We just returned from a week-long visit to
Crater Lake National Park. Descriptive words, such as awesome, beautiful, gorgeous, magnificent, spiritual come to mind - but those words just do not do justice to the spectacular vision Crater Lake is...
It was quiet. Peaceful. Restful. AND mosquito free. Yes, we had been warned. We were DEET prepared...didn't see bug one the whole week. September is the month to go if you want to be relatively kid-free as well. We live next door to six (6), yes that's right- 6, children who are for the most part -- great kids (aka, not obnoxiously noisy). So when we pulled in and were about to select a site, I glanced across the road and there were not 1, not 2, but 3 child sized bikes and a bus that had been graffiti'd in ways that only the stoners of the 60's would truly appreciate...I recoiled and said, ah, NO. My week in God's country was for rest, relax, and to rejuvenate...not to listen to small people having non-quiet moments.
So, if you are a camper, RVer or tenter...Crater Lake is for you. The spaces are large and there are some with electricity and are of different sizes so large rigs are few and far between. If you are not one of the above, the Crater Lake Lodge is available as well. However, reservations are difficult to come by unless you book
almost one whole year (10 - 12 months) in advance. There is a NP campground for tents only that is very reasonable...$10/night. We were near the other motel, a 'motor inn', however I have not a clue as to the nightly rate.
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| Crater Lake Lodge |
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| our site |
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| Trolley tour |
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| Park Administration Building |
Tickets for Wizard Island tours are available until mid-September, as we discovered too late to get one so as to visit it, but the boat did take us close. Two different kinds of WI tickets...a 3 hour romp or the all day (6 hours) version...only 6 a day of those are sold. So plan according. You can hike to the top, bird watch, sunbath or fish. No boats are allowed on the lake other than the tour company. And you don't need a license to fish either...they encourage fishing and lots of it.
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| Wizard Island |
As our tour boat captain stated...it is 1.1 miles down to the boat ramp. It's 11 miles back up. Be prepared to walk. stop. walk. stop. drink water. walk. stop. repeat often on the way back up.
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| Vidae Falls |
Short, easy hike to Vidae Falls...you actually don't even need to get out of the car to see this from the car. It's not this view, but you can see it.
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| Phantom Ship |
The Phantom Ship can be seen, close up, from the boat tour as they take you right up to it and stop.
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| Inside Watchman Tower |
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| Watchman Tower |
The Watchman Tower hike was around 2.5 miles rd/trip and although much of it is switch backs it is also steep. And totally worth the view once you get there...this is simply breathtaking on a clear day.
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| Panoramic from Watchman Tower to the North/NW |
We did see some wildlife during our stay...mostly birds and ground squirrels. On our last whole day we did happen to see a deer not far from our campsite. And it was posted for bears, however we saw no evidence that they were in the area. (They are faster than I so I pay attention to my surroundings. Nope, not one spotted.)
No TV, radio or internet. Well, you could buy wifi at the convenience store near the entrance or at the lodge. We were able to call out and get messages when up on the rim...actually that was just fine with us. There was a time, not so very long ago when you had to stand outside in one of these to make calls anywhere.
It's called a 'phone booth'...ancient history now. Although we did see a smaller version of this at the convenience store/gas station.
