need to explore.
The view from both sides of the trail was just stunning as we hiked along in the cool morning air, though the oxygen level at this high elevation was felt but not enough to be uncomfortable. Off to our right was the 2,000 foot drop of the shear cliffs falling away to the lake below, affording us many breath taking views of Crater Lake and Wizard Island under the warmth of a spring days bright sunshine filled sky. To our left was a view that extended out over the forests of the Cascade Mountain range that had the appearance of a dark green carpet highlighted by the protruding snow covered peaks as far as the eye could see.
Columns of light filtered down through the thick evergreens, lighting our way through the darker areas of the trail. Both sides of this small trail winding its way around the volcanic rim were covered with beautiful exotic wild flowers, berry filled bushes and large green ferns, many of them standing silent guard as we passed, like sentries on the path leading to natures hidden garden of romance, and that in fact was our secret destination. Cat was still not sure of the exact location of our so very romantic hidden hideaway, which I had kept from her since the very beginning of our adventurous journey, wishing to keep it a wonderful surprise as long as possible.
Peering over a small rise in the trail both Cat and I were very surprised to find what looked like an ancient crater in the rim that was approximately a hundred feet across. We decided as we descended down into this depression that it must have been a large vent that had erupted thousands of years ago leaving this huge void in the main volcano's rim. This ancient secondary crater was now overgrown with vegetation of all shapes and sizes. Everything from large evergreens around its perimeter to ferns, flowered vines and meadow like grasses around a clear, blue, small pond that had formed from the catching of rain water in the deepest part of this smaller crater.