Smoke on the Water! (fortunately, no fire in sight!)

Smoke on the Water

 

Crater Lake National Park August 29 – Sept. 1, 2021

 

We have heard so many wonderful comments about Crater Lake National Park and have been eagerly anticipating our time here.  We have been keeping our eyes on the wildfire situation, noting that some days the air quality at the park is much better than other days and keeping our fingers crossed for good quality air the days of our visit.  We did experience a lot of smoke, along with poor air quality some of the time, but we were thrilled to have a blue sky and mostly clear air for a good portion of one day!  We couldn’t resist taking a couple of photos from the same location with heavy smoke and with only light smoke.

 

We were able to camp right in the national park, having made reservations a year ago!  We have one of their few full hook-up sites, giving us 30 amps, water and sewer.  Mazama Campground is a beautiful campground, located 7 miles from the lake.  It’s great being right here in the park!  We have a decal on the side of the 5^th wheel with a map of the United States.  When we visit a state, we are typically quick to add that state’s sticker.  We have been delaying adding the Oregon sticker, as it features Crater Lake!  I had to be camped here when we fill Oregon in!

The color and clarity of this lake is like nothing else I’ve ever seen!  It’s a sapphire blue like no other!  We took the Cleetwood Cove Trail (2.2 miles round trip with 700 feet of elevation gain) down to the lake for a picnic lunch and the opportunity to see this stunning lake up close and personal!  This trail is the only way to access the lake (rated as strenuous, which I think is a bit of an exaggeration) and offers the opportunity for swimming!  I couldn’t quite get myself to take the polar plunge; however, I did bare my feet to experience this water!  I wish I could somehow describe the clarity of this lake.  They have done an amazing job of protecting this water, not allowing anyone to bring in any possible contaminants.   No watercraft, water equipment (such as snorkels, fins…) are allowed to be brought in. Pretty wise, in my opinion!  The trail is a treat in itself.  It’s a forested trail with scenery that is completely impossible to capture with a camera.  This is certainly a trail not to be missed!

The chipmunks at the bottom of the trail are among the most aggressive chipmunks I’ve ever experienced.  Clearly people have fed them, which is such a shame.  During the course of our lunch, I had three chipmunks attack me from behind to gain entrance to my lap!  Nothing deterred them – not even my shrill scream when they pounced on me!

 

We also hiked up Watchman Peak (1.6 miles round trip with 420 feet of elevation gain) which takes you to a historic fire outlook built in 1932.  It’s still used today when the fire risk is high.  Typically, there is a ranger-led, sunset hike up Watchman, but Covid has changed that for this year too.  I can see why you would want to be there for sunrise or sunset!  You have a 360-degree view from the top that would be amazing!

Crater Lake was formed when Mount Mazama (a volcano) erupted and collapsed 7700 years ago.  The park offers a 33 mile drive around the rim of the crater left from the eruption.  Along the route, there are several stunning pullout spots, offering a variety of views of the lake and its various features.  Pumice Castle Overlook, Phantom Ship Overlook and Rim Village were among my favorite stops.  Phantom Ship is the oldest rock in the area, aging in at 400,000 years old!  Today, it is a small island in the southeast corner of the lake.

The larger island in the lake is Wizard Island.  In the past, they offered boat rides to the island where you could hike trails.  Hopefully, they will be offering this opportunity again in the near future!  Wizard Island is a volcano in itself.  Both of these volcanos are classified as active and expected to erupt sometime in the far, far future.

My favorite hike was the trail up to Garfield Peak (3.6 miles round trip with 1,010 feet of elevation gain).  This was probably my favorite hike due to the air quality we experienced!  The air was mostly clear, allowing views of the lake that were stunning!  If you ever plan on visiting, I’d come early in the season, before the wildfire season is roaring.  Just don’t plan on coming too soon!  They receive an average of 14 feet of snow each year and have snow here 8 months out of the year!  As it is, our highs have been in the upper 60’s and lows in the lower 30’s and this is August!

 

Crater Lake’s hallmark tree is the whitebark pine, which is currently in route to extinction.  Everywhere we went on our hikes we found evidence.  Half of the park’s whitebark pines are dead and half of the rest are dying.  The main culprit is a fungus – blister rust.  This fungus was accidently imported from a nursery in France by a landowner in British Columbia, Canada in 1910.  There is no cure.  The good news is that a few of the trees (fewer than 5%) seem to have natural resistance to this disease.  The current plan is to identify these trees, gather their seeds and plant their offspring throughout the park.  This is a large, lengthy project.  Whitebark pines don’t start producing cones until they are 50 years old and don’t enter their prime reproductive years until they are 100 years old.   

 

Although the trails were very lightly trafficked on our hikes, the people we met along the way were so very thoughtful and interesting!  At the bottom of Cleetwood Cove, we met Riley, Travis, Bethany and Autumn – children splashing around in the lake!  At the top of Garfield Peak, we met Benjamin, who has spent the summer backpacking around the Pacific coastline!  It’s so great to see such a variety of ages and interests getting outdoors and taking in these natural wonders!

 

Originally, we had planned on spending one full day exploring the crater’s rim and the hikes offered around the rim.  Plans for our second full day included exploring some of the other features of the park (specifically Vidae Falls, Plaikni Falls, and the Pinnacles).  When we woke up to a blue sky and fairly clear air, we couldn’t pass up seeing what Crater Lake really looks like.  I do wish we had another day to take in these additional highlights.  It looks like we will just have to come back again!  In the mealtime, as their motto goes, “Keep it green, Oregon!”