The Strange Pinnacles at Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

[@shawnwillsey]

You can support my field videos by clicking on the "Thanks" button just above (right of Like button) or by going here: www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=EWUSLG3GBS5W8

[@davebowles1957]

I just have to tell you that over the last 10 days or so that I've been watching you I've learned sooo much, much more than I thought I ever could about geology. You are an excellent communicator of this science and I've loved every minute of of every video I've watched. Thank you so much Professor Willsey! I'm going to get your books soon as well. I subbed after watching the first video I saw of yours. Thanks again.

[@shawnwillsey]

Wow. Thanks for the high praise. In the moment, I usually think I do OK but when I rewatch the videos, I always find something I missed or didn't emphasize. Welcome aboard and hope you enjoy the existing videos. Also, if you want a signed copy of my book, you can get it here: shawn-willsey.square.site/ Otherwise, Amazon has it as well as local bookstores in Idaho.

[@hollygangle4915]

Thanks! I'm a tour director leading tours to Crater Lake. I really appreciate your easy to understand explanation and feel confident I'll be able to relay this information to my guests :)

[@shawnwillsey]

Awesome. Glad you found this helpful.

[@daveanderson4000]

Amazing coincidence! My wife and I were there just a week ago. We weren’t planning on driving down there until a park ranger suggested it was a beautiful area with unique geology.

[@lornaperryman489]

I'm starting to love your geology lessons. I learn so much every time I find your channel. 😊

[@shawnwillsey]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@oscarmedina1303]

Thank you Shawn.

[@dougsundseth6904]

Those pinnacles look to be related to the "tent rocks" at Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks NM near Santa Fe. Those mostly have some sort of a caprock that looks like it changes the rate and angle of erosion, though.

[@drmichaelshea]

Thank you, Dr. Willsey. I don’t suppose I’ll ever see Crater Lake again, but it will always have special meaning for me. And you taught me something new today.

[@BrandonFox720]

Awesome video Shawn! I just visited Crater Lake the day after the eclipse! And I saw these pinnacles while I was there! I've been troubled by the relatively few in-depth geology dives for Crater Lake on youtube, so I'm really happy to see yours!

[@StereoSpace]

That's fascinating. I would not have reasoned that one out correctly, and guessed it was a similar process to forming hoodoos. Really interesting.

[@briane173]

First time I'd seen or heard of these pinnacles at Crater Lake. The explanation was fascinating; would never have guessed mixing with water to morph this ash into concrete. I was _supposed_ to meet with Shawn at Newberry and couldn't swing it, for medical reasons. But since the Bedrock and Lookout fires have been burning nonstop for over a month now I think it would've spoiled the trip for me. Nothing looks quite as spectacular when viewed through a thick blanket of smoke.

[@shawnwillsey]

@@briane173 Apparently, the day prior (Tues, Aug 22) was far worse and you couldn't see much more than 30 feet ahead of you (no views across lake). So, in hindsight, I was happy with the visibility. Plus the smoky skies made some of the views a little ominous and creepy.

[@hestheMaster]

Mount Mazama was about 1 mile taller until it 's last major eruption 7,700 years ago. Crater Lake is the cleanest bodies of water in the world. Such a unique geological area to explore!

[@Dytopjewa7631]

There’s a smaller lake in north eastern Canada, that’s supposedly the cleanest, clearest water..

[@stevewhalen6973]

Thanks!

[@tb4876]

Wow super interesting! Thanks for making such a cool video!

[@lynnquinn7244]

This is such a neat place. I was there in 2007, and took dozens of photos. Unfortunately, being an unorganized person, I can no longer find them. So I'm very pleased to have found your video!

[@jamesparks3504]

Great video 👍 I've been there twice and imagined how (I thought) that landscape formed. It's great to finally know what went on there. Thanks!

[@jamessmelcer616]

Thank you Shawn,it is very cool to see you posting on the geology of where I grew up and where I live now! I enjoy your videos no matter where, but when it is a place that I know and love it’s very cool! Thank you professor! Keep them coming! I love the State of Jefferson… Jim

[@shawnwillsey]

Look for more Crater Lake videos soon!

[@Stroopwaffe1]

Wow looks amazing,your so lucky that you get to all these wonderful vistas and thanks for sharing your knowledge. It must be amazing to live in a land where you can literally drive as far as you can go, drive a big spiral for 999,9999 miles and still have a new road to follow, massive.

[@leswoodburn5764]

Love your geology reports.Fascinating little lecture, cheers

[@valoriel4464]

Wow! Amazing geo-adventure. Thx Prof ✌🏻

[@brianpeers]

Very well explained. Thank you. So fascinating.

