Oregon: Crater Lake National Park
For our three-day Memorial Day weekend, we decided to drive down to Oregon to go camping and check out Crater Lake National Park!
Crater Lake was created thousands of years ago when a volcano collapsed in on itself. Then with a lot of rain and snow, it created the deepest lake in the United States.
We have been wanting to make this trip for sometime, and the three-day weekend seemed like a perfect excuse. We camped nearby at Joseph H. Stewart State Recreational Area, which was about a 45 minute drive from Crater Lake.
The drive to the entrance included a lot of super windy roads, with mostly trees to really look at.
When we finally did make it to the entrance, we were greeted by a long line of cars. Apparently, everyone had the same idea as us and wanted to see the lake as well. Luckily, the line did move pretty quickly. It cost $15 per car to enter the park (carpool if you can!).
Our first stop was the visitor center. I've been collecting stamps in my Nation Parks Passport book. If you don't know what that is, its a book that you can buy and when you visit each national park, you can get a stamp in your book. And, if you wanted, you could even use your own notebook. The stamp itself is free, so it makes for a great souvenir! The book is nice because it includes a map with all the parks marked and its divided into regions, so it easy to revisit where you've been. But, like I said, you could use any book you like to collect the stamps in.
While we were at the visitors center, we found out that all the trails and half of the roadways were closed due to the amount of snow still of the ground. We were so heartbroken! We had really wanted to go hiking down to the bottom. About all we could do that day was drive to the Rim Village for a view of the lake from the top of the crater.
Since Rim Village was the only thing really open, all those people in line before, were now there. Which meant that parking there was super difficult. It didn't help that it was around lunch time and that is also were the cafe was located. But despite the traffic, we didn't have to push and shove to get a great view of the lake.
I won't lie, the view was spectacular! Pictures don't do it justice.
And we go to play around in the snow for a bit. In June!
Its a shame we missed out on the hiking, but I'm glad we went! If you plan on hiking there, make sure you go later in the year. There were some other trails nearby (outside of the national park), so we eventually get our hike. Hopefully we can make it back someday when there is less snow.
Happy travels!
