Crater Lake National Park, Oregon - June 17th, 2024
We only had one day in Crater Lake National Park. We would have liked to have spent more time there, but we were camping an hour away and most of the roads inside the park had not been cleared of snow yet. However, the time we thoroughly enjoyed the time we had there. It is a stunning place.
When we woke up Monday, there was snow or heavy frost on the picnic table. Temperatures were barely above freezing. As we were getting ready to leave Diamond Lake Campground, the sun was shining, but there was a light snow falling.
Crater Lake National Park sits at a higher elevation than Diamond Lake, so the signs of snow increased during our drive up to the Crater Lake. It stopped snowing, but the evergreen trees were dusted beautifully in fresh snow.
There were only a handful of vehicles in front of us at the entrance station, so we only waited a few minutes to get in. We were glad we waited for a weekday. Plus, even though it was cold, it was a beautiful, sunny day. Sunday would have been miserable with all the clouds and rain.
Most of the roads in Crater Lake were closed because they hadn’t cleared all the snow from the roads yet for the season. The road was open up to Rim Village along with the one mile stretch to Discovery Point. Everything else was closed, which included most of the road around the rim.
We stopped at the first visitor center on the way up. There is another visitor center in Rim Village, but it is smaller. And, we didn’t realize there was another one at the time. We went inside to talk to a ranger about the trail conditions. We wanted to take a hike. The ranger advised us not to go on any of the hiking trails because they are still snow covered and dangerous. A fall could be very serious.
Instead, the ranger recommended taking a road walk on the closed rim roads. You were allowed to walk the closed roads up to where they were still clearing snow. One option was continuing on the West Rim Drive past Discovery Point. There is an overlook about a mile past Discovery Point, and another one a mile and a half later, at Watchman Overlook. In addition, there are views out to the south of Union Peak, Mount McLaughlin, and Mount Shasta in the distance. The other option was to walk Rim Drive heading east to Vidae Falls, but there were no other views from the road along that stretch, not even views of the lake. West Rim Drive seemed like the obvious choice to us.
We continued our drive up to Rim Village and snagged an RV parking spot. Parking was hard to come by, so we were glad to arrive somewhat early in the morning, a little after 10 am. Even then, we just happened to arrive when someone was pulling out of a spot.
From there, we walked over to the historic Crater Lake Lodge. We were hoping they might have an open dinner reservation for that evening. However, we were informed the restaurant at the lodge was for lodge guests only (even though the park website claims the restaurant is open for all visitors). The Annie Creek Restaurant down near the park entrance was for the other visitors. Bummer!
We could have started our hike from Discovery Point, but we weren’t sure if we would be able to find a parking spot there for Red Tail and we didn’t want to give up our spot at Rim Village. So, after eating our lunch in Red Tail (our Winnebago EKKO), we started our road walk from Rim Village.
We started out with gorgeous views of the lake from the sidewalk alongside the rim. There is a trail from Rim Village over to Discovery Point, but we didn’t know the conditions of it, so we cut over to the road at the first signs of snow across the trail.
The mile to Discovery Point along the road was not ideal, since there was still traffic. However, there were some views to the south. We also saw a marmot in the rocks along the way. After taking in the wonderful views from Discovery Point, we continued on the closed road. A road walk is much better when you don’t have to worry about traffic. However, one park truck did drive past us. The workers have to get up to the snow plows somehow.
There were quite a few other people walking the road with us. We also saw one person on an e-bike and two others on road bikes. The couple on road bikes looked like they were struggling going up the incline. We were surprised we didn’t see more bikes, as they could easily cover more ground than we could by walking. Had we stayed at the park for another day, we probably would have gotten our e-bikes out to explore more of the closed roads.
We also saw a couple of backpackers. Ann chatted briefly with one of them. He was doing the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). The PCT is a long distance trail, from the Mexican border to the Canadian border, through California, Oregon, and Washington. The man had started in the south in March and was heading north. He said he skipped the Sierra Mountains due to all of the snow and will come back to finish that section of the trial later. The actual PCT trail was just west of the West Rim Drive, but there was probably too much snow on the actual trail. Plus, by taking the road, you gained views of the lake, which is not visible from the actual trail. We’re sure he’s not the first PCT thru-hiker to take the road along the lake, even when there isn’t snow on the trail. Who would want to miss that view? We’re surprised the trail doesn’t come up to the lake, even at just one point for the view.
We made it all the way to the Watchman Overlook. It is right next to Wizard Island. The island is a cinder cone, so it is like a volcano inside of a volcano. There is another cone, Merriam Cone, which is hidden beneath the surface of the lake. Crater Lake was formed by the explosion of Mount Mazama, which now is only about 7000 to 8000 feet tall along the rim of the lake. It is believed that Mount Mazama was about 12,000 feet tall before it blew 7700 years ago.
Temperatures were in the high 30’s and low 40’s during our walk, but we felt comfortable. By the time we returned to Red Tail, we had gone 8.4 miles with an elevation gain of 873 feet in three hours and 24 minutes. It was hike number 29 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2024 and hike number 40 of our National Park Series.
For an after hike treat, we went inside the Rim Village Cafe and bought some ice cream novelties. They were called Ruby Jewel, made in Portland. We’ve never had them before. They were pretty tasty! The snacks were like ice cream sandwiched between two cookies. Ann had the chocolate mint while Keith ate a salted caramel. We’ll have to look for those again and try some of their more interesting flavors.
On our way back out of the park, we stopped at Mazama Village for gas. It is also where the campground is. Yes, the campground was still closed, but we’re not sure why. There wasn’t really any snow in that area. Mazama Village is also where the Annie Creek Restaurant is. You order your food at the counter, then they bring it out to you at your table. We sat down at a table near the gas fireplace. Ann ordered the tomato bisque soup and margarita flatbread while Keith got the wings and bowl of chili. The food was decent, but a bit of a let down, since we were hoping to dine in the Crater Lake Lodge restaurant.
So we couldn’t eat at the lodge, we couldn’t drive the rim road, and we couldn’t hike any of the trails. But we had spectacular views of the lake, with its deep blue color, that we couldn’t stop staring at. We had a wonderful road walk which helped us appreciate the scale of the lake and mountain. And we didn’t starve. Was it worth it to go so early in the season? Yes it was. Would it be better to go later in the season when the roads and campground are open. Perhaps. But you can’t win them all.
Check out our related video: Crater Lake National Park, Oregon
(Ann)