I have a mental bucket list of hikes and snowshoes I want to do in my lifetime with a snowshoe loop around Crater Lake being one of them. Ever since hiking to this national park on the Pacific Crest Trail, I always said I would come back to do a circumnavigation during the winter months. Every year I tell myself I will make it down to Oregon before the snow melts but it hasn’t happened.
Now mind you it is a 33 mile loop at 7,000 feet of elevation and really takes 2-3 days at least. But when we were making a road trip loop through Oregon last November, I set my sights on stopping by the park and at least getting a few miles in no matter what.
The weather was not in our favor, of course, so when we got to the park it was completely socked in. This didn’t seem to deter too many other people, there were more than a few outdoor enthusiasts out enjoying the snow around the rim when we arrived.
Not to be deterred from my dream, we got out and donned snowshoes despite the knowledge there would be no view of the lake. It was a start, right? Like a promise ring of sorts to my commitment to one day make the whole trip.
Our trek consisted mostly of leaving the parking lot on the far side of café and gift shop, coming around on the west side to the viewpoint near the Sinnott Memorial Viewpoint and then making our way counter clockwise along the rim on the trail towards Castle Crest and Garfield Peak for a 1.6 mile trip.
In case you have never been, this is what it should look like…
and this is what we were blessed with:
But any day outdoors is a good day.
The hardest part of the journey was the fact that my husband had never been to Crater Lake and thus did not know how much it dropped off dramatically down to the water’s level. He was venturing much closer to the edge than I ever would, at a few points I couldn’t even watch for fear of a cornice breaking off. I can be a worry wart like that.
We eventually ran out of tracks to follow and a warm spot in Bend was calling my name, so we turned around after about an hour of tromping through the snow. I was a little disappointed to not get in a few more miles but I knew this was just a nibble of what truly marking this snowshoe off my bucket list would be like.
Don’t worry Crater Lake, I am coming back for you some day!
Have you ever had to settle for a small piece of a dream or bucket list? Were you able to to go back and finish it eventually? Tell me in the comments below!
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