Sight · Crater Lake National Park
A quick look down to Cleetwood Cove from the East Rim
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Crater Lake Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Crater Lake National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Crater Lake audio tourRecorded for this place
Palisades Overlook“You're approaching Palisades Overlook, a roadside view down toward Cleetwood Cove and across the lake. Stop here for the cove's setting without taking the trail down to the water.”
Plays as you drive up to Palisades Overlook in the Parkwolf Crater Lake Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Palisades Overlook is a low-walled roadside viewpoint on East Rim Drive, above Cleetwood Cove on Crater Lake's east shore. It gives you a view down into the cove and across the lake. If you want the cove's setting without making it a separate trail outing, this is a simple place to pause.
Look down toward Cleetwood Cove, then follow the rim for Llao Rock, Hillman Peak, The Watchman and Garfield Peak. Crater Lake Lodge and Sinnott Memorial are small on the far shore, so binoculars help.
For a photo, keep some of the low stone wall at the edge of the frame and let the lake and rim fill the rest. The wall gives the view a foreground and shows how close you are to the rim.
Palisade Point itself is a thick sheet of andesite resting on glacial deposits left as Mount Mazama grew. Deep fissures cut the rock, and the lava's cooling joints change from close, curved lines higher up to wider-spaced columns below. Near the base, the lava is dark, glassy and broken; rounded inclusions reach about a foot long.
Wildlife
16 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
178 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
26 sightingsCommon RavenMost seen around 9 AMSighting map
33 sightingsTurkey VultureMost seen around 1 PMSighting map
47 sightingsRed-tailed HawkMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
71 sightingsCascades FrogMost seen around 5 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Crater Lake. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ChallengingCleetwood Cove Trail2.2 mi · 2.5 hr · 1 mi awayA rare walk to the water, with a serious climb back out.
ChallengingMount Scott Trail4.4 mi · 3 hr · 3.5 mi awayClimb for the park’s only full-lake view.
ChallengingBald Crater Loop Trail20.3 mi · 11 hr · 3.8 mi awayA 20-mile PCT approach to a rolling loop and fragile wetland.
ModerateRed Cone Trail7.2 mi · 3 hr · 3.8 mi awayA long, exposed walk through burned ground north of Red Cone.
EasyPlaikni Falls Trail2 mi · 1 hr · 4.8 mi awayA gentle forest walk to a waterfall, with a brief final climb.
ModerateWizard Island Summit Trail2.4 mi · 1.5 hr · 4.8 mi awayA steep volcanic climb to a crater above the lake.
EasyFumarole Bay Trail1.5 mi · 1 hr · 4.8 mi awayA rocky Wizard Island shore walk to a clear, shallow bay.Sight · 0.6 mi awayCleetwood CoveOnly legal shore access, with a strenuous climb back out.
Scenic pullout · 1.5 mi awayGrotto Cove OverlooksTwo roadside overlooks where the view reaches past the rim to Thielsen.
Picnic area · 1.7 mi awayPumice Point Picnic AreaA table stop to break up the north Rim Drive.
Scenic pullout · 1.8 mi awaySkell Head OverlookA roadside lake view with a glacial oddity in the rock.
Scenic pullout · 1.9 mi awayPumice Point OverlookA white pumice cliff adds a geology stop to the rim drive.
Picnic area · 2.5 mi awaySteel Bay Picnic AreaAn easy picnic break above Steel Bay on the north rim.
Sight · 2.7 mi awayCloudcap OverlookA high east-rim pullout with a sweeping view into the caldera.
Sight · 3.1 mi awayPumice Castle OverlookAn orange pumice castle breaks up the dark caldera wall.Parkwolf’s Crater Lake ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
