The depth and clarity of the water in Oregon’s Crater Lake National Park gives this spectacular lake the most gorgeous blue hue. At almost 2,000 feet deep, the color is able to absorb all the colors of the spectrum, except the shortest wavelengths, blue and violet. This beautiful spectacle is itself a crater, created when a volcano blew and collapsed thousands of years ago.
On our Summer 2020 RV Road Trip, after departing Lassen National Park, we made our way by Mount Shasta and up into Oregon, arriving fairly late in the evening. We had reservations to stay outside Crater Lake National Park, not wanting to risk not being able to obtain one of the first-come, first-served sites within the park.
After a good night’s sleep, our family departed for Crater Lake National Park, and enjoyed the most gorgeous drive through the forest on the way to the lake.
Upon arrival, we decided to see if we might be able to get a campsite at the Mazama Campground in the park, knowing that, if we did, we could cancel our reservation where we had stayed the night before. We waited in line for a bit with several others at the campground office, but ended up lucking out with a campsite for the next few nights!
After checking into our site, we drove in the RV to the rim of the Crater, enthralled with our first views of his pristine lake. Our family hiked along the rim for a few miles, and then ventured up the Garfield Peak Trail which, after some steep inclines, rewarded us with the most spectacular views of the lake. And, the color! Crater Lake is the most gorgeous hue of the color blue that you could imagine!
After our hike, we spent the late afternoon and evening at our campsite, working on Junior Ranger books, grilling tri tip for dinner, enjoying a roaring campfire, built by our boys.
During our next day in Crater Lake National Park, we hiked the Annie Creek Trail, conveniently picking up the trailhead from our campground. This hike led us down into the most gorgeous green valley, and the kids enjoyed scampering back and forth the creek in several spots. The mosquitoes were a little much for us in this area, so we eventually made our way back to the campground. We spent the afternoon playing games, reading, walking to the campground’s general store and gift shop, and popping some jiffy pop, always a family favorite!
On our last day in the park, morning dawned, and we left Crater Lake to head to our next destination, Bend, Oregon. It was SNOWING as we drove out of the park that day! What an incredible temperature shift overnight!
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