Crater Lake National Park
Getting there
If you’re flying to visit Crater Lake, there are two airport options:
- Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport (MFR) Medford, OR – 72 mi / 1 hour 29 mins – Alaska, Delta, and United offer flights
- 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.
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!
