Crater Lake National Park

We spent 2 days exploring Crater Lake National Park. Crater Lake was formed when the summit of Mount Mazama, a large volcano, collapsed following an eruption creating a caldera. The lake formed by rain and snow melt. At 1949 feet, it is the deepest lake in the United States.

Our first day we explored the rim.  The rim drive is only 33 miles long and can easily be done in ½ a day with stops at the many overlooks. There are also plenty of opportunities for short hikes. We did this on a Sunday and it was very busy. The views were clear and the lake was a cobalt blue color like we have never seen before. The water is reportedly some of the purist in the world and safe to drink.

One of our goals was to take one of the boat tours out to Wizard Island. The boat tours are run exclusively through Explore Crater Lake. They offer 50% of their tickets as pre-sales and they sell out fast! The other 50% are offered 24 hours in advance either online or in person. These also sell out quickly. In order to access the boat dock, you have to brave the Cleetwood Cove Trail. This is a difficult trail simply because over the course of 1.1 miles, you have to descend 700 feet. The trail is in good condition but the incline makes the return trip brutal. There are 9 switchbacks and as you go back up, the 5th switchback is called heart attack hill. If you do not have tickets for the boat, you can still hike this trail and go swimming and cliff jumping into the lake.  This spot, and on Wizard Island, are the only places that you can swim or fish in the lake.

Explore Crater Lake offers 3 boat tours. The first is a tour of the lake with no stops on Wizard Island. The second is a tour plus a stop at the island where you have several hours to hike, swim, fish and explore. The third tour is a faster shuttle over to the island without the full lake tour. There are three bathrooms available for the tour day. One is at the top of the Cleetwood Cove Trail by the parking lot and check in shack. The second is down at the bottom of the trail near the swimming area. The third is on Wizard Island near the boat docks.  As we got on the boat in the middle of July for our tour, we noticed that there was still a lot of snow around the shore of the lake.  Once on the island we had 3 hours to tour.

Wizard Island is a volcanic cinder cone in Crater Lake. It rises 767 feet above the surface of the lake. The Wizard Island Summit Trail starts out at the volcanic rocky beach. It then ascends up about 1.2 miles to the cinder cone of the volcano. The path is a mixture of shaded wooded areas and full sun shining between the trees. The beginning of the trail is lava rocks, which then turns into a rocky dirt trail.  From there, it turns into a wooded flat surface dirt trail as you ascend the volcano. There is a portion that is full gravel, and full sun, and the top is a mixture of lava rocks and dirt.

As always, do not forget your hiking etiquette that you always yield to the uphill climber so that they can maintain momentum.

I used my compass app throughout the day and the elevation at the rim is 6810.

The elevation at the lake is 6170. The elevation at the top of Wizard Island is 6920.

The center of Wizard Island is called the witches cauldron.  From the top I was able to walk the full circumference of the Caldera. On the backside, the rock turns red, which was a surprising difference.  I thought the wildflowers were beautiful as I walked up, but on the backside, they are truly in full bloom.  From the boat dock to the top, including walking, the rim my mileage was at 2.17 miles.

The temperature was in the low 80s in the middle of the day in the middle of July. Back at our base camp at Crater Lake RV Park in Prospect Oregon the temperatures reached 100 degrees.

Overall between the Cleetwood Cove and the Wizard Island Summit trail I logged about 6 miles with approximately 2780 feet in elevation changes.