Summer Road Trip (Part III): Crater Lake National Park (Park #9)

This marks the (four months late) final post to our Summer 2018 Adventure. For our third and final park, we spent a day at Crater Lake NP. We arrived at the park late and stayed in the Mazama Campground within the park (campground information linked here). This is the only campground in the park that takes reservations. They have a store, laundry, and restaurant on site. The sites are fairly close to one another but, for convenience sake, it is a great location with lots of trees.

Since we only had one full day in Crater Lake we used it to drive the scenic loop (map linked here). We started on the Rim Village Visitor Center so that the kids could participate in a Ranger Program. This is a good place to start as you can pick up maps, talk to Rangers about your plan for the day, and generally get situated. There is a movie in the Visitor Center and great views to be had all around. We had lunch in the restaurant at Crater Lake Lodge. It is a beautiful old building with great views. If you are looking to sit down to eat, this is a great option. Plus, the views.

After lunch we drove counter clockwise around Crater Lake. To be honest, the views were great and we enjoyed them so much we didn’t take many pictures! We stayed on the main road for the majority of the day but we did take the Pinnacles Road offshoot to the Pinnacles Overlook. This area is really a must see. The Pinnacles, which are spires of volcanic ash, are something to behold. If you are up for a hike, you can take the Pinnacles Trail (information linked here).

By the time we reached the Cloudcap Overlook, smoke from a nearby wildfire had blown into the canyon, which was a bummer for multiple reasons. On a clear day, this is a prime picture spot.

About halfway around the lake you will see Cleetwood Cover—this is the one spot where swimming is permitted. You can hike down to the water at this point. We were hitting nap time for our youngest so we didn’t venture down to the water but many travel bloggers highly recommend it!

After a few more overlook stops we took a short jaunt through a loop of wildflowers near the Rim Village. While we missed the main bloom, it was still a gorgeous spot.

After this last stop we called it a day and headed back to camp. Since some friends of ours from Oregon were down for the day, were able to enjoy the outdoors with company this time! After one last night in the trailer we packed it up and put a bow on our summer road trip—until next time!