It was early December and I had some free time. The woman I was interested in at the time was visiting a friend in San Jose and had invited me to join. I checked the plane tickets and they were more than I wanted to spend. So what did I do??? Well naturally what you all are used to me doing. I made my bed in my Subaru and took off down the road. It was quite the trek just getting to my first destination as I was in the front of one snow storm at the beginning and the tail end of another by the time I arrived in Bend, Oregon. After arriving I got about three hours of sleep in a cheap but very accommodating hotel I found. This was to avoid another fitful night sleep in my car like I had the previous day at a rest stop somewhere in the Eastern Washington wasteland some would call the most boring stretch of I90 known to man. But I digress. This story is about my short but intense experience with the deepest lake in the United States. Crater Lake!
Dawn just after arriving at the park. It was pretty socked in. In the distance you can see the avalanche shutes on Mount Garfield
Crater Lake looks exactly how it sounds and was formed by a massive volcano. In fact, the rim is a thirty mile hike just to get around! But before telling you all the features, and thus spoiling my story, I shall now continue the tale of this magical place. I woke up in the hotel just after 4:00 A.M, packed my car, and headed south. The roads were snowy but straight and I was about the only car on the road beings it was an early Sunday morning so I made great time. Once I turned off of highway 97 I began to slowly climb and the snow got deeper and deeper. As I neared the park the road was down to a near single lane and there was so much snow on either side it was almost like driving in a tunnel in the dawn light. I made it in the park but soon realized I would not be driving to the rim. The last two miles of the road were gated and completely snowed in! To make it worse there were signs stating nobody could ski or snowshoe in on the road begins plowing could commence at any time. What could I do now? I was stuck less than a mile as the crow flies from my photo destination!
The drive as I got closer to the park entrance
To top things off even more there was like no parking anywhere. So I did what any North Idahoan would. I backed my car right into the main ranger stations parking lot. Soon I had my gear, snowshoes and just about everything else packed or on. A couple rangers walked by and I had a quick chat. Turns out there was avalanche danger but the ranger told me a way to go to avoid any issues. He also told me the only place I could really park. A tiny pullout literally on the side of the road before the gate. Very odd to me for being a National Park but what can they do with literally three feet of fresh power? The parking lot beyond the ranger station where most of the rangers kept their cars parked was completely snowed in so most of them couldn’t even go anywhere. It was a chaotic peaceful mess of winter wonderland.
When you look up
As soon as I set out I realized this was going to be quite the undertaking. My feet went one to two feet down into the powder with every step! It took me an hour just to get to the end of the completely snowed in campground. The only other tracks were a few sets of bunny prints. It was a world of fresh white and I was the intruder.
Lots of snow! This was at the end of the campground
The cabin at the end of the campground before heading up the hill. This shows just now much snow I was in!
Soon after reaching the end of the campground I went straight up a two hundred foot hill. Now any other time two hundred feet of vertical would be nothing to me. But in this incredibly deep snow it was a frozen hell of slipping backwards, having my snow shoes sending snow flying up my back from my extreme efforts to not slip down the hill as I climbed, and random spots where I would sink down farther than others just making it super awkward to climb. From my map I could see I would be approaching the road soon and I would have to cross it to continuing my trek.
The Hill!
After finally attaining the lip of the hill and seeing the road buried in snow below I had to make a choice. I could hear the plow coming. I thought maybe to wait for the plow and hike along the side of the road as it could be more compact snow. So I waited. As the plow approached I realized it wasn’t much of a plow but rather a massive snow blower and I was going to get buried in snow as it was shooting powder one hundred feet towards the side I was on! I retraced my steps part way down the hill, turned my back towards the blower, threw my coat over my body, and hid my camera in my chest. Then it was a world of white for about three seconds. Not as bad as I was expecting and I laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of it all. It just struck me funny what I was doing out there getting pounded by a massive snow blower. I had turned on my video on my phone to record it but somehow bumped the stop button in the hurry to get in a good and safe position just before the power went flying over my head. To this day I wish I could have seen that footage. The side of the road turned to be a soft and horrible go so I crossed the road and continued on my original route.
Took this video shortly after crossing the road
The trees were just so pretty I had to take a video
Well after I hiked across the road I started making better time about another quarter mile farther as I finally reached the top of the steeper vertical climbing. During this time the sun finally came out. It was glorious! The total vertical gain from this hike was around 700 feet. After it leveled out some the snow was a bit more compact so I was only falling about 6 inches most steps. Soon the sun began to get socked back in but I could see the lodge that is only open in the summer and then I was at the rim!! That first glimpse coming up over the rim looking straight at wizard island as the remaining rays still struck it was awe inspiring! The water is a deep blue color unlike I had ever seen before. They say its the clearest water in the world! But I still had to climb the rim up towards Garfield Peak, the mountain the avalanche danger was from. I felt safer in the rim area though as the avalanche shoot was south of me. I made great time until the last portion where I was literally digging 3 feet down for every step for a few minutes! But then I was in the spot I wanted. It had taken me nearly five hours to go less than two miles but I had made it! I could see the entire lake and 30 mile rim around it. It was absolutely spectacular! And I was the only one in the entire area besides the snow plow driver way down below me on the road. But then he was gone too and it was just me and God.
Panorama along the rim. Wizard island is in the distance.
That’s some deep ass snow! This is the part I talked about having to dig down for each step.
Staying warm behind the rock
Getting socked in
Don’t look down
The lodge as seen from my final destination. Look very close. Can you see my tracks?
Massive panorama of Crater Lake from my final destination
Just after sunset
I sat up there for hours, at times huddling next to the large rock for warmth and others climbing the rock braving the heights for another set of panorama shots over the lake. I had much difficulty from condensation ice forming on my lenses but managed to pull off some shots in between. I almost left before sunset as I was getting socked in with fog and snowfall but I felt the Lord tell me to just spend some time doing my devotions with Him. Because I obeyed that prompting I was able to see it clear up 20 minutes later and the sun danced all over the other end of the lake. I stayed till after sunset taking many images and hiked down in the dark. I had 9 percent battery on my phone when I got back to the car and it was my only source of light as I had never planned staying out past dark. I had been paying attention to my battery life but a great lesson to always bring an extra light no matter what.
Shortly after reaching my car a ranger pulled up. My beard was iced over so I must have looked interesting. He goes “are you alright”. I said very calmly “yeah man I am fine”. And truthfully I was and actually super warm from the hike down. He says “we thought we were going to have to go find a dead body tomorrow”. I told him since it was such a hard hike I had decided to stay and wait out the sunset. I guess they had been getting worried when I didn’t show for dark. Funny though I had full service up there and could have answered a call if they needed reassurance. I apologized repeatedly to him and we made some good small talk, then I headed on down the road. Off to San Jose with tank top and short’s kinda weather!
Shooting the sunset
Right around sunset
Following my tracks out