Cover: Wizard Island. Llao Rock in the background.
CRATER LAKE
NATIONAL PARK
OREGON
Contents
- Welcome 3
- Discovery and History 4
- The Geological Story of Crater Lake 4
- Wildlife 7
- Map 8
- Forests and Wildflowers 10
- Interpretive Service 12
- What To See and Do 12
- How To Get to the Park 14
- Accommodations and Camping 14
- Miscellaneous Services 15
- Mission 66 15
- Administration 15
- Help Us Protect This Park 16
- Visitor Use Fees 16
The National Park System, of which this park is a unit, is dedicated to conservingthe scenic, scientific, and historic heritage of the United States for thebenefit and enjoyment of its people.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fred A. Seaton, Secretary
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, Conrad L. Wirth, Director
CRATER LAKE
National Park
Open All Year—Regular Season, June 15 to September 15
Welcome
The superintendent and the staff ofCrater Lake National Park welcome youto this area of the National Park System.We hope that your stay here will bepleasant and inspiring.
Here in this park you encounterbeauty—beauty in a wonderful combinationof form and substance and sparkingcolor—great curving walls of rock andsand, green spires of fir and hemlock,and the brilliant reflections of CraterLake. All this is a part of a remarkablevolcanic story.
On this spot, a few thousand yearsago, stood the mighty 12,000-foot volcano,Mount Mazama. This great mountaindischarged a tremendous quantityof ash and lava, causing the mountaintopto collapse, and creating a caldera, whichnow contains the unbelievably blueCrater Lake. It is the central feature ofthis 250-square-mile National Park onthe crest of the Cascade Range in southernOregon.
A major charm of Crater Lake is thatthe whole lake and its setting can betaken in by the eye at one time. Yet itssize is impressive. The lake is about 20square miles in area, 6 miles wide, andhas 20 miles of shoreline. The surroundingcliffs rise as m