Crater Lake National Park: Cleetwood Cove Trail (Blog Hike #872)

Trail: Cleetwood Cove Trail
Hike Location: Crater Lake National Park
Geographic Location: north rim of Crater Lake, OR (42.97975, -122.08324)
Length: 2.2 miles
Difficulty: 9/10 (Difficult)
Date Hiked: July 2021
Overview: A persistently steep out-and-back to the shore of Crater Lake.
Park Information: https://www.nps.gov/crla/index.htm
Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=881164
Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: 

Directions to the trailhead: From Crater Lake National Park's north entrance, drive the entrance road south 8.4 miles to the intersection of the park's East Rim Drive and West Rim Drive.  Turn left to begin East Rim Dr.  Take East Rim Dr. 4.5 miles to the large parking lot for the Cleetwood Cove Trail on the left.  The trail starts at the signed trailhead to the south across the road.

The hike: For my general comments on Crater Lake National Park, see my hike on the park's Discovery Point Trail.  The Cleetwood Cove Trail described here is the only trail that leads down to the shore of Crater Lake.  Though the trail is persistently steep, the well-engineered grade makes it doable for most people in decent physical condition.  Thus, the trail is quite popular, and in spite of the large parking lot, you want to get here early in the morning to make sure you can find a parking space.

Cleetwood Cove Trailhead

            Start by walking across East Rim Drive to find the signed trailhead for the Cleetwood Cove Trail.  When I hiked this trail, a park ranger stationed here informed visitors about the difficulty of this trail and inspected for items such as inflatable rafts and floatation aids that are illegal to use in Crater Lake.  The wide dirt trail uses 4 switchbacks to begin its seemingly endless descent.  Crater Lake can be seen through the trees for the entire descent, so in fact you can use your closeness to the lake to see how much further down you have to go.

Mount Scott across Crater Lake

            After the initial switchbacks comes a long straight stretch with the lake to your left and the steep crater wall on your right.  A few benches are better put to use on the climb back up than on the way down.  At 0.6 miles, the long straight stretch ends when the trail switches back to the left.  If you look downhill to the right here, you can see the boat dock on Crater Lake that is this trail's final destination.

Descending toward Crater Lake

            3 more switchbacks take you down through a particularly unstable section of the crater's wall.  Signs warn of falling rocks, and even the scurrying of small chipmunks sent pebbles and clods of dirt tumbling down the hill.  Although I worried about a landslide occurring above me, I made it through this area without incident.

Wizard Island in Crater Lake

Park boat dock on Crater Lake

Mount Scott over Crater Lake

            The final descent is the steepest, and at 1.1 miles you reach the park's boat dock.  Continuing a short distance leads to a cliff from which diving into the lake is permitted.  Crater Lake's water is cold even in the summer, so most people only swim or dive here for a short period of time.  Also, sometimes park boats take visitors over to Wizard Island, but there were no boat tours on the day I came here.  Thus, after enjoying the lake-level views for a few minutes, I huffed-and-puffed my way back up the Cleetwood Cove Trail to return to the parking lot and complete the hike.