Central
Oregon Mountains, Deserts, Trails, Ghost Towns and Fire Lookouts
Oregon's highest lake
is in Central Oregon. Usually it's unnamed and forgotten, but
a few maps name it Teardrop Pool, and it rests in the thin air,
10,200 ft high on the summit plateau of South Sister Mountain.
The plateau, outwardly calm, sits on top of a giant but ice-filled
volcanic crater, in one of Oregon's most active volcanic zones.
South Sister ranks as Oregon's third-highest mountain peak (10,358'),
just slightly less tall than Mt. Jefferson...... if you want to
see pictures of the World's
highest lake, click here! It's located in the driest region on Earth, near
the Atacama Desert in South America where Bolivia and Chile meet--
the 19.000 foot high unnamed lake, like South Sister's Teardrop
Pool, sits atop a stratovolcanic peak. The peak is named "Licancabur.,"
19,409 feet high, the peak has ancient Inca sacrificial altar
remains on its summit! Below is a sunset picture from the summit
of South Sister (in this picture Teardrop Pool is frozen and invisible)....
Note tent and
small black dog to the right of it! We are camping on the edge
of a very recent volcanic crater; the permanent ice choking its
mouth has been measured at about 200 feet thick. The photographer
and his husky Kaila spent a spectacular night in the summit crater
of South Sister....... the memory is of a feeling of Polar Emptiness
embraced by nearby stars........ In the morning, the sea of clouds
below was a floor upon which to dance.
Deserts!
Click
to be transported to:
Click
below to be transported to additional Central Oregon Mountains,
and also sections on the historic Pacific Crest Trail, historic
wilderness shelters and fire lookout towers.
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Last Revised November 29, 2009
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