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A
breathtaking view of Crater Lake is waiting once hikers arrive at
the top of Garfield Peak.
Photo by William Sullivan
Hike
to Garfield Peak
One
of the prettiest viewpoints in Crater Lake National Park
About
the Hike: Starting from the historic Crater Lake Lodge, this
path climbs along the rim of a gigantic collapsed volcano, now filled
with a stunningly blue, 6-mile-wide lake.
Difficulty:
The moderate 1.5-mile-long trail to the peak gains 970 feet of elevation.
Season:
Open mid-July through October. The route may cross a patch of snow
or two in July. Wildflowers are profuse along parts of the trail
in August. Snowstorms generally close the route in November.
Getting
There: From Medford or Klamath Falls, follow "Crater Lake" signs
on Highway 62 to the park turnoff. Turn north and continue seven
miles to Rim Village, and turn right through this beehive of tourists
for 0.3 mile to a turnaround at Crater Lake Lodge.
If
you're coming from Bend, drive Highway 97 south 76 miles to Diamond
Lake Junction, turn right on Highway 138 for 15 miles to Crater
Lake's north entrance road, turn left on this route 9 miles and
turn right on the lake's Rim Drive 9 miles to Rim Village. This
northern access route is closed by snow from November through June.
Fees:
Expect to pay $10 per car for a day pass or $25 for an annual pass
at a fee booth at the national park entrance.
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Crater
Lake Lodge (above) provides a great place to stay and
excellent seats for beauty.
Photos
by William Sullivan
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Hiking
Tips: Walk behind Crater Lake Lodge and turn right on a paved
pathway along the lake rim. Pavement soon yields to a broad trail
through meadows where blue lupine, bright orange paintbrush, yellow
groundsel and purple fleabane bloom in summer. Views improve with
each switchback. Snow patches linger across the trail until August
near the top. At this elevation, only gnarled 5-needle whitebark pines
survive. These trees' limber limbs, so flexible they can be tied in
knots, help the pines bend rather than break in winter gales.
When
you reach the peak's summit, the glowing blue of Crater Lake gapes
below like a quarter-mile-deep pool from a high-dive tower. If you're
quiet you might see foot-long marmots and guinea-pig-sized pikas
watching from cliff-edge rocks 100 feet north of the summit. To
the east, Mt. Scoot looms above Phantom Ship's small craggy island.
To the south stretch the distant flats of Klamath Lake, with the
tip of Mt. Shasta and the cone of Mt. McLoughlin on the right.
History:
The grand-looking Crater Lake Lodge at the trailhead wasn't always
grand. Built from 1909-1915 at a cost of just $50,000, the building
originally opened with tarpaper on its outside walls and flimsy
beaverboard between rooms. Years of makeshift maintenance and harsh
winters left the building slated for demolition in the 1980s. A
public outcry pushed the Park Service to renovate it instead. After
a $35 million makeover, the lodge reopened in 1995 with elegant
woodwork in the Great Hall, a modern bath in each guestroom, and
its rustic ambiance remarkably intact. Rooms at the lodge run $123-$238
and require reservations months in advance. Call 541-830-8700 for
information.
Garfield
Peak was named for the Interior Secretary of President Teddy Roosevelt,
who created the national park in 1902.
Geology:
Crater Lake fills the caldera of Mount Mazama, a volcano that collapsed
after a cataclysmic eruptions about 5,700 BC. The mountain first
began to form 500,000 years ago. At its height, Mount Mazama was
a broad, 12,000-foot mountain the size of Mount Adamas. Ice Age
glaciers gouged its flanks with valleys.
Then,
in an eruption 150 times as massavie as the 1980 Mt. St. Helens
blast, Mount Mazama suddenly exploded 14 cubic miles of pumice and
ash into the sky, leaving a gaping 6-mile-wide caldera. Later, two
cinder cones erupted on the caldera floor. Wizard Island's cone
still rises 764 feet above the lake, but Merriam Cone was submerged
as the caldera filled with rain and snowmelt. The deepest lake in
the United States, Crater Lake has no outlet but maintains its level
by evaporation and seepage. The lake's 1,943-foot depth and remarkable
purity account for its stunning blue color.
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