Wilderness Wandering

August 7, 2024

We drove up the incredibly gorgeous Oregon Coast to Bandon and then headed inland to Crater Lake. 

We stopped for gas and there was an attendant to pump the gas for us. Until 2023, it was illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon, due to safety concerns!

On the recommendation of Joey and Jasmine, our friends we met at Redwood NP and our gas station attendant in Oregon, we took a slight detour to Diamond Lake which is situated in the Cascade Mountains about 20 miles from Crater Lake. Diamond Lake was very pretty! It was really calm and it’s fairly shallow. We saw swimmers standing a good ways out. There were people kayaking, fishing and swimming. 

There is a paved path the entire way around the lake and we really liked the campground. We were tempted to stay! I read that 8 of 10 Oregonians would rather go to Diamond Lake than Crater Lake and I get it!

Continuing on to Crater Lake – the NP was established in 1902 and is comprised of 183,224 acres. 

Crater Lake is 1943 feet deep. It’s the deepest lake in the US, and the deepest lake in the world formed by volcanic activity. The lake contains 5 trillion gallons of water and has not completely frozen over since 1949. The park service says the water from Crater Lake is cleaner than what comes out of our taps in our homes, and it considered the cleanest large body of water in the world. It’s also the clearest body of water in the world. It’s only fed by snowmelt and rain. No rivers enter or exit the lake.

The lake formed when the Mount Mazama volcano collapsed after a major eruption 7700 years ago. 

We entered the park from the north end. The first viewpoint on the 30 mile rim drive is Watchman Overlook. From Watchman Overlook we could see huge plumes of dark gray smoke from the forest fires burning in the western part of the park. There was a notice that the Pacific Coast Trail, which runs from Mexico to Canada and passes through the park is closed due to the fire activity. 

Continuing on, we stopped at Discovery Point and got wonderful views of Crater Lake. The blue of the water really is breathtaking! We stopped at Rim Village to get our passport stamped. We were concerned that if we got evacuated in the middle of the night because of the fires, we might not get our stamp! 

We walked through the historic Crater Lake Lodge, which was recently renovated. It was very cabinish and inviting. There was a beautiful veranda facing the lake. 

As we returned to the van, there was a Backroads cycling tour returning from their ride for the day. Tim was infatuated with hearing about the tour and the European titanium bikes and e-bikes that are custom made for Backroads. The tour sounded amazing – 6 days from Bend to Crater Lake with cycling, hiking and rafting!

Lastly, we drove to the far south end of the park to Mazama Village and our campground for the next two nights. We were assigned a very nice site at the back of one of the loops. The Annie Creek Trail runs through the back of our site. We had a relaxing evening, but no campfires allowed. 

August 8,2024

We had talked about 6 hikes we wanted to do at Crater Lake. 

Early this morning we decided to do Garfield Peak before it got warm. It is a 3.6 miles strenuous hike with great views on the way and at the top. We were up and down by 9 AM. There was the moderate 2 mile Discovery Point hike from the same area, so we did that one. Then we were still feeling good, so we drove to The Watchman Peak trailhead and did the 1.6 mile intermediate trail to an historic fire lookout. At the top, we met a young man from Germany who is hiking the 2650 mile Pacific Crest Trail from Canada to Mexico. The PCT runs through Crater Lake NP. Due to the wildfires, he and some other hikers were removed from the trail and given a ride to the park. They have to go about 80 miles south to get back on the trail. We asked him how long he is planning to take to do the entire trail. He shrugged and said 4 or 5 months!

When we descended from that hike, we had a nice lunch. We were going to do the rest of the rim drive, but we decided to do the last strenuous hike we had planned, which was Cleetwood Cove, 2.2 miles from the rim to the lake. It is the only legal access to the shore of Crater Lake. Going down was a breeze! And soaking our feet and wading in the lake was delightful! There was a boat tour you can make reservations for that takes you out to Wizard Island from the lake shore. Then came the hike back up. It wasn’t too strenuous, but it did get our hearts pumping! It was equivalent to 65 flights of stairs. 

We saw many cyclists today. There seems to be at least three different cycling tour companies in the park. It appears to be a bit dangerous on the relatively crowded, windy, hilly roads with very little shoulder.

We stopped at the Steel Visitor Center to watch the park movie and mail a postcard. Then back to the campground for a shower. We couldn’t find the shower house though. We checked at the market and they told us the showers were in the campground on Loop F. We were on Loop E. We drove there and discovered that there are 3 showers for the entire campground, and 1 was out of order. We got in line and waited our turn. We decided to shower together to save time (I know…too much information). We got in and turned on the water and it would not get hot. 😦 We had a refreshing cool shower and put on fresh clothes and felt pretty good. We had dinner and decided we had energy for one more hike – The Annie Creek hike, 1.7 miles moderate that ran through the back of our campsite. It was quite pretty and enjoyable. I had 32,000+ steps for the day! Now, time for bed. I think we will sleep well. 

August 9, 2024

Tim charged up the Jackery and I filled all the water bottles and we set off for our last Crater Lake hike – Castle Crest, a 1/2 mile loop weaving around a babbling brook that was awash in wild flowers! It was one of my favorite hikes! Lastly, we viewed Vidae Falls. We are off to Mount Rainier, with a stop planned for Eugene, OR along the way. 

Crater Lake is a really special lake and a really unique environment. I’m really happy we visited in the summer, but it would be really beautiful with snow as well.