Trip Report: Crater Lake National Park
When: 06/23/2019
Location: Crate Lake National Park, OR
Conditions: Sunny, around 60 degrees during the day and around 32 degrees at night. Still snow on the ground
Duration: 1 day
Difficulty: Easy
Kid Friendly: Yes
Dog Friendly: Yes
Usefull links: www.nps.gov
The Full Report:
Crater Lake is a must-do for any nature lover out there. Growing up on the east coast I never thought it would be something I'd have a chance to lay eyes on. Once I realized It could be an awesome road trip from Portland, we decided to make the trek. It’s about 5 hours from Portland so we decided to camp near Bend and check out some other cool spots before seeing crater lake.
We showed up at crater lake on a Friday afternoon and it actually wasn't that busy. The entrance fee for one car was $25 which didn't seem too bad to us. The north road had actually just opened up a week before we got there. If this road was closed it would have taken us a lot longer to enter the park.
Once inside the park on the "rim road" there were countless spots to stop and take in the epic view. It really was quite breathtaking. The lake was so vast, and the water was so blue. We didn't realize until we were there how steep the caldera walls were that plummet right into the lake. Looking at it all made me feel small.
After the viewing points, we continued on to the visitor center to see what else we could discover about the place. We learned quite a lot of science and history about crater lake from a ranger at the visitor center. We also discover that almost all of the hiking trails and most of the rim road was closed due to snow. (which we hear is typical in mid-June). There was one 3-mile trail along the rim from the visitor center that we found was open and decided to hike that.
We really enjoyed our stay at Crater Lake and would love to come back in the hotter months. Swimming in the lake is on my bucket list so I'm sure we'll be back again. I would recommend this trip to anyone!
The Full Report:
Crater Lake is a must-do for any nature lover out there. Growing up on the east coast I never thought it would be something I'd have a chance to lay eyes on. Once I realized It could be an awesome road trip from Portland, we decided to make the trek. It’s about 5 hours from Portland so we decided to camp near Bend and check out some other cool spots before seeing crater lake.
We showed up at crater lake on a Friday afternoon and it actually wasn't that busy. The entrance fee for one car was $25 which didn't seem too bad to us. The north road had actually just opened up a week before we got there. If this road was closed it would have taken us a lot longer to enter the park.
Once inside the park on the "rim road" there were countless spots to stop and take in the epic view. It really was quite breathtaking. The lake was so vast, and the water was so blue. We didn't realize until we were there how steep the caldera walls were that plummet right into the lake. Looking at it all made me feel small.
After the viewing points, we continued on to the visitor center to see what else we could discover about the place. We learned quite a lot of science and history about crater lake from a ranger at the visitor center. We also discover that almost all of the hiking trails and most of the rim road was closed due to snow. (which we hear is typical in mid-June). There was one 3-mile trail along the rim from the visitor center that we found was open and decided to hike that.
We really enjoyed our stay at Crater Lake and would love to come back in the hotter months. Swimming in the lake is on my bucket list so I'm sure we'll be back again. I would recommend this trip to anyone!