Crater Lake Weekend Road Trip Adventure from Seattle

If you live in Seattle, Washington or nearby, a visit to magnificent Crater Lake National Park in Oregon might be the perfect weekend escape.

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I took the 417-mile trip from Seattle to Crater Lake in early October 2019. On Friday October 4^th after work, I left Seattle and drove to Portland, Oregon with a quick stop at a Kenyan restaurant in Federal Way, Washington where I linked up with girl friends for dinner. I had ugali, spinach, chicken curry stew, sausage and samosa. Yes, I know that’s a lot of food. What can I say, this girl can eat! Stuffed, I took some leftovers, ugali and kale to go.

I arrived in Portland at 12 midnight and checked in at the Inn at the Convention Center where I had reservations and it was close to the I-5 freeway. I appreciated that the receptionist waived the $12 parking fee. However, my room was very noisy because of the location of the hotel. So sadly, I won’t be staying there again.

Next morning, Saturday, October 5th, I woke up early and hit the road at 7 a.m. Drove from Portland, Oregon to Crater Lake. A 4 hour drive through Eugene with a stop at Chemult, Oregon for gas.

I arrived at the Crater Lake North entrance at 11 a.m. Drove clockwise from the northern entrance, east rim. I planned to hike several trails, but upon arrival my plans changed because it had snowed a few days prior. I chose to not hike on my visit to Crater Lake for three reasons. First, I don’t do to well in snow. I didn’t grow up seeing or playing in snow and even now, I still find myself intimated hiking in snow. Besides, I am an 80-degree weather kind of girl. And the thought of getting hurt in the woods could mean dying from the cold.

My second reason was time. By the time I had gone around the Crater Lake rim and on my second trailhead it was 3 in the afternoon, a bit late to start a hike. Typically, on a solo hike, I prefer finishing a hike no later than 1 or 2 p.m.

The third reason I chose not to go on a hike was out of safety concerns. If there’s anything to take away from this post, whenever you start questioning your safety, that’s a great point to turn around and go back to your car.

For most of my life I’ve been aware of my feelings and emotions in the moment. I must have walked 500 ft from the trailhead and then realized the trail was rather close to the edge and got narrower as one proceeded, which is typical of most trails.

If you’ve read about some of my previous hikes, you know I’m terrified of heights. Most people I’ve met and shared this with react by saying, “Yet you hike?” Yep! I just don’t let my fear keep me from doing things I enjoy. However, I’m also aware of my limits and how much I can push my body and mind. You might be wondering what I experience. My head starts spinning which makes the ground also appear to be spinning and I get dizzy. So, when I start feeling these signs, I stop and reevaluate what my body is communicating. In this instance, I chose not to proceed with the planned hiked at Crater Lake. Perhaps, another reason to revisit and explore more of Oregon’s only national park.

Instead of hiking that day, I choose to spend the rest of my afternoon exploring this beautiful lake. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States. Formed by a collapsed volcano 7,700 years ago, the lake is one of the most pristine in the world. I also stopped at the visitor center and bought a couple of gifts and then continued to my last stop at the Watchman lookout. By 4 p.m., I had explored all I wanted to see at Crater Lake.

I drove to Fort Klamath, a 30-minute drive south from Crater Lake where I had made reservations at the Aspen Inn motel. I really liked this motel compared to my last one. The room was spacious, clean and the bed was comfortable. Exhausted, I fell asleep at 8 p.m. and woke up at 6:30 in the morning. By 7 on Sunday morning, I was in my car and ready to drive back to Portland.

Being me, I spontaneously changed my route back to Portland in order to see a different part of Oregon. I decided to drive route 97 through Bend, Redmond, then through the Columbia River Gorge. I drove 5 hours straight to the Rowena Crest with a quick stop at Redmond to top off gas, stretch my legs and buy some water. Note, this is the only refreshment I bought on this road trip. I have learned the best way to save money on a road trip is to bring lots of food and water. I will be adding a link here later on of my list of foods and snacks I bring on a long road trip adventure.

