Video of Crater Lake at Oregon national park

Day hikers can walk to the edge of the United States’ deepest lake on the Discovery Point Trail at Crater Lake National Park.

To reach the trailhead in the national park, take Oregon Route 62, aka Crater Lake Highway, into the park. Turn onto Munson Valley Road; at the intersection with Rim Road, turn right and stop in the Rim Village parking area. The Discovery Point Trail heads northwestward from Rim Village’s west end where the paved sidewalk turns to a dirt path. The trailhead is unmarked.

The trail heads about the rim of Crater Lake for nearly 1.5 miles (3-miles round trip). Most of the route parallels West Rim Drive.

The lake sits inside the collapsed remains of an ancient volcano known as Mount Mazama. About half a million years ago, Mount Mazama began to grow with lava flows overlapping one another to form an irregular shaped peak. About 8,000 years ago, the volcano likely stood as high as 12,000 feet.

Then, around 5700 BC, Mount Mazama experienced its most violent eruption, dropping layers of ash more than a thousand miles away in Alberta, Canada. It was the largest eruption in North American for more than half a million years.

Today, the lake reaches a depth of 1946 feet, North America’s second deepest and the world’s ninth deepest.

Here’s a video of Crater Lake:

Here's an article more fully describing the trail.

Learn more about national park day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at America’s National Parks guidebook.

Best trails for seeing Crater Lake highlights

Crater Lake. Photo courtesy of Kozzi.

Among the best ways to see Crater Lake National Park’s major sights is via a day hike. Just five short trails allow visitors to enjoy the park’s major highlights – its namesake, the Pumice Desert, the Pinnacles, old-growth forests, and a historic fire lookout tower.

Crater Lake
A volcano caldera formed more than 7000 years ago, Crater Lake reaches a depth of 1,943 feet, making it the United States’ deepest lake. The 2.2-miles round trip Cleetwood Cove Trail heads downhill 700 feet from Rim Drive to the lake’s shores, where you can touch the water.

Pumice Desert
The volcano explosion that created Crater Lake deposited up to 200-feet of pumice and ash that covers 5.5 square miles, leaving behind a barren wasteland. There are no marked routes through the desert, but the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail skirts its eastern edge.

The Pinnacles
Hot gas cemented other ash and pumice deposits, forming pinnacles and spires that soar up to 300 feet above the forest floor. The 0.4-mile Pinnacles Trail in the park’s southeast corner allows visitors to see many of these fascinating geological formations.

Old-growth forests
Forests of mountain hemlocks and shasta red firs that have never seen the lumberjack’s ax cover nearly 50,000 acres in the park. The 1-mile loop Godfrey Glen Trail off of Munson Valley Road heads through these verdant woodlands.

Historic fire lookout tower
A tower built in 1932 offers incredible views of Crater Lake, Wizard Island, Mounts McLoughlin, Thielsen and Scott, Union Peak, and the Klamath Basin. The 1.6-mile round trip Watchman Trail gains 700 feet in elevation via several switchbacks to reach the tower.

Learn more about national park day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at America’s National Parks guidebook.

Trail passes fossil fumaroles on volcano

Blossoms of the big huckleberry. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Trail map. Courtesy of Crater Lake NPS.

Variety of unique wildflowers also found on Annie Creek Trail

Some 7,700 years ago, Crater Lake National Park was the sight of incredible destruction, as lava and ash flowed from the southern Oregon volcano. Today, it’s the location of a clear blue lake surrounded by lush greenery. Kids will love hiking the verdant side of this extinct volcano on the Annie Creek Trail.

Sometimes referred to as “Annie Creek Canyon Trail,” you’ll want to plan your visit for mid-July through August. Because of the high elevations, snow typically covers the trail from October through early July.

Ridge above canyon
To reach the trail, take Hwy. 62 at the park’s south entrance. Turn onto Munson Valley Road to reach Mazama Village. Park at the village store; the trailhead is behind the park amphitheater.

