Chasing a Breathtaking Sunrise at Crater Lake

I don’t mean to be pushy, but, I insist you put this on your bucket list. This is the story of how I saw possibly the most beautiful thing I’ve witnessed in my life. It was just me, the wind, the sunrise, and the whole of Crater Lake National Park. This tale is from when I was road tripping around the States solo, visiting as many national parks as I could. I was living out my car and staying primarily in hotel Walmarts (Walmart parking lots).

The Hotel Walmart Hack

The night before I had rolled up to Walmart in Bend, Oregon only to be met by something I’d not experienced in the other Hotel Walmart’s… Signs saying no overnight parking. I’m talking A LOT of signs. Even a few hand-written signs. So, I came up with the genius plan of not actually staying ‘over night’- only staying part of the night and leaving at 2:30am to go catch sunrise at Crater Lake National Park. That counts as not overnight, right?

It took about 3 minutes of planning (me googling how long the route would take and figuring out what time I should wake up) then I was off to bed in the car at 9pm. Yes, it was still light out. One of my all time favourite things about getting ready for bed at Walmart is that you can enter Walmart in your pajamas and fit right in with other Walmart people.

Hitting The Road

I woke up at 2:20am, not at all tired just ready to go. My night had consisted of one of those fitful sleeps where you wake up every hour panicking you’ve missed your alarm- I was just too excited. I was on the road by 2:30 with a just under three-hour drive ahead of me.

The majority of the route over was 65 mph speed limit but when you’ve covered a fair amount of road in the US and you’ve seen as much roadkill as I had, you’re hesitant to go to fast. I passed a bunch of deer, including one or two on the road in front of me that I carefully navigated round so as not to create more roadkill/ injure Carly (my car). From driving in the country roads back home in the UK, I know the rule that deer usually come in twos. So, if you can see one on the side of the road/ just crossed the road you need to be aware of where the other one may be.

I’ve got to say if you want to see a wide range of the wildlife species the States has to offer, and you don’t care whether they’re alive or dead you should drive across the country. I’ve seen animals I’ve never seen before- but lying on the side of the road so that’s not great.

Anyway, so I drove for hours in the dark, not hitting any wildlife, and eventually getting to Crater Lake National Park around 4:50am. I drove up the winding road in the park to the viewpoint as it was beginning to get light. I reached the lodge at the top and the parking spaces next to a wall of snow at just the right time. I had not expected this much snow, I’m not sure why as some of the mountain passes I’d hit in Wyoming were still coated in slowly melting snow. If I’m honest, I hadn’t done a ton of research on Crater Lake. Basically, I just knew where it was and what it looked like. I didn’t know this car park I was headed to was over 7000ft above sea level.

I also wrote this: The Most Magical Photo Spots In Grand Teton National Park

Where The Magic Happens

I parked up, bundled up in my hat, scarf, gloves and ski jacket and ran up the snow bank to get a view of the lake. I was greeted by a fuschia pink scar in the sky just above the glowing orange horizon. That was just the beginning. I sat down on my jacket, grabbed my breakfast of granola clusters and watched the show.

The sunrise changed from a bright red to light shades of orange and blue that were reflected in the expanse of the lake in front of me. The light shades of gray and blue cloud that reflected in the lake looked like mist and it was hard to tell where the lake ended and the sky began. Then eventually the sun burst through the cloud warming up my face and casting an orange glow in the snow that descended down to the lake. With the sun out the lake began to glitter and sparkle orange. The extra light illuminated the wind patterns on the lake adding an extra dimension to the dynamic landscape I was watching.

At this point my butt was freezing from the snow, I needed to pee, and I was pretty tired. The show was over for now. All the trails in Crater Lake were still closed because of the snow so there was little point hanging around waiting for full daylight. I decided to leave the view so that Crater Lake at sunrise would be my lasting memory of the place. I drove down to the village at the entrance of the park, found a parking spot in the empty lot (it was 6am) and napped for 3hours.