We awoke to the pitter-patter of light rain falling on the tent. We had a trickle of cellular data such that we could check the Crater Lake webcam from the comfort of sleeping bags tent: total whiteout! That was all the justification we needed for a lazy morning. We would check again later to see if anything appeared or we were better off driving onward. The rain continued intermittently such that we ended up packing away wet tents. We decided to drive the road west of Crater Lake and delay the decision of whether to detour until we reached the south entrance of the park. In the current snow conditions all the roads and trails were basically closed other than the south rim village and the first lookout a mile to the west so the best we could really hope for were a few rim views of the lake. As we approached the entrance we found ourselves in a dead standstill of over 50 cars jockeying to make the turn into the park. We were caught off-guard. Yes it was Father's Day but we thought the unseasonable snow conditions and poor weather outlook would be enough not to expect crowds. The last webcam image I was able to view showed a hint of blue beneath the white of the clouds and so we decided to go for it and hope for the best.
It took about a half hour to get through the entrance line and then we drove the few miles up the winding road to the village at the rim. As we crested the rim I caught a brief glimpse of the lake down to the left and almost demanded a stop to snap a picture in case the view completely disappeared. The rim was bustling with activity but driving a little further along we found a parking spot. I ran out to peer over the rim while the kids entertained themselves on parking lot snow piles. I could see the faint outline of Wizard Island and some of the lake but not the far shore, already a worse view than when we arrived minutes before. And then it snowed! After the kids had their fill of the snow we dipped into the small visitor center. I periodically went outside to snap pictures as the clouds and visibility continually shifted. After we had seen about all there was to see, we drove the rim road to the western lookout.
Fortuitously we arrived at this lookout during a clearing in the clouds and after hiking up the nearby hill I was able to get a full panoramic photo of the lake (frontispiece). It really was impressively beautiful and I marveled at the deep blues of the lake that shifted with the clouds. I was particularly struck by the details of the avalanche paths entering the lake near Wizard Island and the jagged shoreline towards Phantom Ship. This certainly was the shortest visit to a national park that I have ever made. I certainly would love to revisit, hike and explore but I was thankful for the views we were able to see. It was a whole lot better than nothing!
We stopped at one more roadside view of eroded tuffaceous gravels on the way out of the park then continued our drive on to Lava Beds National Monument at the far northern edge of California. Our Crater Lake detour was a quick one but an interesting little winter wonderland stop in the middle of summer.
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