Vidae Falls

Crater Lake National Park / Klamath County, Oregon, USA
Rating: 2     Difficulty: 1 Vidae Falls was perhaps the main waterfall attraction in Crater Lake National Park. Granted, waterfalls weren't exactly what we came to Crater Lake for, but the falls gave us the waterfalling excuse we needed to be stoked about our trip to the National Park for the first time. The falls was very easy to visit as it was right off a roadside pullout with an identifying signpost nearby the scree slope at the base of the falls.

The falls itself was actually a tumbling cascade. There were some wildflowers in bloom when we were there adding a little color to the scene. However, it seemed its best flow would probably be in the June or July timeframe as most of the lower parts of the falls were flowing beneath the loose scree instead of above.

The position of the falls was kind of a bit of a paradox as it was not too far downslope of the peak of what was left of Mt Mazama. Usually waterfalls don't exist that close to a summit, especially as there was no river nor conventional drainage feeding this falls, which left us wondering where the water came from?

We suspected that the springs responsible for this falls was from snow accumulations and other precipitation that managed to seep into some of the more porous parts of the volcano's caldera. That aquifer might have also tapped from Crater Lake itself (though we're not totally sure about that assertion). In any case, it seemed like this waterfall had a year-round flow given that it had fairly significant flow this late into the Summer (we were there in late August).

Directions: Vidae Falls sits to the southeast side of the lake along the Rim Drive roughly 6 miles east of Rim Village. It's just minutes before one of the Phantom Ship parking areas (the one requiring a 1/4-mile walk to view the protruding rock attraction surrounded by the sapphire blue lake).




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PHOTO JOURNAL

Our first angled look at the falls

More direct look at the falls with someone scrambling in front of it for a sense of scale


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VIDEOS OF THE FALLS

Bottom up sweep from a spot closer to the falls itself


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MAP OF THE FALLS

View Larger Map




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TRIP REPORTS

For more information about our experiences with this waterfall, check out the following travel stories.

• August 21, 2009

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GUIDEBOOKS / OTHER RESOURCES

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NEARBY WATERFALLS

• Watson Falls

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