It’s hard to believe, but it appears bluer in person that in does in the pictures. Crater Lake is touted the deepest lake in the world. It’s crystal clear. But the water itself and views you can see are what bring people to this creation of nature.
The Lake
As a US National Park, it’s arguably one of the most beautiful. From any angle, you can see the water, trees, the crater itself, and the sky. Whether you’re looking across the crater or standing on the rim, the views are staggering. The lake is so clear that at times you can see below 100 feet with the naked eye. Being so clear provides the environment for moss to grow on the floor of the lake.
There’s a road around the crater that’s approximately 33 miles long. It’s not particularly wide in spots, sometimes there’s no shoulder, only a drop off or mountain.
What’s both nice and convenient, is that there are viewpoints scattered all the way around, so you literally have a good view even from a car. Many of the places are large enough to handle several cars. Some provide restroom facilities.
Even the viewpoints facing away from the lake have beautiful views of their own. There’s one on the southwest side where on a clear day you can see Mt. Shasta, which is 100 miles south and in California. Because there were some clouds the first time, we made a second trip to that vista specifically to see if Mt. Shasta could be seen.
Finding Mt Shasta took some figuring out using their informational sign. However, thanks to today’s smart phone camera features, we were able to capture a “ghost” version of the mountain far behind the other mountains.
As we were there for a few days, one of the things we wanted to do was see the sun rise over the lake. Since Crater Lake was on our way towards the coast from our BnB, we decided to stop by on the way out (which also gave us an earlier start).
While it was fairly cold (24° F) when we got there, we were richly rewarded for getting up early!
Wizard Island is one of the islands inside the lake. It is actually known as a volcano inside a volcano formed after the crater was formed. For $55 per person, there are tours of Wizard Island where you get a boat from Cleetwood Cove across the water. The hardest Wizard Island trail is 2.5 miles out and back with an elevation differential of 800 feet.
Phantom Ship is a jagged rock formation that was also a previous volcano cone before Mt Mazama collapsed.
The Trails
In locations around the rim, there are countless trails you can hike. Including a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail, which traverses from southern California at the Mexican border to Washington State at the Canadian border.
There are more than a few trails rising in elevation to provide beautiful views. Or driving into the valley to see beautiful waterfalls and creeks. Some of the trails you can hike are The Watchman Peak Trail, Garfield Peak Trail, Plaikni Falls Trail, Crater Peak Trail, Mt Scott Trail, Cleetwood Cove Trail…well, you get the point.
Mt. Scott is one of the most impressive. It provides a 360 panoramic view of the area if you’re willing to hike the 4.5 miles up some 1236 feet in elevation. We ran out of time for this one, but based on the pictures we’ve seen from others, it would have been a nice hike.
While going around Crater Lake, we saw the “Sun Notch” from another viewpoint and decided to hike it.
It’s only 0.8 miles long with a small incline and gets a fair amount of traffic. There are benches along the way that have some fabulous views, both of the lake and the valley.
The elevation gain is reasonable and the views allow you to frame the crater and lake with Mt Bailey and Mt Thielsen in the background.
We also chose the Cleetwood Cove Trail which offered great views throughout the hike to the water’s edge where the Wizard Island Tour begins. It’s another perspective altogether to see the lake at the surface. See our Cleetwood Cove Trail article for the details.
Practical Stuff
If you don’t already have a pass, no worries, you can purchase a pass at the gate. Like many US National Parks, they offer day, year, and senior lifetime passes. Military gets in for free.
Like many things we do, we decided to Journey Moore Often slightly off season. While it was a little chilly, that obviously did not detract from the views. In fact, the water is known to be a deeper blue in October. Plus, cooler weather makes hiking quite comfortable! Being offseason however, did not allow us to take the Wizard Island Tour.
There are a number of information boards at a lot of the viewpoints. They offer history, geology, perspective and other aspects of your current surroundings.
While the park is open all year long, if you go too late, you won’t be able to access the north end. They close the north entrance if there’s a large snow event or November 1, whichever happens first. We went in mid-October, so we were definitely on the edge. It had snowed about a week before we got there, and there was a big snow storm the week after.
For those who go during the season, be prepared. There may be a line at the park entrance. Parking areas may be full at many of the viewpoints, especially at the lodge area.
There’s even a lodge where you can stay. Better be quick in booking though. Currently reservations cannot be made any further out than one year. Due to that, people typically book reservations for the lodge as soon as they become available.
The park accommodates bicycling as well as cars, although the roads can be small in some places. Several times a year they shut down the road for only bicycles and pedestrians.
Final note – we know this sounds strange, but make sure you have plenty of gas in your vehicle at all times. Gas stations are few and far between, where there could easily be as many as 30 miles to the nearest gas station. It was not unusual to see an abandoned car alongside the road, due to running out of gas.