A Day at Crater Lake
Before I started my new job in November, the boyfriend and I decided we needed to finish off the summer with one more trip with this final destination in mind: the deepest lake in the United States — Crater Lake.
Even though Crater Lake is at the bottom of Oregon, I’ve never been to Oregon before, so this was still a pretty exciting adventure to embark on… Especially since I was going to be committing myself to a typical 9-5 again after being unemployed for almost half a year!
We also stopped by Burney Falls and McCloud Falls, but more on that in an upcoming post!
The usual details:
Admission for Crater Lake National Park: $30 per car
And the question everyone wants the answer to — how did this lake come to be?
This lake was formed due to the collapse of a Volcano. There are no other rivers or water sources that flow in or out, all the water in that comprises of the lake is only from snow and rain!
The first stop was Rim Village. The Visitor Center was open, but but that was about it. Everything else, including the picturesque Lodge was closed due to COVID. I stopped by the visitor center and bought a poster, as usual.
The only way to experience crater lake is to do the 33 mile Rim Drive, completing a 360 around the crater rim.
Our first view of Wizard Island:
Lunch overlooking Crater Lake. We were hiking along the rim trail. Most people stopped off at parking lots of vista points, so we didn’t see a single soul for the entirety of our lunch.
Ultimate social distancing.
Took a few zoom shots of the lakeshore. I wonder how long it would take me to hike down and back up, if I ever decided to trek down there. (I’ve done a crater hike once in Hawaii, but I can’t tell which is deeper) In non-pandemic times, there are boat trips out to Wizard Island!
Watchman Peak - we decided to do the 1 mile uphill hike to the Watchman Overlook, which is used as a fire lookout.
While we were up here, it was pretty empty — maybe about 3 other visitors on the top. A tourist from another State (forget which state) mentioned to another group that he is actually a fire watcher, so I did my usual thing and eavesdropped on his conversation haha. They discussed the video game FireWatch for a while.
Side Note - I really love this shot. The clouds were rolling in and it looks so dramatic. On top of that, you can see the trucks parked off to the bottom right side, and it just puts into perspective how huge this place is.
A wider perspective:
The Phantom Ship - I think this is the coolest feature in Crater Lake.
Pinnacles Road was closed so we couldn’t do the hike there :(
Reminds me of the hoodoos I saw in Bryce though.
Our last stop of day: Lady of the Woods Trail - a short trail under a mile.
The start of the trail is right behind the Steel Information Center. The trail is named after this particular sculpture:
You can pay a small sum at the trailhead to pick up an information pamphlet. It delves into the details and history of all the buildings you pass by during the walk:
Little detail shots. I like seeing Autumn colors.
We also stopped by Vidae Falls, which is a waterfall that in viewing distance from within the car on the Rim Drive. I don’t think it was the best season for viewing when I was there — it was small and pretty underwhelming at the time.
And that pretty much sums it up! Pretty easy to get through the whole drive in a day at a leisurely pace, or even half a day if you don’t do any hikes. Definitely a National Park to visit at least once to check it off your bucketlist.
Bye Crater Lake!
