Crater Lake, Oregon, is an ancient volcano caldera that is filled with water. If you’ve never been there, words really cannot convey the magnificence of the view. I was there in 2006, and was so struck by the awesome beauty of the place that I did what I could to relay how I felt at the time.

So I was thrilled when I found out that photographer Ben Canales had also visited Crater Lake, and made this lovely (and far too short!) time lapse video of it:

See what I mean? I want more! But did you see, in the first few seconds of the video, the dark band across the horizon? That’s called the Belt of Venus, and is actually the shadow of the Earth on the sky! I see it all the time, and it’s easy to get good pictures of it, too!

My only regret about visiting Crater Lake was not being able to see the stars that night, but it looks like Ben made the most of his experience there. Sometime, I’ll have to go back, and spend the night. It looks cold, but wonderful.

Credit: Ben Canales on Google+.