From the north, in the warmer months, visitors enter Crater Lake National Park via Hwy. 138 from near Roseburg or from near Eugene via Hwy. 58mdash;U.S. 97mdash;Hwy. 138; from the south, enter via Hwy. 62, or the Crater Lake Highway, which provides the only year-round access.
Mazama Village
Mazama Village, eight miles south of the rim at about 6,000 feet elevation, is one hub of park visitation and commerce, with a store, gas station, showers, campsites, and lodging. The village includes the largest of the park's two campgrounds, 198-site Mazama Campground (open early June to mid-October). The 10 fourplex cabins of Mazama Village Motor Inn, next to the campground, are open mid-May through September offering rooms featuring two queen beds and a bath. The park's other campground, the 16-site Lost Creek Campground (open mid-July to mid-September) is along the eastern section of the lake's Rim Drive, off a spur to The Pinnacles.
Visitor Center
The Visitor Information Center and Park Headquarters are located about six miles north of Mazama Village on Rim Drive, just south of the lake and Rim Village, the center for visitor services at the lake. A spur road connects the southern Annie Creek Entrance Station and Mazama Village to the drive.
Rim Village Area
On the southern edge of Crater Lake, just north of park headquarters, Rim Village offers food service, interpretive programs, and a scenic promenade. At about 7,100 feet elevation, Rim Village is centered around a paved road that runs east from a junction with the western Rim Drive to its end at lakeside Crater Lake Lodge.
The lodge, originally opened in 1915, was renovated in 1995 but retains the beautiful architectural details that helped win it National Historic Register listing: handsome native stone masonry on the outer ground floor, massive stone chimneys on the east and south, overhanging and bracketed eaves, and multipaned windows arched with stone lintels. With 71 guest rooms in all, Crater Lake Lodge is open mid-May through mid-October.
The promenade, built between 1929 and 1932, features a crenulated native stone wall and three observation bays extending over the caldera. It runs from several yards west of the Rim Village cafeteria plaza to a few hundred feet east of Crater Lake Lodge. It connects with the Pacific Crest Trail west of Rim Village (the trail runs adjacent to western Rim Drive for several miles) and the Garfield Peak Trail to the east, beginning near the lodge.
Cleetwood Trail
The Crater Wall Trail, starting from a point north of the cafeteria on the promenade, was the main way to reach the lakeshore until it closed in 1960, when the mildly strenuous 1.1-mile Cleetwood Trail (now the only path leading to the lake itself) opened on the north side of Crater Lake at Cleetwood Cove. The cove is where lake boat tours begin, late-June to mid-September. (Note, this means boat tour access requires hiking 2.2 miles round trip.) Tours take visitors to features such as the Phantom Ship rock formation and the Wizard Island cinder cone, the result of volcanic activity after the caldera was formed, where passengers can take a 1-mile hike to the top.
Some Other Things To Know
Pets
While visiting the park, please observe the following:
- Pets must be on a leash no longer than 6 feet or in a crate.
- Pets are allowed on roads, established parking areas, Grayback Road, developed campgrounds, and designated picnic areas.
- Pets are not allowed in the backcountry, or on any trail within the park (including hiking trails and designated ski trails and routes).
- In the winter, pets must be on a plowed road.
- Pets are not allowed in any federal building.
- Pets can not be left unattended or tied to an object.
- All solid pet excrement must be picked up immediately by the owner or person in control of the pet and disposed of in trash receptacles.
These regulations do not apply to guide dogs accompanying visually impaired persons or hearing ear dogs accompanying hearing-impaired persons.
