Crater Lake National Park

One word to describe Crater Lake?

“Blue.” -Jared

We set off for our adventure early to beat the smoke coming our way. We visited the Steel Visitor Center before heading out on the Rim Drive (circles the lake). We watched an informative video on how Mount Mazama erupted about 8,000 years ago and created Crater Lake. We also learned about the myths the Makalak Indians shared about their interpretation of Mount Mazama’s transformation into Crater Lake.

We were eager to see the lake so we checked out the first vista point. We were not disappointed.

We can understand why some wanted to call it Deep Blue Lake.

We stopped at a few other lookout spots for views too.

 Our first hike of the day was the Watchman Peak Trail.

The trail is all uphill so it was hard to get good pictures. I was definitely huffing and puffing all the way up the hill.

We got to see Wizard Island from a higher vantage point with this hike. We almost ran down the hill because it’s so steep.

We made it back down in one piece and learned more about the progress of the fires causing smoke in the southern Oregon region.

We continued our trek to Cleetwood Cove (the only place you can hike down and touch the water).

We definitely had a fun time going down the crater. We were all smiles 

It was a great hike down because you get to touch the water!

We hung out by the water for a while and just let the blueness wash over us.

The realization of hiking back up the crater was the one reason we didn’t want to leave, but the smoke from the fires were catching up with us.

The journey up was strenuous.

It felt like we took a break every 10 minutes (I had to take a break more often than Jared). After the hike up, we were exhausted and done. The smoke from the fires were settling in the lake, so we just kept driving around the rim.

We came upon Castle Crest Trail and had to stop. It was filled with wildflowers! On our walk back to the car, we spotted a buck! We decided it was better it run off than come towards us so we started making a bunch of noise and hid behind trees.

We had a blast overall!

Until next time, Crater Lake.