[@shawnwillsey]

Glad you liked it!

[@7inrain]

When I entered the video I let it run for 40 seconds and then thought about what might have caused these shapes to form. And my guess was something like the mechanism how hoodoos are forming, meaning these pinnacles have some hard rock sitting on their top and preventing erosion a bit more than in the neighbouring region. Ok, that was wrong. ;-) Very interesting. Thanks for that video.

[@jacobblumin4260]

Excellent video as usual. Thanks, Shawn.

[@waynep343]

There were multiple groups of pinicles in lockwood valley california where i grew up. They were always fun to walk up into and around. West or adams trail at mountian lilac trail.

[@leslie3832]

I had no idea how those pinnacles formed. So cool, or should say, so hot! Thank you.

[@scampeezo]

Very cool. I was reminded of your video on the Peshastin Pinnacles between Leavenworth, WA and Wenatchee, WA. from last year. As you and some other commenters point out this area is only a few miles off Rim Drive and only about a 1 mile walk from the parking area. Like any National Park if you get out of your car a walk a bit you lose the crowds pretty quickly and can come across some unique sites and sights.

[@bottomup12]

Another mind blowing story! Trying to imagine the destruction that took place when that baby blew 🌋 yikes!

[@kathycorley9236]

.Looks like Bryce Canyon NP formations! I never knew that these formations existed in Crater Lake. Thanks!!

[@runninonempty820]

I went to Crater Lake some years ago, but I never knew of the pinnacles there. Very cool and very interesting!

[@arlahunt4240]

How interesting. I never would have thought if this. I’d have thought it was the other way around. The fumerols would wash away, leaving the other material as the posts.

[@michaelhansen7516]

Wow, that's cool, wouldn't have guessed that's how they formed

[@gwynnfarrell1856]

I'm going to make a little excursion there soon! It's not far from where I live and certainly needs a much more thorough investigation than I've given it in the past. Thank you for this great explanation!

[@shawnwillsey]

I've got some more Crater Lake videos coming soon that will might enrich your upcoming adventure. Look for them soon!

[@gwynnfarrell1856]

@@shawnwillsey Fantastic! I'll be watching.

[@GregInEastTennessee]

Nice video! Geeze! Is it that cool up there now? It was 102F in Pasco, WA yesterday! What a difference. 😮

[@shawnwillsey]

It was 35F the morning I shot this (Aug 23). Chilly in the high country.

[@GregInEastTennessee]

@@shawnwillsey Wow! I'm glad I packed some long johns!

[@GregInEastTennessee]

How timely! I just discovered the Pinnacles this morning. They sure are weird looking. Your explanation makes sense. But I was thinking that the other side of the valley or canyon was about the same height as the side with the trail. Is it possible that the whole thing was filled with pyroclastic flow, and the sand creek eroded down to it's current level, taking lots of ash and stuff downstream? Also, I noticed that many of them were gray on top and tan on bottom. Is that significant? The smoke is just as bad or worse now. I could barely see the water this morning. But I spent yesterday and today prowling around and it was very interesting. I"ll be sure and make a return visit one of these days.

[@101rotarypower]

More Oregon specific topics please! Does anyone know of a channel that covers Oregon Geology as well as Shawn does for Idaho and Nick does for Washington? So many interesting things here, yet struggle to find a good channel to explain all the details that we are so curious to learn about! Thanks for doing a Oregon specific POI Shawn! :)

[@shawnwillsey]

I’ve got some more Oregon videos in the hopper. Stay tuned!

[@101rotarypower]

@@shawnwillsey Can't wait!

[@MrSiwat]

Wow! Your channel is fantastic. Thanks so much for the professional information. I live over in Europe and travel around the continent. There is a place on the island of Tenerife to the south of the main volcano which is just like this place. That is why I clicked on your video because it reminds me of this place in Tenerife. It is called Paisaje Lunar (kinda meaning Landscape of the Moon). I love this place so much. It's an old flow from one of the side vents of Teide and it must have hit real hard! Bio material all mixed up with the softly packed flow. Take a look on a map resource. These are amazing places in the world. Thanks for the video.

[@shawnwillsey]

I'd love to go to the Canary Islands. On my list for sure!

[@davidk7324]

Thank you Shawn--

[@davidfrank6664]

Thank you

[@kenbrady119]

What's especially amazing about this vista is how the tall firs mimic the pinnacles. Beautiful place! I won't personally visit because that would require tons of CO2 emissions, but thank you for sharing your local milieu.

[@patakigeo]

just curious, what do you mean about the tons of CO2 emissions?

[@toughenupfluffy7294]

Welded tuff. There are pinnacles like this all over the San Juan Mountains in Colorado, where I grew up.

