If you’re lucky enough to visit on a clear day, the first thing you’ll notice about Crater Lake is likely its brilliant blue water. In addition to being the deepest lake in the country, it’s also one of the purest. All the water that fills the caldera comes from snow and rain, with no streams flowing into the lake. This means the water is clean and clear, showing off that dazzling azure hue on sunny summer days.

Situated just east of the rim, the 8,929-foot summit of Mt Scott marks the park's high point and offers sweeping panoramas of the Cascades. A fire tower stands on the peak, offering shade to hikers on sunny summer days. It's a strenuous hike to the top of Mt Scott, but the views of the caldera and Crater Lake are incomparable.

Plunging 115 feet down the southern slopes of the caldera, Vidae Falls is the most easily-accessed waterfall in the park. The East Rim Drive goes right past it, offering great views of this picturesque cascade. A nearby picnic area invites you to linger a bit longer by the falls.

Phantom Ship is the smaller of the two islands that break the surface of Crater Lake, but don't let the distant view deceive you. The island is 500 feet long and 170 feet high with fully grown trees clinging to its rocky surface. Those rocks are the oldest in the lake basin, too, dated at over 400,000 years old.

These curious spires loom above Wheeler Creek near the park's eastern boundary where they can be admired from the Pinnacles Overlook at the end of the road. Formed by the action of gas escaping fumaroles during the final eruption of Mt Mazama, the Pinnacles have been exposed over the millennia by the erosive forces of wind and water.

A steep but rewarding 2/3-mile hike will lead you to the summit of The Watchman and its spectacular views above Wizard Island. A fire tower stands atop the summit, and visitors can walk around the base taking in the magnificent scenery. On clear days, the views stretch all the way south to Mt Shasta in California.

This is the only spot where visitors are permitted to access the lakeshore, and it's well worth the hike down to the water's edge to see the lake from a different perspective. Be mindful, though, that each step down is a step you'll have to take back up to return to the trailhead. In summer, boat tours depart from the docks here, bound for Wizard Island or a circuit of the lake.

Vibrant orange towers jut out from the interior rim on the east side of the lake, roughly 1,300 feet above the water's surface. Take in the view from the Pumice Castle overlook on the East Rim Drive, with Cloudcap rising above the turrets and Mt Thielsen looming in the distance beyond the park's northern boundary.

The towering cliff face of Llao Rock is particularly conspicuous from viewpoints along the southern and western portions of Crater Lake's rim, and this massive wall of dacite tops out nearly 2,000 feet above the blue water below. The name "Llao" is a reference to the Klamath deity of the underworld whose battle with Skell, the god of the sky, provided the legendary basis for eruption of Mt Mazama and the creation of Crater Lake.

A crater within a crater! Witches Cauldron is the summit crater on Wizard Island, which is itself the largest island in Crater Lake. Wizard Island was formed by a later eruption after the lake had already begun to fill, and now it can be visited via boat tours in summer. A trail leads from the dock to the summit where you can descend into the Witches Cauldron and stand within a crater with no view of the lake that surrounds you on all sides.