Crater Lake National Park

Getting there

If you’re flying to visit Crater Lake, there are two airport options:

  1. Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport (MFR) Medford, OR – 72 mi / 1 hour 29 mins – Alaska, Delta, and United offer flights
  2. Portland International Airport (PDX) Portland, OR – 242 mi / 4 hrs – all major airlines offer flights

Spending a morning at Crater Lake

My visit to Crater Lake National Park was paired with a work trip, so I was only able to spend a morning at this beautiful park. 

I landed at MFR just before midnight on a Monday. I grabbed my bag, rental car keys, and made the quick drive over to the airport hotel across the parking lot. I woke up early (my brain could never manage to leave East Coast time) and left the hotel at 7:00 AM to head to Crater Lake. The drive took about 1 hour and 15 minutes to get to the west entrance. 

The drive there was incredible! The enormous trees with their intense green made me feel like I was in a vampire movie. When I arrived at the entrance of Crater Lake, I expected the most amazing views! But was met with fog…

I literally couldn’t see anything in the park. So I found the gift shop and waited until they opened at 9:00 AM. Other visitors had the same idea and we all laughed together about the situation. When the shop opened, we perused around waiting and hoping for the fog to clear. I asked the staff for different hiking recommendations and decided to pass on the Garfield Peak trail in favor of the Annie Creek Canyon trail that was lower down. 

As I was making the loop around the gift shop, I caught the tiniest glimpse of blue and decided to stay and wait. At 9:30 AM the fog finally started to lift! 

I spent about an hour at Rim Village as the fog and views continued to change. I also ended up not hiking at all – just walking and driving around to catch glimpses of the impressive lake. 

 

Double rainbow as the fog started to lift
Double rainbow as the fog started to lift
Wizard Island coming into view
Wizard Island coming into view
Crater Lake National Park
Crater Lake National Park
Crater Lake National Park
Crater Lake National Park

If I were to give out superlatives to the national parks that I’ve visited, Crater Lake would earn “Moodiest” for the day I was there.

When I decided to leave, I drove north along the rim and stopped at all of the pull-offs. Some were still completely consumed by fog. If you visit Crater Lake and are met with the same conditions, be patient and cruise around! You might get a double rainbow before your incredible views of the lake. 

Next, I drove along Scenic Hwy 138 aka “The Waterfall Highway” for an adventurous afternoon!