Cleetwood Cove and Boat Tour
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Our third and final day at Crater Lake was the best yet. We hiked the Cleetwood Cove Trail, the only access down to the shore. It’s just a mile, but drops about 700 feet in long switchbacks. At the bottom, we boarded the 9am boat for a two-hour tour out on the lake itself. Being on the water gave us a whole new perspective. The cliffs towered around us. They stand as the remains of the collapsed Mount Mazama. Out in the lake is Wizard Island, a cinder cone that formed from a smaller eruption after the mountain’s collapse.
Cleetwood Cove Trail
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Crater Lake is famous for its clarity. Scientists measure it with a black-and-white Secchi disk, lowering it until the colors blur together. In some years it’s been visible to over 140 feet. Looking into that clear blue water, we even spotted fish. Crater Lake was originally fishless, but about six different species were stocked here throughout the early 1900s. Today only two survive — kokanee salmon and rainbow trout.
The ranger tour guide filled us in on the story of the Old Man of the Lake. He’s a 30 foot mountain hemlock log that has been floating upright for over a hundred years, roots weighing him down and keeping him steady. In 1988, scientists tied him to Wizard Island so he wouldn’t interfere with a research submarine. Moments later, a raging storm blew in with snow in August. They released him, and the skies cleared. Needless to say, no one has tried tying him down again. More recently, someone placed a tracker on the Old Man to make him easier to find on tours. Almost immediately, the tracker died. Turns out Old Man doesn’t want to be tied down or tracked.
We passed waterfalls fed by lingering snow before arriving at Phantom Ship, a rocky island shaped like a ghostly sailing vessel. Floating in front of it was the Old Man himself. We were thrilled to see him up close, his base visible beneath the clear water while his weathered top stood against the Phantom Ship behind him.
After returning to shore, we climbed back up to the rim and drove to other rim viewpoints the trolley tour hadn’t covered the day before, including a view of Pumice Castle — a bright orange volcanic formation carved into the cliffs like a fortress. We wrapped up our stay with one last hike by our campground. The Annie Creek trail descends into a valley and winds past wildflowers and a rushing creek, a peaceful finale to our time at Crater Lake.
The ranger tour guide filled us in on the story of the Old Man of the Lake. He’s a 30 foot mountain hemlock log that has been floating upright for over a hundred years, roots weighing him down and keeping him steady. In 1988, scientists tied him to Wizard Island so he wouldn’t interfere with a research submarine. Moments later, a raging storm blew in with snow in August. They released him, and the skies cleared. Needless to say, no one has tried tying him down again. More recently, someone placed a tracker on the Old Man to make him easier to find on tours. Almost immediately, the tracker died. Turns out Old Man doesn’t want to be tied down or tracked.
We passed waterfalls fed by lingering snow before arriving at Phantom Ship, a rocky island shaped like a ghostly sailing vessel. Floating in front of it was the Old Man himself. We were thrilled to see him up close, his base visible beneath the clear water while his weathered top stood against the Phantom Ship behind him.
After returning to shore, we climbed back up to the rim and drove to other rim viewpoints the trolley tour hadn’t covered the day before, including a view of Pumice Castle — a bright orange volcanic formation carved into the cliffs like a fortress. We wrapped up our stay with one last hike by our campground. The Annie Creek trail descends into a valley and winds past wildflowers and a rushing creek, a peaceful finale to our time at Crater Lake.