Our 7th hike on a 3+ week trip to Idaho. After spending a few days in and around Boise (inlcuding a visit to the Kitfox Factory), we headed towards home. To break up the drive, we spend 2 nights camping in Fish Lake in south central Utah.
The Drive In
Camping in the Macinaw Campground on the north shore of Fish Lake, we drove northeast to the head of the Lake and the trailhead for the Crater Lake and Johnson Reservoir Loop trail.
The Hike
Crater Lake Trail Hike.Pat.2021-07-13
The hike begins with a pleasant walk and nice trail across the lowlands above the lake. A quarter of a mile on, the trail begins an easy ascent, still in the open with a view 
down-valley of Fish Lake. After a climb of 300 feet (500 feet) the trail entered the aspen/fir forest and the terrain remained fairly level.
At 1.3 miles into the hike, the trail headed uphill at a steeper incline, for 500 feet where it entered an open area. 
We continued for another quarter mile across this open area to an overlook of Crater Lake. We stopped here for our mid-hike break/lunch, then returned to the trailhead. This made a quite pleasant hike, a break from the distance driving we faced getting back to Albuquerque.
Statistics
Total Distance: 4.05 miles
Elevation: start 8,869 ft, maximum 9,669 ft, minimum 8,844 ft
Gross gain: 825 ft. Aggregate ascending 1,011 ft, descending 1,011 ft
Maximum slope: 33% ascending, 40% descending, 8.9% average
Duration: 3:41
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32 Downloads |
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41 Downloads |
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If you haven’t explored these hiking tracks with Google Earth, I urge you to try it. With the virtual 3-dimensional presentation, achieved by panning and tilting the view, you can get a much better idea of the hikes and terrain than you can get from the screenshot above. For some ideas, check out Using Google Earth Track Files.
References and Resources
AllTrails: Crater Lake and Johnson Reservoir Loop
