Crater Lake National Park Review

We spent several days in Crater Lake National Park this summer. The sight of it brought tears to my eyes.

A Closer View

Where and what is Crater Lake?

Crater Lake National Park is in Crater Lake, Oregon on the crest of the Cascade Range. The lake is known for its amazing color. It's 6 miles long, 4 ½ miles wide and at 1, 943 feet deep is the deepest in the United States.

At one time this was Mount Mazama, a 12,000 foot volcano. About 7,700 years ago Mount Mazama erupted causing the top to collapse. Snow and rain fill what is called the caldera and the result is certainly one of the most amazing sites I've seen.

The Park is open 24 hours a day. Except when there is very heavy snowfall the northern entrance opens in mid June; the Rim Drive opens in early July. They stay open until the first heavy snowfall. The Rim Village Visitor Center is open 9:30 to 5:00p.m. and the Steel Visitor Center is open 10:00a.m. to 4:00p.m. from November to April and 9:00a.m. to 5:00p.m. the rest of the year weather permitting. Highway 62 is open year-round as is the road to Rim Village or at least until the snow gets plowed.

The snowfall is about 44 feet a year!!

There is a lodge at Rim Village and a campground in the Steel Visitor Center area in which we stayed called Mazama campground.

The Lake is considered to be the cleanest body of water in the world! The color of it is truly amazing.

Crater Lake National Park is 183,000 miles. It only gets about 500,000 visitors a year so you won't have crowds.

Things we did:

I would suggest starting out at Rim Village. There is a nice walk and you can tour the historic lodge. There is a Memorial at Rim Village called Sinnott Memorial Overlook. You'll walk down to it and see an excellent exhibit which is open from 9:30a.m. to 5:00p.m. Outside you'll get your first really great look at the caldera. Check to see when there are Ranger talks. We found Ranger Dick's 20-minute presentation of the geology of Crater Lake terrific. Dogs aren't allowed on any of the 90 miles of maintained hiking trails but your dog can walk around the Rim Village area and listen to the Ranger with you.

There are boat tours operated by concessionaires. The boats are 40' long and carry 45 people. My husband went on the 2-hour tour which runs on a first come first served basis. It costs $25.00 and although he found it a nice ride there are so many ways to get information about Crater Lake he didn't feel he would recommend it unless you have children. The walk down to the boat dock is an easy 1.1 mile hike down. It's the only legal access to the shores of Crater Lake. People who have respiratory problems are advised not to walk down but there are benches along the way. I would try to get down and walk back up very slowly. This trail called Cleetwood Cove Trail is said to be the steepest in the Park. You will be warned that the 1-1 mile down will feel like 10 miles going up. It is steep but the trail is smooth and while not paved made up of hard packed dirt so it's easy to navigate.

You can swim in the water though it's cold (59 degrees in August) but definitely put your feet in just so you can say you did!

On another day we decided on the easy-to moderate Garfield Peak Trail. The newsletter put out by the Park rates this trail as 5 stars and I certainly agree. It's a 3.4 mile hike up what is a steep, narrow and at times downright scary path. It's called rocky but it wasn't as rocky as I expected though it was steeper than expected. Garfield Peak is over 8,000' high. The elevation rise was 1,010 and worth the trip. The views the entire way were just gorgeous. We hit some snow which we were told we would but it wasn't deep enough to need any type of gear. I would just be prepared for your feet to get wet.

Jo's Viewpoint

I love it!

Put Crater Lake National Park on your list of must sees. If you don't hike you'll only need one day to tour the Rim but if you can stay a couple of days the one activity I would say to do would be a walk down to the water.

Please leave only footprints, take only pictures and kill only time.