Exploring Oregon

 
Woohoo! The Rim Road Is Open.
Summer Has Arrived!

One of our all time favorite places to go in Oregon is Crater Lake. I have the official site and the web cam bookmarked so we can easily check out the conditions all year round. In spite of the number of times we had visited the park, last summer was the first time Llama and I went when the East Rim Road was open. The picture to the right was taken last August.

Phantom Ship, Crater Lake Viewed from Sun Notch (August 2003)

It is an amazing drive and the view is spectacular in any direction. In fact, there is so much to see and do, I could spend a week at the park and still feel like I missed something.

The park gets a lot of snow every year and, even though the park is open all year round, the road around the lake is only open for a short time during the summer. So we were delighted when we heard on the news this morning that the Rim Road is open. Had we only known last night, we would have been up early this morning and half way there by breakfast...

A quick check of the website (which was last updated June 30th) tells us that a portion of the road is still closed, between Sun Notch and Skell Head Overlook. I expect there will be an update soon, perhaps as early as tomorrow, with the exciting news that the entire Rim Road is open.

In any event, Llama and I will be heading down next weekend. My annual pass is good through the end of July, so we want to use it at least one more time. I really want to check out the Godfrey Glen Trail to Duwee Falls and the Castle Crest Wildflower Trail.

Here are some links, if you are interested in finding more information about the park:

National Park Service, Crater Lake
CraterCam Updated every fifteen minutes.
Park Map (NPS page with links to PDF maps.)