At 1,940 feet, Crater Lake is the deepest lake in America and the 9th deepest lake in the world (the deepest being Lake Baikal in Russia for all you trivia-lovers). This is a lovely little park that is accessible and provides tons of awesome views as you make your way around the 33-mile Rim Road (which we did, of course, on our scooters).
The sapphire blue is incredible and is attributable to the clarity of the lake. The informative video at the visitor center states that its record clarity was 143 feet! Crater Lake is also one of the snowiest places in America and averages 43 feet of snow per year. There was even snow down by the shore of the lake when we were there even though it was 75 degrees at the rim.
We spent the night prior to our rim drive at an RV park in Chiloquin, about 30 miles from the park’s entrance. It was the closest we could get to the park with available campsites. So the following morning we rose early so we could get in line for a campsite in the park at Manzama Village (Manzama was the name of the volcano that erupted to form the caldera that contains the lake). We waited for 3 hours so we could get dibs on an electric site as there were only 18 “walk-in” sites available. We met a nice couple from Lithuania who moved to Minnesota and visited with them to pass the time.
It was worth the wait (we would’ve spent 2 hours just driving here and back on our scooters anyway) and we got some laundry done in the meantime. It was noon when we were able to set out on the drive around the lake. We stopped first at Rim Village to see if there were any boat tour tickets for purchase. There were some mechanical issues with the boats so they were not offering any. There were some great views of the lake at the village however.
We then stopped at Watchman’s Overlook and walked the Watchman’s trail up to the fire tower. A steep walk but excellent views of the lake at the top that you don’t get by stopping at the rim.
We realized that we forgot our National Parks Passport book and turned back to get it at the campsite and get a stamp before the visitor center closed. We made it just in time for the last showing of their informative video and set out again to try and tackle the rim road.
We stopped at a few more overlooks before making it to Cleetwood Trail which is the only trail that steeply leads down to the lake where the tour boat dock is. I wanted to make my way down to dip my feet in and see up close how clear the water really was.
When we dismounted our scooters we could tell something was not right as we saw an ambulance and some emergency personal at the start of the trail. We passed by a couple women who were perched on rocks and were weeping and trying to comfort one another. Before we reached the trailhead we passed by the Lithuanian couple we were in line with earlier that day and they told us that a young man had just drowned and they had not yet retrieved the body. The news story can be found here. Turns out it’s a mystery about why he jumped in but never resurfaced.
We heard some radio chatter on the EMS 2-way that indicated that divers would not be able to come for a couple more hours. That obviously put a damper on me wanting to go down to the lake so we prayed for the family and then got back on the scooters to continue clockwise around the lake.
The sun was beginning to set and at another pullout, a dude asked to take a picture of my silhouette on the scooter (my husband got jealous). I decided to take one of my husband later on and it was kinda cool.
We eventually came to the Phantom Ship Island so named because it’s a creepy looking island that disappears along the crater walls at most of the points along the Rim Road. It’s the only other island besides Wizard Island on the lake.
A side road on the southeast part of the lake took us down to the Pinnacles, stacks of ash frozen in time which were really cool to see with the sunset glow.
On the way back towards rim road, we stopped again for a brief hike to the Plaikni Falls which wasn’t very scenic until we reached the falls cascading over a cliff and down into a wildflower lined tumbling brook. We snapped a couple pics before our phone batteries died and then made our way 12 miles back to Manzama Village.
The alpenglow on the horizon was a breathtaking hue and helped abate the chilly ride on the scooters back to our campsite. The sky was incredibly dark that night and the stars were out to give a twinkling show. A beautiful day at a beautiful lake though dampened by news of a drowning. I’m glad I decided not to jump in for a swim.
Now we make our way through the 9 Californian national parks!
Class C M.D. 