In the meantime, here is a blog post of things to do before a road trip or hiking adventure.

As I drove along route 97 that turned into route 197, I was absolutely blown away by the beautiful landscape as far as the eye could see. After three hours of driving, I turned on the radio, not because I was tired or bored. I was unconsciously starting to ask myself tough questions that yielded answers that were hard to hear. You see, for the past few weeks, I found myself in a funk. One that I fought hard to shake off but couldn’t. I was experiencing all sort of emotions, such as feeling “alone,” not lonely but alone and being stuck. I was out of balance and my creativity was stalled.

Lately, I have been practicing digging deeper into my thoughts and feelings. So, on this solo weekend adventure I sought to find answers to why I was feeling alone by putting myself in that exact situation. Why was I uncomfortable being alone? What were some underlying fears beneath that feeling? One feeling, or should I say a fear, that kept coming up again and again was the anxiety of what’s next, a fear of failure and the unknown.

I admit I am not only afraid of heights, but I’m also terrified of driving on windy roads. I have always felt this way since I was young and on this road trip, I realized my fear seemed to be getting worse. As I drove the windy road, I started to feel my hands get sweaty and heart begin to race.

In my head, I could hear Mr. R’s voice whispering, “You are over thinking it. Your car can make it.” I could also hear my brother’s voice saying, don’t swerve, just smoothly lean in with the curve. I also had flashbacks of childhood stories I had heard where someone’s brakes didn’t work which caused an accident. These pre-conceived biases and thoughts kept me from trusting that I would be OK. So, I ask you my dear reader, what notions in life or past experiences are holding you back from your progress?

The lesson I learned by the end of this windy adventure was to trust that things will still be okay beyond the curve. I also found this solo road trip to be a helpful way to go through feelings of stress. Which leads me to ask, how do you deal with or manage stress? Are you like me ready for a solo trip, or prefer to stay in a dark room or to sleep? Feel free to offer some other suggestions.

To continue the road trip, I arrived at Rowena Crest viewpoint at 12:30 p.m., explored and took pictures then back on the road.

Tired and needing to get my body moving, I took a detour and decided to hike Mirror Lake. It’s not a complete road trip adventure for Irine without some hiking adventure. And, oh was I happy to be in nature. The drive with the view of Mt. Hood was spectacular. My legs had started to swell a bit and a colleague of mine recently told me “motion is lotion to your body.” The trail head is on the main highway you just need to be careful not to miss your turn.

Mirror Lake reminded me of Picture Lake in Mt. Baker National Forest in Washington State. Highly recommend Mirror Lake even for families, it’s only a 3.7 mile total. I started hiking at 2 in the afternoon and completed the hike at 3:40, a one hour and 40 minute total.

Still energized with an hour to spare, I decided to stop at Multnomah Falls, only a 23- minute detour from the downtown Portland hotel where I would be staying . I arrived at the Falls at 5 p.m., took a couple pictures and hiked to the top of the falls, 2.4 miles total.

Left the falls and drove to downtown Portland to spend the night at the WorldMark Portland, Waterfront Park. Checked in at 7 p.m., took a long shower, had dinner and went to sleep as I was dead tired. Talk of a long exciting and adventurous 12-hour day.

The following morning, Monday 10-07-2019 I woke up 3:30 a.m., was in my car by 4, and drove back to Seattle. Made good time considering it was a Monday morning during rush hour. I arrived in downtown Seattle at 7 a.m., took an hour nap then went to work at 8:45 a.m. And there you have it my dear friend, a weekend road trip adventure from Seattle to Crater Lake National Park.

Hikes that I would like to go on my next visit to Crater Lake National Park:

1. Discovery Point Trail-Sunrise 4 Miles
2. The Watchman Peak –Sunset 1.6 Miles
3. Garfield Peak Trail- 3.4 Miles
4. Mount Scott Trail- 4.2 Miles for sky high views of the lake
5. Cleetwood Cove Trail 2.1 Miles

Credit to National Park Service for these two map pictures. Feel free to check the website for more additional information.