Hike #35: Cleetwood Cove, Crater Lake
September 5, 2015
Mileage: 2.2 roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 700 ft
I love road trips. Open roads, lots of good music and food, and amazing sights. Eric and I took off to Oregon for Labor Day weekend and had a marvelous time.
We drove all the way from Seattle to Crater Lake on Friday, and spent the night at Broken Arrow Campground outside the park.
In the morning we headed into the park to find that it had snowed. More icy on the trees, just a dusting on the ground. Lots of cold, clean air that allowed us wonderful views of the lake in the early morning sun.
By midmorning it was melting off quickly, and we drove to the east rim to the Cleetwood Cove trail, the only path down to the water’s edge. It was a short trail, not too steep, although the high altitude (~7,000 ft depending on where you are) left me a bit out of breath on the way back up.
The water was so clear and so blue. We put our feet in and watched some people swim, though we weren’t prepared enough for that.
After the trail we left the park and headed northward and eastward to continue our Oregon road trip adventure.
This was one of my favorite trips ever.
Snow?!? Shoot! And here I am hoping it gets down below 70 at night 🙂 Beautiful hike, though! I think the Smithsonian Channel does that Aerial America show, and they showed Crater Lake on the Oregon episode. Damn, that place looks gorgeous!