Crater Lake National Park — Park-to-Park Tour

Crater Lake National Park will be the first stop on Part 2 of the National Park-to-Park Tour. The deepest lake in the U.S., it was formed 7,700 years ago by the collapse of a volcanic peak. When we visit in 2022, we will spend three days and two nights in the park. We’ll explore East Rim Drive and West Rim Drive. We plan to hike Garfield Peak, take a boat to Wizard Island, and catch sunrise at Discovery Point. We’ll be camping at Mazama.

Read our blog post on Crater Lake

Itinerary

We are presenting our itinerary as we lived it. Not the plan, but rather what we were actually able to accomplish. Naturally there are some missed goals and some serendipitous surprises. We always rolled with the punches and made the best out of our time in the national parks. Below we have included some notes that explain how the itinerary changed from what we had in mind.

It’s important to know that these plans were made to suit the abilities and interests of two young girls aged 10 and 12. We feel confident that any family on their “Every Kid Outdoors Summer” (4th grade) could handle this itinerary. For hikes, we have listed the distance, elevation gain, and time that we tracked, which may differ from published (or actual) measurements.

Day 1

Morning

Visit Rim Village Visitor Center
Sinnott Memorial Overlook

Afternoon

Hike: Discovery Point (3.6 miles RT)
Sun Notch / Phantom Ship

Evening

Dinner at camp
Overnight at Mazama Campground

Day 2

Morning

Hike: Garfield Peak (3.6 miles RT, 1,010 feet, 2.5 hours)

Afternoon

Hike: Cleetwood Cove Trail to boat dock (2.2 miles RT, 650 feet, 1.5 hours)
Junior Ranger badges at Rim Village

Evening

Overnight at Mazama Campground

Day 3

Morning

Watchman’s Overlook
Depart for Redwoods

Notes

We had two full days plus a morning in Crater Lake and managed to pack a lot in without feeling rushed. Day one followed our original plan fairly closely, with beautiful weather and a spectacular first look at the lake. Much of East Rim Drive was closed, as were boat tours to Wizard Island and Watchman’s Peak Trail.

On day two, we took on the Garfield Peak trail which offered sweeping views from the rim and was one of the trip’s highlights. The Cleetwood Cove Trail was steep but manageable for the kids, swimming at the bottom lived up to the hype.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the amount of snow left in July. But nothing could take away from the beauty of Crater Lake.