We visited a nearby mountain twice while we were in Shady Cove, OR called Mt. McLoughlin.  The first visit was on a very cloudy day that ended up raining on us so the pictures didn’t come out very good.  So, we took another trip to it on a beautiful, clear day and got some great shots!

On our first trip we went up a dirt road as high up onto the mountain as vehicles are allowed.  From there you have to hike…which we didn’t do 🙂   There was still a lot of snow on the ground and it was cold!

Our second trip we drove around to the east and south of the mountain where there are very pretty lakes.  Beautiful area and definitely worth the second trip!

We took a trip to see Crater Lake one day while here in Southern Oregon.  It’s beautiful!  The water is a deep blue, and as it’s pure rainfall (no rivers flow into or out of the caldera) it’s the cleanest, purest water on earth.

The blue of the water was enhanced by the snow all around us!  Here are some pictures:

We drove up to Crater Lake one day while here in Southern Oregon.  Luckily we checked the weather before leaving, because it was in the high 70s at the RV park, but barely 34 up at Crater Lake where there’s still 10′ of snow piled up along the road and blocking the entire first floor of buildings in the area!

Crater Lake was formed by a volcanic eruption approx. 7,700 years ago.  Native American sandals were found in nearby caves buried in the ash, so there were people living in the area when the volcano erupted.

Here are some pictures of the area we saw around Crater Lake:

Near where we’re staying there’s an area where the Rogue River had carved deep into the volcanic lava tubes that formed along the slopes of Mount Mazana (now Crater Lake).  The gorge was formed when the river caused lava tubes to collapse through this one area.  Here are some pictures:

We took a day and drove southeast from where we’re staying to visit the Lassen Mountain Natl Park and Volcanic area.  The day was very cloudy and overcast unfortunately, but it was a real nice drive.

We were surprised to learn that Lassen Mountain exploded in two volcanic eruptions just in 1915 – which is a blink of the eye in geologic terms!

As we drive up into the mountain area it got colder and finally there was still a lot of snow on the ground.  We could only go as far as the “desolation area” and the rest of the road was closed until June.

The desolation area was what they called the area that was destroyed by the lava flow.  There are still lava rocks laying around where they landed when they were blown out of the mountain!

People lived in the area at the time of the eruption, one man was awakened by his dog and saw the mountain bulging and smoking.  He ran 3 miles to warn neighbors and they all would have died if they hadn’t gotten away as fast as they did.

He and some other people hiked up to see the damage 3 days after the eruption, and barely escaped again when it erupted again!

The mountain itself is fantastic – you can see that it was blown apart by a volcano due to the concave shape of it.

Here are pictures from our trip through the National Park and of the volcanic mountain, still covered in snow in early May!