Crater Lake

We got up early and left for Crater Lake National Park at about 7, right when the office opened so Sandy could get some coffee. From the hotel, it was only ten minutes to the park and maybe 30 minutes or so to the rim. We needed to be at the parking lot no later than 9 to be down to the docks by 930. But we had quite a bit of time, so we made a few scenic stops along the way. We followed the West Rim Drive and stopped at at an overlook right near the Rim Village.

There were really nice views of the lake and our first views of Wizard Island that we would be seeing up close shortly. We also saw a mother deer and three fawns on the steep slope below the rim.

She kept an eye on us but knew we wouldn't easily be able to get down to her and her kids. Our next stop was Watchman Overlook, just west of Wizard Island. The overlook is just below Watchman Peak, where there is still an old fire lookout.

Besides the lake, we had great views of the rim and some of the surrounding mountains, including Llao Rock and Hillman Peak.

Just before reaching the parking area for Cleetwood Cove, we stopped at the overlook near Pumice Point.

We stopped for a few more pictures and then parked at the parking area and got ready for our boat tour and Wizard Island hike.  After checking in, we made the hike down Cleetwood Cove Trail. This is the only trail that allows access to the lake from the rim. Although it’s steep, the trail is well graded and switchbacks reduce the slope a bit.

The weather was fantastic and the lake was absolutely beautiful as we hiked down towards the crystal blue water. Going back up after our tour, however, would be quite a bit more strenuous, but certainly worth the fantastic tour. Once we got to the bottom, we checked in again and boarded the boat and soon we were off on Crater Lake. Ranger Dave accompanied our tour for this leg and provided some interesting information about the history and geology of this fascinating lake.

We passed Pumice Point, Llao Rock, and Devil’s Backbone, all beautiful rock formations between the rim and the lake, as the boat circled the perimeter of the lake in the counter-clockwise direction. And like many of the features in the park, the names were derived from mythological sources.

Llao was the Klamath god of the underworld, whose battle with the sky god Skell caused the eruption of Mount Mazama and the formation of Crater Lake. After about 30 minutes, we docked at Wizard Island and departed the boat.

They have pit toilets at the boat house on the island and asked the visitors use these rather than going off trail, so once we had done that, we started hiking up the Wizard Summit Trail. This is a fairly steep trail, gaining about 750 feet in a mile.

But I barely noticed the heavy breathing; the views from the trail were breathtaking and I was stopping frequently to take pictures. The trail switchbacks a few times as it goes up to the summit of Wizard Island and then makes a loop around the crater at the summit. This 90-foot crater is called Witch’s Cauldron, keeping with the mythology-themed names of the park.

We stopped and had lunch up here, enjoying the amazing panoramic views of the lake.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of pesky yellow jackets flying around up here and trying to get our food, but at least they weren’t aggressive and didn’t seem to be stinging. In fact, there were a lot of these yellow jackets in the park, which kind of surprised me. We also saw some cute little squirrels – quite a few of them live on the island.

Initially, we thought they were chipmunks, but a ranger later told us that they are actually golden-mantled ground squirrels. Along the rim of the crater, there were a lot of spooky-looking dead trees that had been killed by dwarf mistletoe, a parasitic plant.

Hiking back down to the bottom, we took the Fumarole Bay Trail, which runs along western shore of the island to Fumarle Bay. It was a very rocky trail and made for some fun hiking.

When we reached the bay, it was very difficult to follow the trail and the boat would be picking us up soon, so we stopped a bit to enjoy the looking at the beautiful water. A few people on the tour had gone swimming, but it was way too cold for us. Just looking at the water was enough for me. It was a beautiful turquoise, a color we hadn’t seen since our honeymoon in Bora Bora.

