This spot was only about 10 minutes away from where were were coming from but it was a lot higher in the mountains and significantly more cloudy. Instead of being below the cloud line like we had been, we were now in the thick of it.
We parked our car in the large lot next to the hike entrance and began our walk over to the viewing platform. It was a little busy with tourists but there was actually a decent amount of parking for the area so we didn't have a problem finding a spot.
The hike took about 10-15 minutes each way but it was an easy jaunt, mainly on a smooth and well groomed path that went through the woods.
The last 1/3 of the walk is where my photos begin in this post. That part was a little more rustic and a little more interesting to take pictures of.
It followed a dirt path along the side of a large foot hill and had a wooden railing on one side for some additional protection, though you didn't really need it. There wasn't really a chance of falling over the side.
There was some uphill walking along the way but it was minimal, so overall I would say that the hike was very accessible for anyone without mobility issues.
The clouds that day were pretty unfortunate for us in terms of seeing any views. They created a dense fog that limited our visibility of the surrounding landscape.
On a clear day the whole area would be open with views of the craters below and the lakes and valleys and fields. Photos online looked really nice when I researched it.
I would recommend looking up the site if you are considering whether or not to check out the location.
The view from here seems like they would be spectacular on a clear day and certainly much better than what I'm showing in this post.
When we arrived at the end of the path there was a group of people standing there patiently waiting for an opening to appear in the clouds.
It looked like they had been waiting there for quite some time with their camera propped up and at the ready. It wasn't a bad idea to just wait it out. The clouds were moving quickly and it wasn't very crowded so I followed suit.
We waited for good 5-10 minutes staring at a dense wall of fog intermixed with shadows and poorly visible landscape. Like I said, the clouds and fog were continuously moving with the wind and eventually they started to thin. Things began to look a little more promising at that point and soon after the large water filled crater below came into view. At the peak of our visibility everyone on the platform started snapping photos.
The full visibility didn't last long but I managed to get a couple of decent shots of the full crater.
We paused there for a few more brief moments and then turned around and headed back to our car. The cloud cover was a little less dense on the way back so I took a few more photos along the path in both directions.
I've intermixed the photos throughout the post. You might have noticed the change in direction.
We weren't that lucky with the weather that day but we at least got a partial view of the what we went there to see. The full round trip hike probably took us 45 minutes in total. So given that it was relatively short I thought that it was worth it overall.
