(Original Name was “Crater Lake Circumnavigation w/ 7 High Points"; changed 6/6/2020).
Established by Winston Mueller and Jason Hardrath in 2018 to circumnavigate one of the most beautiful lakes in the world.
Choose any starting point so long as you finish where you start and tag all 7 high points. Route involves some route finding and many epic views. The high points provide perspectives of the lake few ever see.
Llao Rock, Hillman Peak, The Watchman, Garfield Peak, Applegate Peak, Dutton Cliffs, and Cloudcap Peak are your checkpoints of the day. Use as much or little of the Crater Lake Rim Drive as suits you in your effort.
You will spend the day bouncing between 6000’ and 8000’, if you live low, it tends to become a factor towards the end of the day.
There is sometimes water (or snow) available along the route (some report at the bottom of Applegate peak), but it is a safe bet (if you are going unsupported) to carry start to finish. There are many great places to cache supplies if going self-supported.
Winston adds: "Our [original gpx] beta for downclimbing the back of the Dutton Cliff is dis-recommended."
27-29 miles depending on the line you take
~ 7500’ of vert
Good luck! Enjoy the views!
Due to the unique “choose our own adventure” style of this FKT route, a group of the first FKT holders chose to jump on a zoom call during the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020 to chat about their experiences and advice for future attempts over beers. There are nuggets of beta and entertaining stories throughout, enjoy that here:
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNQ-ILPbDEs
Audio: https://bit.ly/3dkT7DM
- Submitted by Jason Hardrath
Comments
Here is a more current route write up for the Crater Lake Rim High Route:
Started at 7am with adventure bud @joohm counter clockwise from cloud cap. Beta was solid. Shoes were indeed super full of pumice sand within minutes. Hillman was just as steep as it looked - from where we gave up. Tempted to stop for a swim at cleetwood. If we’d known that the hill after Garfield we going to be that steep would have bailed and swam back. Chicken wing cravings diverted us from the official route. Found a friendly mini van driver to get us back. Two beers in it still feels like the right decision. Great day.