Free Republic

CRATER LAKE — Someone has stolen thousands of rounds of ammunition from a locked building at Crater Lake National Park, and the National Park Service is asking for the public’s help in finding the whoever is responsible. According to a news release Friday from the Park Service, the rifle and pistol ammunition was stolen from a locked building in the park’s headquarters area. The ammunition was used as part of the park’s law enforcement program. Its theft is a felony. Anyone with information that could help invesitgators is asked to contact the Investigative Services Branch by phone, text, website, email...

It floats upright in Oregon's Crater Lake, but it's not a buoy or a pillar. It can be seen in different locations in different days, depending on the weather. In fact, it's not connected to anything to tether it to the lake's floor. Known as the "Old Man of the Lake," this mysterious phenomenon has perplexed park staff and visitors for decades.The Old Man is actually a hemlock tree stump that somehow remains upright in the water, even as it moves. Indeed, the Old Man goes along with the whims of the wind and waves. The 30-foot-long stump was first...

Explanation: Why is this aurora strikingly pink? When photographing picturesque Crater Lake in Oregon, USA last month, the background sky lit up with auroras of unusual colors. Although much is known about the physical mechanisms that create auroras, accurately predicting the occurrence and colors of auroras remains a topic of investigation. Typically, it is known, the lowest auroras appear green. These occur at about 100 kilometers high and involve atmospheric oxygen atoms excited by fast moving plasma from space. The next highest auroras -- at about 200 kilometers up -- appear red, and are also emitted by resettling atmospheric oxygen....

Explanation: Did you see it? One of the more common questions during a meteor shower occurs because the time it takes for a meteor to flash is typically less than the time it takes for a head to turn. Possibly, though, the glory of seeing bright meteors shoot across and knowing that they were once small pebbles on another world might make it all worthwhile, even if your observing partner(s) could not share in every particular experience. Peaking over the past few days, a dark moonless sky allowed the Lyrids meteor shower to exhibit as many as 30 visible meteors...

Medford, Ore. (AP) -- Rangers and others at Crater Lake National Park spent about six hours rescuing a New York man who slid 300 feet into the remains of a volcano that forms the nation's deepest and clearest lake. Authorities describe the man as 27, from New York, and say his injuries were serious. He wasn't identified. Witnesses said he was with friends Monday, went beyond a barrier onto a snow bank at an overlook, fell headfirst and slid partway down the 700-foot wall toward the lake.

ROSEBURG, Ore. -- Mount Mazama's catastrophic volcanic eruption created Crater Lake over 7,600 years ago. But it also created a sort of time capsule for Oregon scientists. Now researchers from the Umpqua National Forest and the Oregon State Museum of Anthropology are digging in. This Passport in Time project actually started last summer, but was put on hold after the Williams Creek fire broke out in July. Now dozens of volunteers and researchers are back to unearth Oregon's history. These archaeologists spend hours sifting and digging, all in hopes of finding something ancient. "We're looking for artifacts that will demonstrate...