Crater Lake RV Park in Prospect, Oregon June 16-21, 2025

On Monday, June 16th, we left Bosch’s Big Bear RV Campground at 7:45 am and drove 4 1/2 hours to Crater Lake RV Park in Prospect, Oregon for a five-night stay.

A place we weren’t even supposed to be staying at.

Portals Of Discovery

James Joyce said, “Mistakes are the portals of discovery.”

My wife puts it more succinctly; “It’s an adventure!”

Cindy does all of our reservation booking and she is very, very good at keeping all the balls in the air at the same time. All I do is drive; she does all the logistical work. And there is a lot of it with a lot of moving pieces; sometimes a mistake takes place.

So, on Saturday the 14th when she went to check our upcoming reservation for the Crater Lake area, she realized that somehow she had booked our arrival date on what would be our departure date 5 days later. We could easily cancel the errant reservation without an issue. However, the immediate concern was that we had nowhere to stay for five nights beginning on the 16th.

She began calling around to see if we could find some availability at any parks near Crater Lake. Initially the nice lady who answered the phone at Crater Lake RV Park said they did not have any sites available that would fit our Nomad. But after hearing our tale of woe she offered to look at their upcoming arrivals and see what she could possibly do to fit us in. About 30 minutes later she called and said she had moved some incoming units to other sites in order to free up one that would hold Nomad for 5 nights.

We were, of course, very grateful.

Crater Lake RV Park

We arrived at about 12:30 pm, got checked in and had to let them follow their procedure and “guide” us to our site, even though it’s just a simple loop and I am literate enough to read site numbers on the ground at each site. But OK.

Then the gentleman insisted that he had to help guide me into the back-in site. Now, Cindy and I have been doing this for four years, usually every two weeks and sometimes more often. We have our walkie-talkies and we have our system that has served us well for those four years. I was not happy and pretty much ignored what he was saying so I could listen to Cindy on the walkie-talkie.

I really wanted to tell him to take a flying leap off the nearby Rogue Gorge, but since they had been kind enough to get us in at the last minute, I held my tongue.

Our site was an asphalt pad with water and electric hook-ups beneath several Douglas Fir and Cedar trees. Lots of birds serenaded us and chipmunks darted in and around the site. It was a very nice site. Closer to our neighbors than we prefer, but for last-minute accommodations not a deal breaker.

Elusive Overlook

One of the ladies in the park office told us about a trail we could hike from the campground that would take us to a wonderful river overlook, “…about a mile down the trail” so Tuesday morning we set out with Bella for a planned roundtrip two-mile hike.

We hiked and hiked, up and down, through rocks and tree roots for about two miles. We could hear the river and even see small portions of it through the heavy growth of trees. After two miles we decided we had somehow missed it (though we did encounter a woman hiking with her dog and she never found an overlook either) so we turned back and STILL never found the overlook during our trek back to the trail head.

I mentioned to Cindy that some people may have a different definition of “overlook” and we spent the remainder of the day relaxing and resting after a strenuous four-mile hike.

Crater Lake

Wednesday, June 18th, was our day to experience the Rim Drive at Crater Lake. We missed getting to visit Crater Lake last year, so we definitely wanted to enjoy it this year.

Driving up on the way to Crater Lake, we found snow banks still formed on the side of the road. Of course, we had to stop and go spend a few minutes playing in the snow. We didn’t stop to think we’d see even more snow up at the lake.

We also didn’t think that the line to get into the Crater Lake National Park would be SOOOOO long! I mean, we should have; we’ve experienced enough of these at other national parks, but I guess we were so excited about seeing it that it never entered our minds.

The name, “Crater Lake” makes you think that it was formed by a meteor impacting the earth and creating a crater, but it is actually a “Caldera”, a depression (aka crater) formed when an active volcano collapses in on itself. “Caldera Lake” would probably be more appropriate, but probably also wouldn’t have the same effect as “Crater Lake”, so we’ll agree to abide by the general consensus.

At its widest point, Crater Lake is 6.1 miles across and is 1,943 feet deep at its maximum depth. Your first sensation upon seeing it is just how wonderfully blue the water is in color. That is because the lake water is not fed from any rivers or streams, that would cloud the water, but only by rainfall and snow melt. Thus the water is some of the clearest in existence.

The depth of clarity is also a world record distance of 143 feet, which is measured by determining the lowest depth at which an 8-inch black and white “Secchi disk” can still be seen by the human eye.

And the lake is so startlingly blue because longer wavelengths of sunlight (red, yellow and green) are absorbed by the water. Blue light is NOT absorbed by water well. It strikes the water and is scattered and redirected back from the lake depths to our eyes.

And for you avid fishermen out there, there are only two species of our finned friends in Crater Lake; Kokanee Salmon and Rainbow Trout. Fishing IS allowed at Crater Lake, but only with artificial lures. No live bait.

The Rim Drive is about 33 miles around the lake, but this day we could only make our way along 8 miles of the drive before having to turn back. The rest of the road was closed due to snow blockages, so that was disappointing. Still, we managed to see the lake from several different perspectives along those 8 miles, as you can see in our photos and video.

Rogue Gorge, Natural Bridge, Mill Creek and Barr Creek Falls

Thursday we hiked along the Rogue Gorge where the Rogue River rushes through with unbelievable force and beauty. Further up along the gorge you can see the lava and rock beds that have formed and the water that flows along those beds. Some interesting formations have resulted from the water.

We stopped and took an opportunity to feel the cold water flowing through the lava beds and rocks, and, as you can see in the photos Cindy caught me falling off a rock as I started to stand up from sitting on it.

On the way to our next stop we ducked in to a restaurant that Cindy had seen many good reviews about. Our experience was nothing to write home about, at least not in a good way. Slowness of service, unavailability of menu items, and blandness of food made for a poor dining experience.

Then it was on to Natural Bridge. You’re not sure WHAT it’s naturally made of until you arrive and find that water flowing through tubes of lava left a natural rock and lava bridge. The water still flows today (from the Rogue River, like the Gorge) and makes it difficult when the water level is high to see the bridge from some angles along the hiking trail. But look carefully at the photos and video and you can see I tried to make sure you could see it as we did.

Finally, we finished our day by driving to the Mill Creek Falls Scenic Area and then hiking to view the Mill Creek and Barr Creek Falls. Another strenuous hike, but the views were worth it.

At the Barr Creek Falls viewpoint, I found that if I ventured out from the main viewing area to an outcropping of boulders and rocks that I could get a much better view of the waterfall. Cindy was sure I was going to plummet to my death, but as you can see (by both the selfie photo where I am waving to her back on the “safe” viewing area AND the fact that I am writing this blog), I managed to avoid taking a swan dive off the outcropping.

Friday was a day of rain, so we read and relaxed and got ready to leave Crater Lake RV Park on Saturday.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit Crater Lake National Park, you should definitely go and enjoy yourself. We did.

Thanks for following The Wandering Wetheringtons.

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