After a bit we headed back to the dock and got ready for the rest of our tour. A couple of young ladies were on the boat tour, but had not gotten off at the island. They worked as biologists for the National Park Service and had been living in the park over the summer for research. Yesterday had been their last working day and they wanted to take advantage of the boat tour before leaving. From the boat dock, we continued in the counterclockwise direction around the lake towards Chaski Bay. Our ranger for the last part of the tour was Ranger Mike.

Approaching Chaski Bay, we could see the lodge high up on the rim and also got to see Chaski Falls, a waterfall that flows directly into the lake.

This waterfall is only viewable from a boat.  At the far end of the bay, we came to Phantom Ship, another volcanic island rising from the lake.

Resembling a sailboat, it’s much smaller than Wizard Island and you can’t get off at the island. From the rim, it doesn’t look very big, but viewed up close from the boat, it’s quite large.

This is a view that most people who visit the park will never get. The boat made a complete circle around Phantom Ship so we could view it from every angle. At some angles it really looked like a ship, at other angles not so much.

After making a complete loop around, we continued on. The next thing we saw was Pumice Castle. Bright orange pumice along the crater has been eroded away into the shape of a castle.

Against the grey and green of most of the caldera, the bright orange of Pumice Castle really stood out.

Shortly past Pumice Castle, we passed Palisades, a colorful cliff face that was yellow.

Soon, we were finishing the tour and made it back to the boat dock. Crater Lake is truly one of the most beautiful places in the world, and the boat tour provides the best way to see the lake up close. It’s only run for a limited time during the summer and I’m so happy we managed to get in on the last day it was offered in 2013. Ranger Mike had told us that the waters of Crater Lake are so pure and clean, we could drink the water untreated. Since I was running low on water and the hike back up would be strenuous, I stopped to fill my water bottles before leaving the dock. The cold lake water indeed tasted very good, much better than the tap water from the motel. We chatted with the NPS biologists along the hike back up and it didn’t seem too bad at all, and then said our goodbyes when we reached the parking lot. A large number of yellow jackets were swarming near the front of our car, apparently eating the dead bugs off the grill, but again they weren’t aggressive and never stung us.  We continued driving along the East Rim Drive stopping at the overlooks for pictures. First, we hit Cloudcap Overlook, the drive to which is the highest paved road in Oregon.

This overlook provides views west across the lake and we could see Phantom Ship in the distance. I found it amazing how different the island looks from the rim, so small. Then we stopped at Pumice Castle Overlook to see the “castle” from above and Phantom Shop Overlook.

Although this overlook is a little closer, the island still looked so small compared to how it looked from boat a few hours earlier.

From Phantom Ship Overlook, we drove down Pinnacles Road, stopping first at the trailhead to Plaikni Falls. The trail is relatively new, having opened in 2011, and is an easy 1-mile hike to the waterfall. The hike was very nice, running through beautiful old-growth forests and more open areas approaching the falls.

Although it’s not a huge waterfall, Plaikni Falls is in a very beautiful setting. It is completely fed by snowmelt, so I imagine it would be more impressive earlier in the year. After a few pictures, we headed back to the car and followed Pinnacles Road to the end at Pinnacles Overlook.

The Pinnacles are really cool fossil fumaroles, where volcanic gases and rose up through ash and formed erosion-resistant rock in the form of spires.

We viewed the Pinnacles from the overlook and then hiked the short trail to see a few more along the gorge until reaching the park boundary.

The trail continues into Winema National Forest, but it was getting late so we hiked back to the car. We got back on the Rim Drive and stopped for one more waterfall, Vidae Falls, as we finished up the loop.

This is an easy roadside waterfall. Vidae Falls is about a hundred feet of cascades, but being in the dry season, the flow was pretty low. After a couple pictures, we finished up the Rim Drive and started heading out of the park, stopping at Mazama Village for the gift shop and restaurant. We bought a couple of t-shirts and a picture of Crater Lake and then had dinner at the Annie Creek Restaurant and Gift Shop. By the time we finished, it was after dark and we were both exhausted, so we made the drive back to the motel, took showers, and went to bed.