Crater Lake offers a compelling glimpse of the changing seasons
Mail Tribune
Medford, Oregon
October 04, 2007
By BILL KETTLER
If you want an early taste of winter, this is the time to
visit Crater Lake National Park.
October brings sudden changes in the weather, especially
in the high country. At 7,000 feet, the rim of Crater Lake had a dusting of snow
Wednesday, and forecasters were predicting snow showers through Friday.
If you've never ventured farther than the Crater Lake
parking lot or the visitors center (and thousands never do), you owe it to
yourself to get the perspective that only foot travel gives you. The lake gets
infinitely larger when you start walking around it.
The contrasts at this time of year are striking along the
rim. The high places often get a thin coat of snow that vanishes over the course
of a day, except in places where the sun can't reach.
Hunters are still out in force looking for the perfect
buck, so Crater Lake is a good place to visit right now if you don't want to
hear gunfire. Hunting isn't allowed in Oregon's only national park.
You can walk a section of the Pacific Crest Trail that
follows the rim and feel winter coming on. The trail follows the rim along the
west side for several miles, near the scenic Rim Road. There are several
pullouts along the road, so your hike can be as long or as short as you choose.
The trail passes "Discovery Point," near the spot where
Europeans are believed to have first glimpsed the lake in 1853, when a
prospecting party led by John Wesley Hillman stumbled upon one of North
America's most remarkable natural features.
Hillman's name is memorialized in Hillman Peak, one of
the promontories along the west side of the rim.
About 2.5 miles from Rim Village, the PCT intersects a
trail that follows the course of an old abandoned road down to a scenic camp
site at Lightning Spring .8 miles downhill. The soil here is so full of pumice
and ash that few plants have colonized it, going on 7,700 years since Mount
Mazama exploded.
The spring is one of those high-country wonders, a stream
of cold, clear, pure water that emerges from the slope.
If you're looking for a longer walk, you can follow the
trail down the slope about a mile farther to a lovely 15-foot waterfall. This
would make a good place to turn around for most people.
Avid hikers can continue their descent for another two
miles. The trail leaves Lightning Creek, drops over into the headwaters of Bybee
Creek, and follows Bybee Creek downstream to an old section of the Pacific Crest
Trail that's now used as an equestrian bypass. (Horses are allowed in the park,
but not on the rim.) From the junction with the equestrian trail, it's about 4
miles back up to the rim, and an elevation gain of about 1,300 feet.
Check conditions before you go to avoid unpleasant
surprises. There's usually a staff person to pick up the phone if you call the
visitor center at 594-3100. A trail map and description can be found in William
Sullivan's "100 Hikes in Southern Oregon."
Reach Bill Kettler at 776-4492 ore-mail: bkettler@mailtribune.com
