Some of my best photographs were taken at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, USA. It is one of the prettiest places I've seen in the USA and one of the prettiest I've seen at all.

Crater Lake is a lake in the crater of a volcano, last erupted some 8,000 years ago but is still considered active. The bottom of the lake is solid rock, what makes the lake’s water absolutely clean and transparent. The rim around the crater closes it from all sides, preventing wind from blowing over the lake, what makes the water perfectly still.

On August 7th, 2001, Roni, my traveling pal and I arrived at Crater Lake, coming from the north after a visit in the city of Portland, Oregon. I have never heard of the place before, but she did. She talked a lot of it as a "must" in our trip in the USA.

At the moment we first saw the lake, we were amazed of what we were seeing: The lake looked like a giant mirror lying at our feet, reflecting the sky and the rim. We drove on the road that went on top of the rim around the lake.

We stopped at the visitor center to see what the rangers can suggest. A ranger gave us a map and marked us some observation points. While we walked around the shop, Roni saw a postcard with a picture of the lake at sunset. She wanted to take a picture just like that.

At the evening, we came to an observation point at the south side of the lake, and watched the sunset from there. The sunset at Crater Lake is nothing like anything else. Roni said: It’s not the point where the picture from the postcard was taken. We must find it tomorrow evening.

On the next day we took more time to tour Crater Lake. It was worth every moment we spent there. As I studied the area, I understood that the picture from the postcard was not taken at sunset, but at sunrise. Roni insisted of watching the sunset once again from a better spot, and on the next morning – watch the sunrise from the view of the postcard.

On our second evening in Crater Lake, we watched the sunset from an observation point on the east side of the lake. The sun setting on the opposite side of the lake was beautiful. I can't compare it with anything else.

We left the spot when it was completely dark, and we drove half way around Crater Lake – on a winding dark road on a rim of a volcano’s crater – all the way to the western side. We set up our tent on the slope not far from the rim. We got to sleep at about midnight. We woke up at 4 o'clock a.m. just in time to get to the rim and see the sun starting to rise. I don’t need to add words to the pictures in the following link:

Crater Lake