Crater Lake – Redwood Coast Trip

On our way home from our fantastic coast/redwoods trip we decided to finally stop by Crater Lake. It is something I have wanted to see for a while, and really decided if we are going to pass by this closely, and not stop, I am going to be mad at myself.

So, $10.00 (a carload) later we are on our way out to a giant crater. We entered from the north.

This is the Pumice Desert. (DBP)

The road out isn’t too bad.(DBP)

WOW. This is amazing. Pictures truly do not do this justice. Such a beautiful blue lake.

Quick panoramic.

Couple touristy shots. Dogs are allowed on leash on paved roads, parking lots, and up to 50 feet from those paved areas. (wow that’s pretty lenient for a state park.) There are also 4 pet friendly trails.

Another panoramic.

At 1943 feet it is the deepest lake in the US, and the 9th deepest in the world!

A popular misconception is this is a meteor impact, but it is in fact the remnants of an ancient volcano. After violently erupting, it collapsed in upon itself, then slowly filled with rain water and snowmelt.

There are no inlets outlets. It remains a somewhat steady level due to a balance of precipitation, evaporation and seepage.

Cool cliff face.

At the time it looks like the sand slid down the slop and is floating on the water. After learning more about the area I believe that it is pine pollen.

Now the drive to the first overlook at North Junction (all previous pictures) is pretty tame and flat. You get a nice view of the lake. If you are squeamish about heights, and driving on high up roads (like me) then, have fun here and turn around.

The road down the west rim to the Visitor center was, terrifying. It is seriously on the rim. There is no shoulder, no rails, it is pretty darn windy and there are sheer drop offs on either side, if something happened your choice is ~700 feet down a steep face into the countries deepest lake, or, who knows, thousands of feet down a steep cliff to nothing. Landis is not the squeamish type like me, but it made even him really nervous.

Interesting red plant living in the pumice fields. (DBP)

The Watchman Overlook offers an exceptional view of Wizard Island.

I think I like this panoramic best.

Strange formations here.

Reflections.

Well, even though the road was scaring us, we pushed on to the visitors center. I was hoping to push on to Vidae Falls, but we didn’t make it that far.

So, if the roads don’t scare you off, there is plenty more to see and do other than the beautiful lake.

After stopping in to the visitor center, and picking up a smashed penny, we went out to see the view here.

It’s good, but you can’t see Wizard island from here.

Like I said, I had hoped to see Vidae Falls, but that rim drive was just proving to be too much, and on top of that, it is Saturday, and this is a tourist trap. For some reason, after my experience in the redwoods, I didn’t think it would be as crowded as it was, but, it is very crowded. Probably as bad, if not worse than Yellowstone. So, we decided to head back. Looking back, it was probably good we did, we didn’t get to our halfway point until after dark anyway, so pushing on would have really set us back later than we wanted.

A scraggly peak in the distance. I believe it is Mt. Thielsen. (DBP)

Okay, aside from the fact that the rim road was pretty scary (from North Junction to Visitor Center) this is an amazing lake worth checking out. I don’t know how the rest of the rim roads are, so maybe it is just that section. Plan to camp as there are a lot of other cool things to see that we didn’t. Or, camp nearby and enjoy the other nearby attractions. Watson and Toketee falls are not far to the north west. Even though it was a crowded tourist trap, and had an unsettling section of road, it is truly a natural wonder that should be explored. 10 out of 10 squirrels!

 

All of the lookouts were get out and see, with very minimal walking so rating this at a DR1.