Crater Lake Rim Drive

Driving

by Plot Along: Cascades

The 33-mile loop encircling Crater Lake, the centerpiece of Crater Lake National Park in southern Oregon. The lake fills the caldera of Mount Mazama, a stratovolcano that collapsed in a catastrophic eruption ~7,700 years ago. At 1,943 feet deep, it is the deepest lake in the United States and one of the deepest in the world.

The rim road climbs to 7,800 feet at its high points and provides over thirty named viewpoints onto the lake and its two cinder-cone islands, Wizard Island and Phantom Ship. Counterclockwise traversal starts from Park Headquarters on the south rim, runs west through Discovery Point and Watchman, crosses the north rim past Merriam Point, and returns along the east rim past Cloudcap and Phantom Ship Overlook.

The full loop is open from approximately mid-July through October, depending on snowpack and plowing. The south-rim section to the village stays open year-round.

Learn more: nps.gov

Park Headquarters
The south-rim hub, with visitor info, restrooms, and the year-round gateway into the park.
Sinnott Memorial
1931 stone observation platform set into the caldera wall just below Rim Village, with interpretive plaques and a large relief model of the lake. Crater Lake's most-visited viewpoint.
Discovery Point
The rim spot from which prospector John Wesley Hillman first sighted the lake in 1853.
The Watchman
8,013-ft peak on the west rim with a 1933 stone fire lookout at the summit. A 0.8-mile trail from the road climbs to the lookout, the best on-foot view of Wizard Island in the park.
Watchman Overlook
Drive-up viewpoint at the base of The Watchman with a direct view down onto Wizard Island.
Merriam Point
North-rim overlook above the widest stretch of the caldera. Named for biologist C. Hart Merriam, founder of the National Geographic Society.
Skell Head
North-rim promontory named for a Klamath sky god, with views of Wizard Island and the steep face of Llao Rock.
Cloudcap
High overlook on the east rim at 7,900 ft, often the first vantage to be in the clouds when weather comes in.
Pumice Castle Overlook
View of an exposed orange-tan pumice formation eroded into a castle-like shape on the caldera wall, a remnant of the eruption that created the caldera.
Victor View
East-rim viewpoint with a long-distance look across the lake toward Phantom Ship.
Kerr Notch
The road's lowest crossing of the rim. Sand and Wheeler creeks cut a deep U-shaped glacial canyon down to the east here.
Phantom Ship Overlook
Best view of the small island near the south rim that resembles a sailing ship. The island is the oldest exposed rock in the caldera at about 400,000 years old.

Park Headquarters

Sinnott Memorial

Discovery Point

The Watchman

Watchman Overlook

Merriam Point

Skell Head

Cloudcap

Pumice Castle Overlook

Victor View

Kerr Notch

Phantom Ship Overlook