Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

Crater Lake is one of the few national parks Adam hasn't visited yet. We took the five and a half hour drive from Lake Tahoe to another, again very different, lake. We had a very different visit than we anticipated. Being from the flats of Ohio, the end of May is summer already... not in the mountains of Oregon though.

Crater Lake National Park is located in southern Oregon at about 6,000 feet elevation. The main feature of the park is the lake itself. The lake, created when Mount Mazama erupted some 7,700 years ago, is the deepest lake in the United States at 1,943 feet at its deepest. It is a gorgeous shiny, glass-looking blue that offers beautiful reflections of the surrounding mountains. It feels like a giant mirror laid down in the middle of mountains. There are no native fish in the lake but they did stock the lake with a few species of fish (rainbow trout and kokanee salmon) in the the late-1800s. To add to this magical scene, the surrounding ecosystem is full of old-growth forest and beautiful mountain vistas. The lake sites on part of the Makalak (Klamath Indian ancestors) ancestral homelands and is viewed as a sacred land by several tribal nations.

What we anticipated doing

We had all intents and purposes to park in the main parking lot along the lake and hike all day. We had our hiking packs all set up with snacks, water, extra clothes, and our trekking poles. According to our research on blogs, websites, and the NPS site, there are only a few dog-friendly trails in the park, but the Pacific Crest Trail is one of them. The PCT runs west of the lake, but an alternative route runs along the rim of the lake and reconnects to the trail some 8 miles up trail. We were going to do our second small section of the PCT (the first was in southern California a few weeks ago) in a small loop through the park. Well... that didn't happen.

What we actually did

Little did we know that winter in the Oregon mountains at 6,000 feet elevation extends far beyond the end of May. It's not until late-June that the snow melts off the trails and roads. Trails were completely covered in snow. Even with crampons and trekking poles, we were sure to get lost amid the trees. While that wouldn't necessarily be a horrible thing and we probably would have had the time of our lives, another unfortunate thing happened along the way.

The trailhead sign, just a short walk along the road from the parking lot, had a clear "no dogs allowed" sign on the post. In all our research about hiking with a dog in Crater Lake National Park, nothing said you couldn't get to the PCT from the other trails. Everything said "yes, dogs allowed on the PCT through the park and also on these other trails in the park" not "oh wait, you can't actually get to the PCT with a dog from anywhere in the park". If we wanted to hike along the PCT in the national park, we would have had to park at one of two parking areas outside the North and South entrances. Keep this in mind if you plan on traveling with a dog through this area.

So, in summary, we didn't hike. We did scramble up a semi-snow covered part of the Rim Trail to get beautiful views of the lake from a higher vantage point. Adam got great pictures. It felt like another planet, unlike any place we've been before! We parked the van in a parking lot just north on West Rim Drive and opened the door to the sunlight. Having alright cell service, we did some work and read a little in the van. It was chilly so we didn't hang around too long. Acadia liked the fresh air and we liked being able to see this crystal-clear lake as we relaxed. It was different than our desired and our usual visits to national parks, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

Campgrounds were not yet open in the national park and we couldn't get a backcountry permit with a dog. The only lodging in the park in May was the Crater Lake Lodge, a beautiful historic building on the rim of the lake. Not only was the lodge full during our visit, but one night at about $300 was far beyond our budget. Instead, we drove a little over an hour to a free national forest campground. It wasn't the most glamorous campground, but it was free and it gave us plenty of space to spread out for the night.