We headed south from Washington into Oregon and spent the day (and night, and following morning) exploring the natural wonders of Crater Lake National Park.
It took about four hours to drive to the park. We passed Mount Hood and saw the Three Sisters chain of volcanos off to the west as we blasted down US 97. Great road. The park’s access spur climbed steadily as we headed for the north entrance, and the clouds above us grew dark. It was one of those days in the mountains when the afternoon thundershowers are in full swing. Big droplets of rain irregularly pelted the windshield as we sat in line to enter at the tollbooth. Now that I’m an old geezer I have a Lifetime Senior Pass, and we got in for free.
We drove up the long grade, southbound, toward the crater’s rim. There was clear sky off to the west, and more blue to the east. This was where the action was, the center of a hot day’s rising thermals. As we climbed, patches of snow appeared along the highway, then grew larger, until finally, up near the rim itself, everything was buried in snow. But the road was clear, and only wet thanks to the recent rain. Excellent! Vicki and I were loving it.
Vicki kept wanting to stop at every roadside pullout along the rim, but I remained strong. I knew that we needed the security of a campsite more than a fleeting view, so I continued onward, and headed down the long winding road to the park’s southern entrance and the Mazama Village store. This was where we could book a proper campsite. Luckily, it was mid-week and we had no issues. We drove over to check it out, to make sure it was flat enough to sleep comfortably in the back of my camperized Rav4. It was fine.
We stayed there for about five minutes and drove back up the hill to the Rim Village store and cafe. We found a parking spot, then jogged over to the store, as the rain was sprinkling lightly. There was a long line for the only ladies room, and I almost bought a bigfoot t-shirt after wandering around inside. Bigfoot is a major attraction up here in the Pacific Northwest.
It was still raining lightly when we went back out. Vicki waited under the eaves of the store while I ran out to the rim trail for some photos. I jumped up on the stone wall along the path and got a selfie to send back home, then I ran back to join Vicki. She was bored and wanted to get in the car, to go see the lake without getting rained on.
We decided to drive clockwise around the rim, and stop at every single pullout or parking spot. That way we wouldn’t miss anything. Last time we were here, back in 2023, there was still so much snow that the road wasn’t open to the north entrance, and even the campground was under three feet of snow. Yes, 2023 was a big snow year. This year was pretty big, too, but at least they were able to plow the roads by early July.
Our first pullout was at the Discovery Point Trailhead. There were nice views of Wizard Island from there. This time, Vicki stayed in the car while I ran out to get wet. Of course it started raining in earnest the moment we arrived, and it probably stopped when we drove onward. Sometimes luck treats you that way. But I liked it anyway. All those clouds and wisps of virga descending beneath them were beautiful. Totally worth getting rained on.
Next time, at the Watchman Peak Trailhead parking lot, I ran out, but immediately made arm motions to Vicki that she’d better get her butt out of the car. The views were simply too good to miss, and the rain wasn’t all that bad at the moment. So she did, and she was happy. Not that she stayed out there very long. I’ll take what I can get.
We stopped at what was barely a pull-out so that Vicki could pose in the snow. This was also for texting relatives and friends, who needed to know just how much we were suffering on our vacation. We found yet more snow as we continued on. There were a couple of places where the snowdrifts must have been enormous, as they were still nearly twenty feet tall next to the road.
We hung a right and continued clockwise on Rim Drive. Wizard Island was still there, but now we were on the far side of it from our earlier pictures. The rain had let up in this area, but we could still see the virga under the darker clouds. This was some fun weather, but I could tell that the storm clouds were beginning to break up, at least around the edges.
Vicki decided not to take the dayhike down to the surface of Crater Lake, so we drove onward along East Rim Drive. The viewpoint changed, and now Wizard Island seemed small, like an afterthought shoved up against the volcanic rim of the crater. We passed Pumice Point and Cleetwood Cove, and saw one of the park’s boats at anchor far below us. Being a park ranger sounded like it could be a pretty fun job. Further on was Skell Head, and that was where the road was closed. It wasn’t due to snow; they were actively working on repairing it, according to the park brochure we got earlier. Since Rim Drive was a complete circle, this meant that the only way we could see all of the open parts was to drive all the way around, counterclockwise past Rim Village and hang a left. We decided to do it, because we were here.
On the way, we stopped yet again at the Watchman Peak Trailhead. Now that it wasn’t raining, Vicki wanted to read all the informative displays in that area along the Rim Trail. It was our chance to learn more about the history of Crater Lake.
Then we drove down the hill south of Rim Village, and found the part of East Rim Drive that we missed earlier. The road climbed back uphill, of course, and it was rather far from the rim itself. I guess the rim is a bit too high and steep on the southern side to build a proper road. In fact, we stopped at a waterfall, Videa Falls, that was cascading down from the rim itself. At least we saw that much, as the road was closed immediately afterward.
So our exploration was over. We headed back to the campground and ate one of our freeze-dried camping dinners. Looking around at the dry ground, we realized that the rain never even fell down here. It had been localized over the high parts of the rim. It was still cloudy, however, and the air grew cool quite early. We went to bed in the car and made plans for tomorrow.
The morning dawned bright and sunny. Yesterday, I mentioned to Vicki that we needed a picture of the two of us in the sun with the lake behind us, but the only way to do that in the morning (without glare and poor lighting) would be to take it from the east side. So we ate breakfast, packed up everything, and headed out.
We drove up the hill and stopped along the rim on the southwest side. Of course the picture turned out hazy, and the light was all wrong. But at least Wizard Island looked like a proper cone-shaped volcano. Then we drove onward, around the lake to the eastern road. We parked near the edge near another couple. We all decided to trade cameras so everybody got the shot they wanted. As usual, people who take photos for me rarely get it perfectly. Either they cut off my feet, leaving my head in the center with half a photo of blank blue sky, or they get my feet in the photo but I end up so small that it isn’t even a photo of me any longer, as I get lost in the landscape. Anyway, all I can say is that at least our feet didn’t get cut off. And we got the picture of the two of us.
We decided that the best route out of the park was via the north entrance, they way we arrived. We passed regions of melting snow which got thinner as we lost elevation, on our way down the long straight road to the entry booth. And then we left the park behind us. What a beautiful place it truly is.
We continued south down US 97. Along the way, we planned to finish off yet another incomplete Volcano Visit from 2023, by driving up to the top of Paulina Peak in Newberry National Volcanic Monument.
For a topographic map of the hike see my CalTopo Page
For LOTS more photos of the trek see my Flickr Page
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