By mile 1617, around 9:45am, we had arrived. Up to that point Crater Lake National Park was the highlight of the trip. Trees? We see trees all the time. Big ones, like the redwoods are magnificent. But, there was nothing that we had ever seen like Crater Lake! We circled the crater via its 33 mile rim drive and spent so much time around there we decided to camp there for the night.

It's difficult to narrow it down to one thing, but looking back on the trip, Crater Lake was probably the highlight. We saw so many amazing things, but Crater Lake was truly a breathtaking sight. Since the lake sits inside the crater, you have to drive up the side of the crater to see it. So that kind of builds up the anticipation as you are approaching it. And when you finally come upon it, the first thing that grabs you is the lake's deep shade of blue. It's kind of like the first time you see the Grand Canyon. You can see tons of pictures of it, but you can't really appreciate it's magnificence until you see it in person.

We ended up camping for the night inside the National Park near the visitor center.