Crater Rim Trail

From the junction with the Lower Ridge Trail, the Crater Rim Trail turns west through scrubby brush and crosses a small scree slope. Start up the ridgeline where the steepness increases and the surface is rooty and rocky. This surreal, moss-covered hillside is otherworldly and the breezes refreshing. Steep switchbacks and the increasingly skinny path keep you alert and keep the heart pumping. Peek-a-boo views improve the further you go. Soon, the gradient eases considerably along the top of the hill and the forest opens up into a pleasant wooded landscape. Trend downhill off the nose of the ridge heading south. At a signed trail junction, stay on the Crater Rim Trail that contours along the flank of the hillside eventually reaching the eastern shore of Loggers Lake. As the info board next to the lake explains: Logger's Lake sits inside a volcanic crater, the cone of which rose up through glacial ice 10,000 years ago. As the lava cooled, it created the columns of basalt rock outcroppings that you can still see on the hillsides above the lake.