Defying Death at Crater Lake National Park

I’ve highlighted some of the crazy things idiotic tourists do in my past writings.  Like

• loading a baby bison into the back of a car,
• backing up to a bison to take a selfie,
• painting strange pictures on the rocks at National Parks or whatever.

Most of us wouldn’t think to do any of these things – they are just crazy.

Defying Death at Crater Lake

Last Sunday I was at Crater Lake National Park.  I was learning about the geologic and botanic history of the park.  We were eating lunch at the rim and watching a lot of tourists being insane.  As the photo above shows,  tourists were climbing onto the roof of the Sinnott Memorial Observation Station.  They were taking pictures,  throwing rocks toward the lake, and generally behaving like they were two feet off the ground on their backyard deck.

Kids were even running up to the edge in an attempt to throw their rock all the way to the water.  It’s an extremely long throw to the water.  Even golfers are rarely able to get a ball from the rim to the water.  These kids didn’t come close to the water,  but they were quite close to death.   The memorial is 900 feet above the rocks next to the lake.  There is no railing.  All falls are deadly.

It takes some effort to get on that roof.  One must climb up the rock side of the building – maybe 10 or 12 feet.  I watched parents helping their little kids make the climb.  They ignored the warning sign and potential fines, not to mention the extreme hazard.

Park Rangers learned of the situation.  They removed the people from the roof and quickly installed a larger sign.  I doubt that the larger sign will make much difference.  Unfortunately,  the memorial didn’t open until the next day.  Perhaps if these people were able to get inside they would have avoided the roof.  Maybe not – they are crazy.

Crater Lake Slide Show

Let me get off the rant and offer some photos of the park taken last Sunday:

 

Photos:

1. Sinnott Memorial and Wizard Island
2. The Watchman
3. Clark’s Nutcraker
4. Lady of the Lake (NOT  the Lady of the Woods)
5. Annie Creek Fossil Fumaroles
6. Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel
7. Pumice Grape-Ferm (Botrychium pumicola)
8. The Palisades

All photos ©2016 Global Creations LLC. All rights reserved.

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One Response to “Defying Death at Crater Lake National Park”

1. Alexey says:

   May 21, 2018 at 6:47 am

   Yes, I was on that roof last week. Melting but still deep snow and glaciers around. Quite a view. Need to have some balls to stand near the edge. It’s definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity to trip over there.

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