Crater Lake

Crater Lake is absolutely beautiful! One of the reasons we were interested in visiting the lake is that Luke has a deep fascination with volcanoes and so we have read numerous volcano books.

Mount Mazama is a volcano that erupted thousands of years ago and then collapsed in on itself after the eruption. The island that you see in the first picture is the caldera that formed as a result of the collapse. The surrounding area then filled up with water to form the beautiful Crater Lake. (It was just a little windy at the top!)

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the U.S. and the 7th deepest in the world. There are no inlets or outlets and the water is crystal clear. The only boats that are there are tourist boats (that can take you on a tour of the lake - for a hefty fee) and some research boats. The sides leading down to the lake are very steep cliffs and there is only one area where you can get down to the shoreline. The only way to get boats in and out of the lake is by helicopter!

This is a picture of us taking the hike down to the shoreline. When DH heard that there was a trail to the shoreline where you could get into the water, he was determined that we hike it so that we could say that we touched the water. The National Park Service labels each of their hikes based on length & difficulty and the Cleetwood Cove Trail to the shoreline is labeled as "strenuous" - their most difficult rating. The hike is only 1.1 miles each way - so not too long - but it is very steep - up to an 11% grade in spots. They say the trail is equivalent to walking down and up 65 flights of stairs.

The hike down was fairly easy and we had numerous people that we passed who were going up that wished us luck going back up with all the kids and that they hoped we were ready to carry them...

Once we got down to the bottom we all sat down to take off our shoes and wade in the water. There was a man there who saw us all sitting down together and offered to take a picture of us with our camera.

You can actually go swimming in the water if you want to but the water is very cold so we settled on just putting our feet in. I was surprised at how sharp the rocks were at the bottom of the lake - it really hurt to walk on them! All of the kids loved it though and Kitty just wanted to jump in and couldn't understand why we had to hold onto her! (She is laughing/squealing in the picture here!)

After we had had enough of the water, we dried off our feet and started the hike back up. The trail is basically switchbacks the whole way and DH & I were both ready to carry the two little ones if we needed to. DH & I were both amazed at how well the kids did though. There were no complaints from any of them! Kitty & Blondie hiked most of it themselves, much to our surprise! Really the only time we carried Kitty was when she caused us to get too far behind the rest of the group and DH carried Blondie just for a little bit. It was mostly DH leading the trail with the 3 older kids and Kitty & me bringing up the rear. Kitty's biggest problem was that she wanted to stop and pick up pine cones and look at everything on the trail.

Most people who take the Cleetwood Cove Trail do so because that is how you get to the boat tours & the only way to the shoreline if you want to do any fishing. Fish are not native to the lake. They were introduced in the lake from 1888-1941. Six species were originally stocked, but only two have survived. Because the fish are not native, they encourage fishing - no license is required and there is no limit to how many you can catch.


Once we finally made it back up to the top and got into the car, it didn't take the two little ones long to crash!





M&M took this picture for us.


The lake averages about 45 feet of snow a year. The surface temperature of the water can get up to 56 degrees in the summer.


What does this island look like to you? This is called the Phantom Ship.






Overall we had a great time at Crater Lake and would recommend it to anyone - it is more beautiful than you can capture in pictures!