[@clydecessna737]

Fascinating.

[@patmayer7222]

Land o' lakes,wi....here,,,,....who knew gasses helped form these,,...a place to visit for sure (someday)!!...tnx,pat&family.

[@derykma1]

Well that's amazing, thank you for your explanation of how those pentacles were formed, do they have names? Also is there a walk along the ridge of them or how far is the trail to see them? Lastly what is that one layer that seems to be repetitive at the same altitude throughout all the pinnacles?

[@shawnwillsey]

I don't think the individuals have names. Yes, there is an easy, mostly level trail along rim. You can see some from parking area and walk along rim up to 0.5 mile to see more. The pinnacles are all made of the same layer of pyroclastic material from the eruption of Mt Mazama 7,700 years ago.

[@mond000]

The "buried trees" hypothesis makes a lot more sense.

[@vickitatum540]

Cool!! So now I'm wondering if the process is similar to what formed the Crowley Columns (east side of the Sierras, near Mammoth), perhaps from the Long Valley caldera period?

[@shawnwillsey]

Stay tuned! I'll be there very soon.

[@vickitatum540]

Awesome!!

[@jeffmyers7062]

Out in my neck of the woods!

[@SingularlyNaked]

These videos really put the lie to Walt Whitman's "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer", in which he pooh-poohs all that learnin' in favor of just going outside and being amazed by nature. But how is it not even more amazing to understand how these things came to be? Isn't it awesome to see how just by looking and thinking about it you can deduce the strange but simple processes that led to this beautiful landscape? (Or skyscape in the case of astronomers.) To me, the understanding is at least as awe-inspiring as the visible landscape!

[@ncooper8438]

So the pinnacles are hollow, like chimney's ?

[@archstanton_live]

Hoodoo ya think you're foolin'? (j/k) Shawn clearly differentiates the mechanism here as opposed to the mechanism for hoodoo creation.

[@aubreyleonae4108]

Considering the vast lakes and wetlands directly to the south of Mazama, during the time of eruption: How did that environment absord the ash, etc. differently than the higher ground, such as the fault escarpments around Klamath lake, and such? Near my home in Klamath on Hogsback mtn there were large outcrops of basaltic aa type rock, I was told they came from Mazama. Like giant mud globs. It seems there would still be evidence in the floor sediments of Klamath lake as that water was slow moving even then. Forgive my memory from my 70s education. Here just south of Eugene, OR, there is about a 1 to 2 foot whitish band of ash visible in a road cut on Interstate 5, just above the former floodplain of the Willamette river. I notice it every day. I've been told that it was from Mazama. Did the wetlands absorb and then eliminate, through erosion, the ash deposited on these areas? Is there still remaining evidence? Sorry if this is a silly question, worded poorly.

[@davidyoder-rh4wf]

First visited in 1962 on a 4 H trip.

[@mickwilson99]

So, they're concretions?

[@ExoticTerrain]

Hey your in my county!

[@johnnash5118]

There are many incorrect references to the epic “Crater Lake” eruption, but the lake didn’t exist prior to, during or even many years after the eruption, as the caldera was much too hot to contain water. Indeed, the current temperature of the lake bottom is 66f. The name of the existing 8,100’ caldera rim the lake resides in is the shell of Mt. Mazama, the 12,100’ stratovolcanic complex that erupted and collapsed 6,000’ into its own magma chamber. If you live in California, Washington, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Utah and Wyoming, Mazama ash is part of your state.

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks for this. I think I did botch a few of these by saying or implying the lake was there after the eruption. I know it wasn’t but made that mistake when speaking.

[@lauram9478]

❤

[@edwardhanson3664]

I had never heard of them before. I thought they might be an erosional feature.

[@piotrrajmundkoprowski4732]

Reminds me of Aşiklar Vadisi in Turkye.

[@MeltingPOLE]

I've been there

[@candui-7]

Forget Yellowstone, Mt Shasta is just biding it's time.

[@Oregontrailblazin]

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Professor!!!

[@3xHermes]

Guessing by now that Geochemists could prove this idea?

[@TheOfficialZombieWhisperer]

Growing up we got to visit the lake yearly, I miss the original gift shop and restaurant, I used to tell my sister that those were people who died and turned to stone

[@Cinnemax77]

Very cool! Thx

[@drmichaelshea]

Thanks!

[@shawnwillsey]

Much appreciated. Glad you enjoyed this. Look for more Crater Lake videos soon!

[@SteveCumella-go3rx]

Thanks!

[@shawnwillsey]

Steve, thanks for your kind donation. It is much appreciated and will help me make more videos. Thanks again!