7/16/2019
We got up early to get our trail cameras, we only caught deer but another group captured vultures. After this we left at 8:30 so we can visit Crater Lake, one of the other students really wanted to go to see this place and so Jessica made it happen. The view was absolutely stunning and I was surprised to see snow on the ground still. Crater Lake got its name in 1869 after a newspaper editor Jim Sutton from Jacksonville who explored with several others, its first name was GIIWAAS which means a most sacred place, and The Klamath Indian tribe was the one to name it. The mountain is Mt Mazama and around 7,700 it collapsed in on itself. Many eruptions after sealed the bottom of the volcano so that rain and snow melt filled its basin allowing the lake to form.  During this time a caldera was formed now named Wizard Island, it’s a volcano within a volcano, its top is 90 m wide and is 27 m deep, and the island height is 233 m tall. The lake deepest point is 592 m deep. The group went up the Watchman Trail which is 2.6 km with an elevation 128 m, I didn’t go up it as I had missed the trail and ended up going partly around the rim trail but it was still a great view. We then went to the gift shop where I got a shirt, it was really hectic in there as there was so many people.

We arrived here at Collier state park campground around 2:30 and put up our tents then Alex arrived to take us to the spring fed Williamson River. The area we went to is protected as it has many artifacts all over the land. Even while walking we saw an obsidian arrow head that was carved by the native people hundreds of years ago. While walking we saw about 6 vultures takeoff from what we think was their meal, I had never seen a vulture before so I really enjoyed seeing them fly. He told us about Pando Aspen Tree and how it was the largest living organism on the planet. It is however dying as it need a couple of days where it freezes cold but with the climate changing its not getting those cold days that it needs to thrive. The Williamson River is a bit strange as it begins up high but then disappears for many miles before it reappears and continues down the mountain. The reason this part of the river is so important is because this river is connected to the lake, during the summer the lake is so full of Algol blooms that red striped trout flee up this river to escape the harsh conditions of the lake. More of the condition of the lake and the history around it he will explain tomorrow.

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