National Park Week 2024 Day 5 – Crater Lake National Park!

Today, we’re going to Oregon to visit another volcanic park – Crater Lake National Park!

This is our first visit to the Pacific Northwest and our first stop in Oregon. We came up from California, spending the night before in Klamath Falls. Then, we drove the rest of the way to the Visitor’s Center in Rim Village. As usual, we explored the exhibits first to learn more about the park.

To say the lake is stunning is even an understatement. Walking to the overlook behind the Visitor’s Center, we caught our first glimpse of the brightest, bluest water we’ve ever seen! It was a perfectly still, almost glass-like, huge round lake. These pictures don’t even do it justice. It was amazing!

To even call it a lake is almost misleading, too. It is so much more fascinating than that. It is 21 square miles of bright blue water surrounded by cliffs towering up to 2,000 feet. Those cliffs are the remnants of Mount Mazama, a volcano that erupted around 5700 B.C. Afterward, the summit collapsed, creating this huge caldera. Each year, snowmelt accumulates in the caldera, forming the most clear blue lake. It averages about 2,000 feet deep, the deepest lake in the United States!

There is a 33-mile paved Rim Drive around the lake, with many overlooks where you can stop to take in the magnificence …and take a million pictures. That’s what we did. Some stops have little walking trails to get even closer to the rim. Allocate about 2-3 hours to drive all the way around.

If you’re so inclined, there are several hiking trails around the rim as well. In the summer months, you can take a boat tour of the lake and visit the volcano within this volcano called Wizard Island. That’s right, there a mini volcano within the lake, as well as other notable rock formations.

There’s no shortage of activities for your visit here, but it’s tempting to just sit along the rim and enjoy the serene, tranquil view. Crater Lake National Park is stunningly beautiful!  Add it to your must-do list.

Please contact me if you would like to chat about planning a National Park trip.