Adding new trails like one to the Castle Crest Garden expanded recreational opportunities at the park but did not change what had long since emerged as the top priority for pedestrian circulation. The goal of easy visitor access to Crater Lake seemed to have finally been achieved in early July 1929, when Superintendent E.C. Solinsky accorded the honor of being the first to reach the bottom of the Crater Wall Trail on horseback to Secretary of the Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur. Yet getting the trail open the following year involved removing several slides of mud and rock on the switchbacks as well as repairing damaged tread, so the NPS programmed a post construction project for 1931 in an attempt to address these problems. In any event, reverting to the Sparrow Trail appeared to be out of the question since park crews had already obliterated portions of the route to deter any subsequent visitor use.70 In reporting on the post construction project in the fall of 1931, NPS engineer W.E. Robertson pointed to inherent problems posed by unstable slopes, the number of switchbacks, and an exposed boat landing situated in deep water.71 By that time the superintendent’s view of the trail had soured considerably, writing that opening and maintaining it was out of all proportion to the original construction cost, stating the NPS had to practically rebuild the entire route that season. He argued for the trail to be relocated, not only due to the ongoing expense, but also to lessen the chance of visitor injuries caused by loose rocks that could tumble over a long series of switchbacks located one over another.72
Landscape architects began playing a more direct role in the design of roads and trails by this time, though the engineers continued to take the lead in location work as well as provide direct supervision of park crews during construction. The landscape architects furnished site plans and could also make adjustments in the alignments located by engineers as part of making development better fit the park setting. With the re-development of Rim Village underway by 1929, Ernest Davidson and other landscape architects from the NPS office in San Francisco made regular visits. Davidson came to the park in July of that year to stake some walkways intended to connect the still unfinished promenade with a roadway running through Rim Village.73 Solinsky and other NPS officials agreed that paved walkways varying in width between four and six feet were necessary for handling greater numbers of visitors at the park’s main developed area, but so was the addition of a better trail to reach its most popular viewpoint.
