Now that I finally finished up the DC posts, I can do some of the other places we went to this summer! We finally made it out to Crater Lake National Park. I lived within an hour in a half of Crater Lake for several years of my childhood. I have been there often. When I got married, my husband had never been. What?!?! How can someone who has lived in Oregon for their entire life never been to Crater Lake? We fixed that in our first few years of marriage.
However, we hadn’t really been since we had kids. Shame, I know! But there aren’t any hotels nearby and it is a bit far from home to make a day trip. Well, we planned a trip longer trip to a few other places, but canceled it because #5 didn’t like traveling in the car – AT ALL! We waited a few months and decided he could travel in the car – so we planned a different trip to places in Southern Oregon and Crater Lake was one of the items on our visit list.
We got there before their admission kiosk was open. They use the honor system if it is not being staffed. We had a yearly pass, so it didn’t matter for us. Then they were doing TONS of construction on the roads. When we got to the ranger station, they told us they would be closing that road later in the day, so we lucked out getting there early, otherwise, it would have added 2 hours to our trip to go around to the other entrance! That would have sucked….
Also, this was the very end of June, beginning of July. There was still TONS of snow on the ground. Like feet of snow. I wonder if it ever cleared out this summer? Maybe by the end of August…. So much snow!
We got to the parking lot/visitors area. Went to the gift shop and got some goodies. Stopped by the Ranger Station and got our Crater Lake Junior Ranger badges. #4 also wanted his own junior ranger vest, so we bought him one to match his brother’s. He was thrilled. I think they wore them an entire week together after our trip.
#5 was thrilled by the lake. He kept pointing at it and having us look. It was adorable.
Because of all the snow, we were unable to hike anywhere. Everything was closed due to snow. In July. CRAZY!
So we mainly saw the Lake, went “Oh. Ah. How Pretty!” and left. There just wasn’t anything else to do! Couldn’t even drive around the lake due to snow blocking the east side and road construction on the west/north end (the side we came in on)
We had a picnic lunch – take any food you want because there really aren’t any places to eat within an hour or more of here (which is true for most National Parks)
It is a beautiful National Park to visit. Just don’t plan on spending a large amount of time here, unless there is no snow and you’re able to do a few hikes! I’m sure we’ll head back there in a few years!
Don’t forget to get your Junior Ranger Badges while you are visiting Crater Lake!
