About the Trail

Union Peak Trail is located south west of Crater Lake. It is 7698 feet above sea level. The trail is about 14 miles round trip. If you are driving from the south you will see Union Peak soon after you pass Klamath Falls, Oregon. To reach the peak, you take a junction off of the Pacific Crest Trail after about 3 miles. This is very much a backcountry trail and a permit is required.

Trail Description- 6/27/2008

Tiff and I left Redding, California at around 7:00am and started our journey to Crater Lake National Park. We had planed on doing Rae Lakes Loop this weekend but due to the smoke from all the fires we headed north to Oregon.

We arrived at the visitors center at Crater Lake around 10:30am to get our backcountry permit. The workers asked us which trail we were planning on doing and were a little surprised to hear we planned to do Union Peak. They asked, "Do you have an ice axe? Crampons? Snow shoes? GPS? Compass and a Topo Map?" All of which we replied no, except to the compass and topo map. Apparently we were the first to head towards the peak this season and there was still a lot of snow on the ground. None the less the workers were very helpful and gave us a few tips about the trail. One concern already was that the sign that marks the junction for the Union Peak Trail with the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) was knocked down or still covered in snow. We bought a topographic map and were directed to talk to the rangers to get the backcountry permit. The rangers had all the same concerns as the visitor center workers and took down all of our information before they issued the permit. We gave a detailed listing of everything we had in our packs, what color they were, what color our tent was, what color our bivy sacks were, where we would park, and what color underwear I had on (just joking about the underwear but the list was pretty detailed). After receiving our permit we headed out to the trail head.

The trail head is right off Hwy 62 where the PCT crosses it. The trail head and surrounding area was covered in snow and we could not see the trail at all. Fortunately the PCT is marked by blue reflective diamonds about every hundred feet all along the trail. We followed these markers for about 4-5 miles.

The trail sign for the junction of the Union Peak trail and the PCT was either knocked down or covered with snow or the snow was so high it covered it, I'm not sure. Either way we did not see the sign and missed the turn off. At this point we had not seen the peak since starting the trail and were hoping to get a glimpse to give us an idea how far we had missed the junction by. We knew by looking at the map which direction the peak should be but knowing that we had missed the junction already (based on the terrain in comparison with the topo map) we needed to know how far we missed it by. While staying on the PCT would be fun, we were not prepared to hike to Castle Crags that day. Soon after this thought we got our first glimpse of Union Peak from the PCT (see photo to the right). I set a bearing on the compass and we left the PCT and made our own path to Union Peak. It took us 52 minutes from the PCT to the base of the peak (yes, I timed it). At the peak we realized two things. First, it was really steep. Second, the trail was under snow so we were going to have to just rock climb our way to the top.

We headed up to the top (packs on) still on our quest to see the Crater Lake from the top of Union Peak (trails.com said you could see the lake from the top that's why I picked this hike). The going was tough and there were several precarious parts I did not think Tiff was going to make it up since I had some tough reaches and I am 8 inches taller then her. She must have over active adrenal glands pumping out testosterone because she made it all the way up.

Let me be the first to correct Trails.com. YOU CAN'T SEE CRATER LAKE FROM THE TOP OF UNION PEAK! Much to our dismay, although the view was great, there was no view of Crater lake. You could however see the Klamath Basin, Klamath Lake, Mt. McLaughlin, Mt. Scott, Diamond Peak, and several other mountains. The plan originally was to camp one night after we got to the summit Union peak but we decided instead to head back the same day. It would have taken longer to go back the way we came so I pulled out the topo map and set a bearing on the compass to intersect with the PCT. We held this line for about 2 hours, going over snow banks, sliding down snow covered hills, and running from mosquitoes. We ran into the PCT and followed it the rest of the way up to where we parked the car. This was great practice using the compass!

We camped that night at Mazama Village and ate dinner at the Lodge in Rim Village. Steak and mashed potatoes sounded better then the Pasta Roni we bought as backpacking food. We slept really well that night. Trekking through snow all day was pretty tiring without snow shoes. The next morning (after sleeping in) we got up, ate breakfast and went to see Crater lake and do the Cleetwood trail that leads to the water.

This was a really amazing backcountry experience that we will never forget.

-Click here to see more photos from the trail!