Crater Lake, Oregon

As we were driving to Crater lake we kept checking the forecast, it said it was only 65 degrees and that was the middle of the day. It was supposed to get down to 35 degrees that night. Driving to Crater Lake from Grand Tetons wasn’t too exciting, actually pretty boring. We had to drive through Idaho. It was a lot of flat land. We stopped a couple times to get out to stretch and I decided to take some photos. 

The closer we got to Crater lake the more pine trees and mountains we saw. I kept getting more and more excited.

It was a pretty big drive up to the lake from the entrance of the park. We pulled into the first parking lot that we saw to see the lake. You weren’t able to see the lake from where you had to park so we had to get out and climb up a small hill. The first look was insane. It was a massive lake, with a volcano right in the middle. Crater Lake! 

We then just ran around and tried to get the best shots we could. Always my favorite, when you are able to go anywhere you can to take photos of such an epic place.

As the night got later and later the light kept getting better. I knew it was going to be an epic sunset.

Finally it was dark and very very cold. Due to us shooting the whole time we didn’t plan on anywhere to stay for the night. It wasn’t a big deal because I was excited to shoot the milky way. Crater Lake is one of the darkest places in the United States. I knew I wouldn’t miss that. We drove to the Crater Lake Lodge to find some warmth and hang out until it got darker. 

From the back door of the lodge you could get an amazing shot of the milky way. It was the craziest thing I had ever seen. You could see it very vibrant with your eyes. 

We were then off to try to find the best place to get the milky way over the lake. I would say we did pretty good to were we choose to park. 

The darker it got the more you could see the milky way. I was freezing but I knew it was so worth it. 

Hunter and I stayed out for a couple hours running around to get the best angles. The night just kept getting better and better. As we were walking back to the car we noticed some very colorful stars right above the road. It was the northern lights! I couldn’t belive it. You could see it very well, you could also see the aurora’s moving.