In Celebration of Father’s Day, Mystery Right Here in Oregon

We Celebrate Mother’s Day, and rightly so, with flowers and gardening, and unfortunately, a bit too much shopping, as it has been increasingly commercialized (there’s nothing wrong with that either if that makes you happy).

But what about Father’s Day? did you know that we have The Old Man Tree right here in Oregon, in a beautiful park as well?

Perhaps you have been to Crater Lake Park and also visited the beautiful Crater Lake. Besides the beauty itself, there is a mysterious quality about the lake with its swirling winds, deep snow in the winter (areas are still closed), and outlooks like Wizard island. suffice it to say Harry Potter would be at home here 🙂

Amidst all this is the Old Man tree, a Hemlock that has a long history of fooling geologists, scientists and visitors themselves.

The Old Man Tree has three feet above the water and the rest below. It has been carbon dated to 450 years old. It has long fascinated.

Most mysterious of all is that it moves! A study commissioned by Washington in 1938 found that the tree traveled 62 miles fro July to October. Numerous attempts to figure out why this is so, including a failed attempt to try to examine the tree by tying the tree to an island to examine it (unsurprisingly failing when a large storm blew it back into the lake).

This fits into the local lore that the Lake controls the weather.

One more mystery to add to Old Man Tree.

So this Fathers Day (or any day when it’s more accessible) you might consider visiting.

A set of golf clubs is welcome, no doubt, but this might show your own father that you admire his resilience and that he, like the tree, is one of a kind.

At any rate, at CRT, we know many fathers who donate their time and muscles to us.

Happy Father’s Day!