Opening Soon for the Season!
While Crater Lake National Park is open year round, the scenic loop is only open when the snow is manageable enough to clear from West and East Rim Drives.
That time is drawing near! This is a drive that deserves a top spot on your bucket list. It’s easy, completely paved and features some of the most jaw dropping blues and water vistas you’ve (likely) ever seen.
The North Entrance and West Rim Drive have typically opened in May or June. The East Rim Drive typically opens in late June or early July.
What makes Crater Lake one of the most scenic drives in Oregon?
- Continual sweeping views with plenty of pullouts to stop and pause.
- A visit to the deepest lake in the United States
- One of the most pristine lakes on Earth
- Filled with only snowpack and rain. There are no streams, rivers that flow into the lake.
- It’s a volcanic caldera. Over 7700 years ago Mount Mazama erupted and rained it’s contents all over Oregon, creating a massive basin, or caldera
- It receives massive snowfall – an average of over 500 inches a year (which is why it’s impassable the majority of the year).
- Are you a biker? It’s a great biking loop with much of it flat. Bicyclists take over for two days a year to ride the rim drives without vehicles. In 2022, the dates are September 10 and 17.
- The human eye can see over a hundred feet down due to Crater Lake’s purity. The record (measured with a Secchi disk) was 142 feet in 1997.
- Cleetwood Cove trail is the only access to the water. Swimming is allowed there.
- Fishing is encouraged (with artificial bait only) for non native rainbow trout and kokanee salmon. No license is required and there are no limits on size or quantity.
- Alpine trees are prolific. In fact, pine pollen is heavy enough in June and July to be seen swirling on the lake – look for the yellow.
Crater Lake National Park Video
