Crater Lake National Park

Crater Lake in the winter

One of the things we decided to do while inn Oregon is to visit its numerous national parks and forests as we enjoy occasional outing. We are not hardcore outdoor camper types though and prefer to travel by small car and spend night in a motel. To our joy we found out that Crater Lake was only an hour drive from KF.

On the way there we saw snow on the sides of the road. If you used to living in California seeing snow can be quite exciting but to tell you the truth I did not miss it. It was also high enough in the mountain to feel some chill in the air. But the drive was surprisingly easy with no traffic whatsoever all the way to the park.

We only saw cars and lots of them when we reached the lake. Some out of state licenses and even a few foreigners. The short climb to see the lake was extremely slippery and we did not have the proper shoes. But no matter.

The view, of course, was spectacular. The crater lake is not really a lake but a caldera formed when water fills a collapsed volcano. Some secondary cones form island the most famous of which is Wizard island. There is also a Phantom Ship but we have not seen this one yet. The view was pretty much like they show in documentaries and in the postcards. You can even get a license plate featuring Crater Lake and as a matter of fact we got one for our car. They are quite beautiful.

The park feature the usual activities: snowshoes tracking, skiing and similar stuff. However some roads are closed during the winter and some activities are limited to fair weather. They say even viewing the lake is not always possible as sometimes a thick fog cover the caldera and thus hides it from view. They recommend you phone in advance to find out about the weather.

By the time we arrived the visitor center was closed so we did not get any information except for the little newspaper featuring the park info.

As the ground was still covered with snow it was not a good time for an amateur botanist to do her thing so we plan to return in the summer and compare the summer view with a the one in the spring.

So if you happen to be in KF or Medford, visit this park. The view is quite spectacular and the drive is fairly short, about an hour or two.