Crater Lake & Lassen Volcanic National Parks
The end of summer 2026 gave us the unexpected opportunity to take a couple of short detours to two national parks that are a bit off the beaten path. Crater Lake NP is the only national park in Oregon and is about 4 hours south of Portland. Crater Lake was stunning and totally worth the detour we took. The photos don’t do justice to the blue of the lake (though they came closer than I expected!):
The crater was formed by a volcanic eruption that happened 7,700 years ago, leaving a big hole in former 12,000ft Mount Mazama. Since the basin was not connected to any other bodies of water, the lake was created by centuries of rain and snow. It’s also why the water is so clear - no sediment accumulating from other bodies of water. And, it’s the deepest lake in the US!
There were these great turnouts - we stopped at almost all of them to take photos. I liked looking at the edges of the lake - not a lot of space between the water and the shore. A closeup of the shore. Another turnout - the green cliff was interesting. Looking away from the lake - this view was also pretty. This dead tree spoke to me somehow. Met one of the locals.
Islands in the lake:
Wizard Island is the largest and is actually a cinder cone that formed when the original volcano erupted. There’s another hidden volcano under the lake surface. Another popular island is the Phantom Ship - see if you also think that’s what it looks like.
The Phantom Ship. SPOOOOOKY The two sides of Wizard Island.
Lassen Volcanic National Park was not as striking as Crater Lake, but was definitely worth the visit. It’s located in the middle of the northern most part of California, a couple of hours south of Mount Shasta.
This is my favorite photo from Lassen - the park has a lot of different aspects and this photo captures a bunch of them. Pretty forests and lakes, with winding roads that travel way up into the mountains. I took this photo at around 8500 ft - can you see the multiple winding parts of the road? And the lake in the distance? Just about the only major feature you can’t see from here are the volcanic areas, which fill parts of the park. In fact, this photo was taken from the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway that happens to extend from Lassen to……Crater Lake! Plot twist! We had no idea and visited both within a very short time.
More lake views, more mountains and windy roads, and the top of the mountain that leads to Bumpass Hell Pass. Bumpass is one of the primary geothermally active parts of the park and is quite the interesting trail. We ended up not having time for the hike, but we had a lovely lunch on our way out of the park with amazing views of the mountains.
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