For about a third of a mile, the trail heads through a forest of mountain hemlock, lodgepole pine, and Shasta red fir forest. Impressive, almost framed views of the canyon below can be seen through the open trees.

Along the way, you’ll pass the Annie Creek Pinnacles, which are fossil fumaroles. After the volcano exploded 77 centuries ago, hot gasses rose through the pumice deposits, molding the rocks into these cone-shaped stones.

Switchbacks next take hikers about 200 feet down to Annie Creek at the canyon’s bottom. The creek and canyon were named for Annie Gaines, the first white woman to climb down the caldera wall and touch Crater Lake’s waters, all the way back in 1865.

Pumice banks
The trail follows the creek upstream for about a mile. The clean white water rushes and cascades down the canyon, whose floor is cut through the volcano’s side. Note the stream’s pumice banks. As heading upstream, the canyon widens into a meadow.

Wildflowers usually bloom along the creek and across the meadow from mid-July through August. Among those that might be spotted are Macloskey’s violet, big huckleberry, sulphur flower, Crater Lake currant, western mountain ash, and wax currant.

The trail’s final leg switchbacks up to the canyon. Great views of the canyon below and the pinnacles can be seen simply by stopping and turning around. At the canyon rim, the trail ends at the Mazama Campground near the village store.

Learn more about national park day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at America’s National Parks guidebook.

Trail takes day hikers along Crater Lake rim

Wizard Island in Crater Lake

Trail Map. Courtesy Crater Lake NPS.

Discovery Point Trail heads to historic spot

No visit to Crater Lake National Park would be complete without a hike along the rim of the dormant volcano where a clear blue lake now sits. The Discovery Point Trail follows the rim, offering views of it through an alpine forest, stopping at the spot where miners first saw the lake in 1853.

Late July and August mark the best time to hike the rim. Expect the trail to be covered in snow from October to early July, though conditions vary somewhat from year to year.

To reach the trailhead, take Oregon Route 62, aka Crater Lake Highway, into the park. Turn onto Munson Valley Road; at the intersection with Rim Road, turn right and stop in the Rim Village parking area. The Discovery Point Trail heads northwestward from Rim Village’s west end where the paved sidewalk turns to a dirt path. The trailhead is unmarked.

The trail heads about the rim of Crater Lake for nearly 1.5 miles (3-miles round trip). Most of the route parallels West Rim Drive.

You’ll walk beneath a forest of mountain hemlock and whitebark pine. Several breaks in the trees allows views of the rim, Wizard Island, and the bluest lake you’ll ever see.

Largest in 500,000 years
The lake sits inside the collapsed remains of an ancient volcano known as Mount Mazama. About half a million years ago, Mount Mazama began to grow with lava flows overlapping one another to form an irregular shaped peak. Some 8,000 years ago, the volcano likely stood as high as 12,000 feet.

Then, around 5700 BC, Mount Mazama experienced its most violent eruption, dropping layers of ash more than a thousand miles away in Alberta, Canada. It was the largest eruption in North American for more than half a million years.

A latter, smaller eruption formed Wizard Island, which rises 764 feet above the water. Other lava domes sit below the lake’s surface.

Then, around 3000 BC, the volcano went dormant, but geologists do expect it to reawaken.

Gold prospecting
Since those eruptions, rain and snow have filled the volcano’s caldera. Crater Lake is North America’s deepest lake at an incredible 1,943 feet.

The minerals brought up by volcanic activity naturally attracted miners. One such expedition led gold prospector John Wesley Hillman in 1853 to become the first Euro-American to see Crater Lake. A plaque now stands at that spot.

Other treasures to be found on the trail include the rim’s ubiquitous golden-mantled ground squirrels and the Clarks Nutcracker, which gathers then hides the seeds of the whitebark pine to eat later. Forgotten seeds sometimes grow into new trees, and so the bird helps continue its own food supply.

The plaque marks a good spot to turn back. If with children, make sure they are careful along the steep edges – it’s 800 feet to the water below.

Learn more about national park day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at America’s National Parks guidebook.