The Rim Canyon

This year there has been added to the guide trips of the Naturalist Service a conducted caravan tour around the Rim Road which encircles Crater Lake. Each morning the visitors wishing to take the caravan tour assemble at 8:30 around the parapet of the Sinnott Memorial Building, where a member of the Naturalist Staff explains the points of interest around the Lake. Then the visitors go up to the highway and take their machines for the drive.

From eight to ten stops are made on the tour, with the Naturalist in charge taking the party to study the features in place, with the various phenomena of the Rim region constituting a marvelous practical laboratory. The natural features around the Rim Drive portray a manifold works of “The Master Teacher – Nature” and the exhibits in-situ constitute “The Supreme Text Book.”

Stops on the caravan tour are made as a rule at the following places: the South Base of Hillman Peak, affording a marvelous view of Wizard Island and the narrows of Skell’s Channel; the north base of Hillman in which the marvelous panorama of Mt. Bailey, Diamond Lake, Diamond Peak, Red Cone, Pumice Desert and Mt. Thielsen are spread out in remarkable clarity. The tremendous dike, the Devils’ Backbone is visited and the more venturesome in each party get the exquisite thrill of leaning over the very crest and looking down upon the lake. The glacial polish, chatter mark and striae, showing us the sculpturing action the work ice played in developing the present configuration of the rim slopes are visited. The stop at the North Entrance Ranger Station offers an opportunity to observe the contact of the lava flow of Llao Rock and its base, a glacial valley. The splendid portrayal of vegetative life zones is well shown at many places on the drive, particularly around the base of Llao Rock and on the way to Mazama Rock, where fractured surfaces show shearing and slicken-slide activity.

The caravan does not stop at Pumice Point, Palisade Point or the Wine Glass but the visitors have the opportunity of splendid views of the lake surface and Rim Area from these places as they drive along.

Skell Head affords a marvelous view, one that is equally entrancing regardless as to whether the time is early in the morning with oblique rays to the observers back, midday with marvelous reflections appearing around the north side of the Rim, or late in the afternoon with the beautiful colors of a receding sun tinting the panorama. Cloud Cap is another point of vantage for the caravan to pause and there get the first vivid pictures of the Phantom Ship. Probably the most impressive view of the entire tour is obtained by those who make the climb down to Sentinel Point. The Red Castle Formation, along the side of Cloud Cap with its turreted forms of variegated colors, are visible as well as the Phantom Ship, Dutton Cliff, Applegate and Garfield Peaks as well as Kerr and Sun Notches.

The last stop on the caravan tour at Kerr Notch affords the intriguing view of “The Ship” and then the group proceeds at their own leisure.

 Wizard Island Exploration

This season we have inaugurated a visitation to Wizard Island under the guidance of a Naturalist. The Cinder Cone is ascended, the crater explored and then, after the descent, the party goes out over a new trail on the rugged cinder slope and when the trail is extended a visit to the fascinating Witch’s Pool will be made. The visitors making the trip to Wizard Island also make connections with the last boat in the afternoon which reverses the normal course and picks up the ones who have explored the island to take them through Skell’s Channel, close to the base of the Devil’s Backbone, and across the center of the lake to the Phantom Ship.

The guide trips of previous years, the Rim Walk and the Garfield Hike are also being enjoyed by many.

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