Crater Lake

As I mentioned in our last post, despite having lived just 3.5 hours from Oregon’s only National Park, we had never visited Crater Lake, so it was first up on our list. As we are now on a fixed budget, free camping is extra important. On top of that, we wanted a second crack at boondocking (without inadvertently pulling the trailer brake cable) and to be away from the hustle & bustle to “detox” if you will.

I searched for campground options around Crater Lake on the All Stays & Campendium apps and found quite a few options. Some were paid… some were free… one was named Scott Creek (because it is near Mt. Scott) and because it had Scott’s name in it, it had to be our first spot! (Side note - there is a lake in Oregon named Scott Lake… we haven’t been there yet, but you can bet it’s on our bucket list!) 

From Eugene, we headed east on Highway 58 through Oakridge and then south on Highway 97 to get to W. Boundary Road for a 6 mile (or so) drive down some pretty skinny dirt roads. There were a few moments where I was white knuckled in the passenger seat wondering if we could fit, but we made it! Scott Creek campground is managed by the Chemult Ranger District (US Forest Service) and is lightly used, a big reason for my attraction to the location. As we were still new to this whole traveling thing, I wasn’t too keen on the idea of arriving somewhere and finding there was no room for us. Turned out, we had the whole six site campground to ourselves!

The sites were definitely more intended for tents, but since we were alone, we were able to fit the rig sideways along the low posts separating the parking area from the camp spaces. It was perfect! The dogs thoroughly enjoyed splashing around in the creek, the kitties liked spending time outside in their cage, and Scott and I loved having some trees to hang our hammocks from. Our first day of our new lifestyle was spent decompressing from the frenzy of prepartions to hit the road. While we woke up early (pre-6:00 AM), we moved slowly through the morning activities and barely finished breakfast around lunch time.

It hadn’t really been my plan, but we both really needed it, and it highlighted a real benefit of this lifestyle. Having no deadline for when vacation is over, we very easily find the balance between our travel styles. Any time we had discussed vacations while we were working, Scott’s idea of time well spent was sleeping in. But for me, I like to cram in as many ounces of activity as the minutes would allow (my post on traveling with my sister in Seattle is an excellent example of this!). Because we didn’t have any reservations for our next stop, we could stay as long as we wanted… well, keeping it to the 14 day camping limit, that is… but even then, we could just move somewhere else nearby.

The next day, we decided to head into Crater Lake National Park. Originally, the plan was to leave all of the fur kids at home, but another small group of campers had arrived late the night before and had burned a fire, which was banned at that time because of forest fire season. I couldn’t shake the feeling that if a fire got out of hand, there was no way for us to get back to the trailer very quickly to rescue the animals. So, we packed up the whole zoo and they toured Crater Lake with us.

Location-wise, Scott Creek campground is NOT ideal for visiting Crater Lake. While it is on the foothills of the eastern side of Mt. Scott, the highest point in the park, it is about a 1.5 hour drive in order to get to the Rim Village Visitor Center. The only other complaint I had for the campground was that cell service was very spotty. I would have been fine if there was no cell service at all, but there was some, so we tended to still have our phones in our pockets. The service was so inconsistent, you could have two devices sitting right next to each other and they would have dramatically different signal strengths. It really made it difficult to just walk away from the devices.

A big motivator for our travels is to visit National Parks, so we are a perfect match for the America the Beautiful National Park pass. You can find more details on the pass here. It can be a huge savings tool for just about anyone! The entrance fee for Crater Lake was $25.00/car (summer rate) and is good for 7 days. Other parks have more expensive entrance fees (Yosemite was $35.00/car) and depending on how many you plan to visit in a year, the $80.00 America the Beautiful annual pass can quickly become the less expensive option. We purchased our pass right at the entrance booth, and it is good for 12 months from the time of purchase (not based on a calendar year).

Before you even reach the entrance booth, the scenery is beautiful! I am a firm believer that everyone should visit every single National Park/Monument/Wildlife Reserve/etc. because there is a reason they have that designation. The first official National Park, Yellowstone, was established in 1872, but it really all started in 1864 with the first ever bill to protect of a large chunk of natural scenery (what is now Yosemite National Park) for public enjoyment for generations to come. We have all seen how difficult it can be to pass bills, and to think that people were passionate enough about these places to dedicate years of their lives to achieving protection… there has to be something truly special about them.

Specifically for Crater Lake, according to the park map provided by the entrance booth, William Gladstone Steel first visited in 1885, and from that point on he campaigned to have it protected. Crater Lake was officially established as a National Park in 1902.

The day we visited started out cloudy, so the lake mostly looked dark and cold - much like the Pacific Ocean. From the Rim Village Visitor Center, we drove clockwise on the Rim Drive, stopping at almost every overlook to ogle at the lake. First up was Discovery Point, offering a view of Wizard Island. All along the stone wall on the edge of the turnout were chipmunks looking for nibbles. While it was disappointing to see people feeding them, I must say, it was really neat to have them come so close.

A little farther down the road, we were greeted with beautiful views of the topography west of the park. One thing I really love about Oregon is looking out and seeing so many treetops defining the mountain slopes. 

Scott with Kona and Boomer in front of Mt. Scott. 

By the time we reached Cloudcap Overlook, we could see that the clouds were just about to break, so we hung out in the truck to wait. Cloudcap is on the east side of the lake and is the highest overlook on the drive. It is consistently very windy, so much so, that the trees that manage to grow there have most of their branches pointing to the east (going with the wind). The brief wait for the sun to come out was totally worth it.

We continued our clockwise progression around the lake, stopping to see the Pumice Castle and the Phantom Ship. Multiple times along our drive, I was repeatedly struck with the question - what would it have been like to be the first person to see Crater Lake? Think about it. Off you go to explore the woods, maybe you’re hunting, and you climb up this rise and on the other side is this amazing body of water. I can’t even imagine the feeling.

In reality, the ancestors of local tribes likely witnessed the eruption of Mount Mazama 7,700 years ago. That introduces a whole other layer to the wonder. They would have seen the caldera when it was void of water, and over generations and generations (because it took centuries) noticed that the caldera was filling up. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States (1,943 feet), holding 4.9 trillion gallons of water. What would it have been like to stand on the rim of the caldera, before it was a lake, and just see sheer cliff going down!

Phantom Ship - What would that have looked like before the caldera was filled with water?!? 🤯

In all, we only spent the one afternoon in the park. We talked about going back a second day to do the boat tour around the lake, but the temperatures were already chilly enough, we didn’t really feel like being right on the water for the extra cold. Crater Lake is definitely a place we will return to a little earlier in the year (not post Labor Day) for slightly warmer weather and we will stay at a campsite that is a bit more convenient for accessing the park.

This round of boondocking was much more successful than the last. While we did have to charge our batteries on a daily basis, it was a much more manageable process. This time, not only did we have the generator, but we augmented our power sources to include a Zamp 200 watt portable solar panel kit. We did our best to use the sun, but unfortunately Scott Creek campground was just too shady for that to be our only power source. We made it three nights before moving to an RV park in Bend, OR for full hook ups, more on that in our next post.