Crater Lake National Park History

Crater Lake was formed when Mount Mazama, a stratovolcano, erupted then collapsed into itself losing between 3,500 and 2,500 of height and forming a massive caldera around 5700 BC. The caldera then filled with snow melt and rain water creating the deepest lake in the United State of America at over 1,900 feet deep. The caldera’s elevation is between 7,000 and 8,000, while the surface of the lake is at 6,178 feet.

For members of the Klamath tribe, Crater Lake holds special significance as an “abode of the Great Spirit.” Klamath legend holds that the lake was created during a battle between the sky god and the ruler of the underworld. The first people of European descent to visit Crater Lake were gold prospectors John Wesley Hillman, Issac Skeeters, and Henry Klippel, who stumbled upon the lake at Discovery Point.

In 1870, William Gladstone Steel’s mother wrapped his sandwich in a newspaper. Steel read the paper while eating lunch and became fascinated by an article about a deep blue lake in southern Oregon. Steel made it his life’s mission to promote Crater Lake. He guided people to the lake and lobbied Congress to create national park. Crater Lake became America’s fifth national park in 1902!

Our One Day Visit to Crater Lake

We entered Crater Lake at the South Entrance after spending the night at a great AirBnB in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Our one year old daughter accompanied us to Crater Lake. Crater Lake was her fifth national park! We loved the classic features of Crater Lake National Park. It has beautiful stone guard rails and paved paths like many of the other early established national parks. Our first stop was Discovery Point. During our trip Rim Drive was closed between Cloud Cap Overlook and Pinnacles Road. From Discovery Point, we drove to the road closure site enjoying all the viewpoints along the way. After reaching Cloud Cap Overlook, we returned to Rim Village to explore, before hiking a couple of the short trails along East Rim Drive.

Rim Drive

Rim Drive is a 33 mile scenic road that circles Crater Lake. Because of its impressing engineering and incredible views it was listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. Here are some of our favorite overlooks along Rim Drive:

Discovery Point:

Watchman Overlook:

Cloud Cap Overlook:

Vidae Falls:

Rim Village

The Rim Village Visitors Center, Crater Lake Lodge, and a couple gift shops make us Rim Village. Our daughter enjoyed exploring the wide sidewalks lined by pine and fir trees in the village, seeing the trollies departing for tours of the park, and picking out a new hat in the gift shop. The unique Sinnott Memorial Overlook was built into the caldera wall in 1930, and provides a unique, covered viewpoint of the lake.

We enjoyed walking through Crater Lake Lodge. If you’d like to stay at the lodge during your visit, make reservations far in advance. We always enjoy staying in the historic park lodges, but did not plan our trip far enough in advance to secure a room at the lodge. We still enjoyed seeing the view from its patio and strolling through the lobby. Check out this post for information on some of our national park lodge stays.

Sun Notch Trail

Our first real hike in the park was on Sun Notch Trail. The trailhead is located 4.4 miles from the park headquarters on East Rim Drive, and it is about a mile long. The trail proceeds uphill through a meadow to a view of the Phantom Ship. We really enjoyed this peaceful trail after the hustle and bustle of Rim Village. We watched deer graze in the meadow as we approached the viewpoint of the Phantom Ship. Our Osprey Poco was the perfect pack to carry our daughter along the trail. She enjoyed the tall trees and waving to other hikers we met on the trail.

Castle Crest Trail

Our last stop in Crater Lake was the Castle Crest Trail. The trailhead is located about a quarter mile from park headquarters. This trail is only .25 mile, but circles a spring feed meadow that features over 200 species of wildflowers. It was developed by early managers of the park to be an educational experience where visitors could learn about the floral species found in the park – which is a really great idea. It reminded us a little bit of Wild Gardens of Acadia. Seeing all the flowers was a great was to conclude our visit to Crater Lake.

Our Next Trip to Crater Lake

Thanks to the Rim Drive Closure, we could not do the hike to the Pinnacles or Plaikni Falls. We’d love to hike both of those trails on our next visit. We would also like to take a boat ride to Wizard Island. Children under three can’t ride the boat, so that experience will have to wait too.

Visiting nearby Lava Beds National Monument? Click here to check out our post about our afternoon there! If you are continuing down the Volcanic Discovery Trail, be sure to stop at Lassen Volcanic National Park!

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