By this time Thomson had given up his earlier idea for a trail up Llao Rock, one that might culminate with a fenced platform located some 2,000 feet directly above the lake. He thought it could be a “Mecca” for visitors, made accessible by walking a few hundred yards from the Rim Road, and an attraction that could “hold tourists for a while: too many now come, take a look at the Lake and depart.”64 In his earlier refusal of the $1,600 initially requested by Steel for a trail down Kerr Notch, Thomson explained that such a development will not be used “except by the very few who might come in the East entrance, go down to the water’s edge at the proposed trail, climb back in their cars and depart without seeing the Lodge, the Garden of the Gods [Godfrey Glen] or anything else.” He also doubted that the view obtained of the Phantom Ship might equal that already available on the boat trips, much less whether a trail down Kerr Notch could be finished for the amount appropriated. Thomson also wondered about how to cover the maintenance expense brought about by slides along a new trail, as costs associated with opening a trail below Rim Village just seemed to escalate.65
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| A planting bed along the promenade, Rim Village, in 1931. NPS photo in the National Archives, San Bruno, California. |
Expansion and Reconstruction, 1929-32
Trail projects received a relatively small share of the steadily increasing appropriations for construction and park operations that began in the latter part of the 1920s and which continued through much of the following decade. It is not surprising that trail mileage at Crater Lake increased during this period, as part of an unprecedented growth and development of park infrastructure in general, yet as one observer commented in 1932:
“I was told at the Park that little money will be given for trails because few people use the trails. It is more important to build trails for the few who have interest enough to use them than to build roads for the many…”66
Park employees nevertheless undertook a limited amount of trail construction, something that could usually be accomplished inexpensively in comparison to other kinds of infrastructure. One project came from the staff of three ranger-naturalists hired for the summer season of 1929. By the end of July they submitted plans for a nature trail to go through a wildflower “garden” located east of Park Headquarters in Munson Valley.67 This wetland, found on the lower slope of “Castle Crest” (Garfield Ridge), contains a rich variety of floral species native to the park and allows most visitors relatively easy access once the snow disappears. The NPS expended $140 to build a trail to the garden that summer, a project that included five log bridges, six “rustic” benches, and a number of aluminum labels for identifying the flowers.68 After the trail was repaired and rebuilt in several places the following year, ranger-naturalists began leading regularly scheduled hikes on it.69
