Crater Lake, OR - Montana Owners Club

bobgay · 03-27-2006, 05:41 PM

We are going to be passing near Crater Lake in a couple of days. Anyone know a good place to overnight in the area?
Bob

adelmoll · 03-28-2006, 03:09 AM

I can't remember where we stayed the last time we were at my favorite lake but I do remember that the campground right by the park was too small for our RV and at that time we only had a 30'. There are lots of campgrounds not too far away though. Sorry I didn't keep better records. I have to rely on my memory and that can be a big problem.

Helen

vickir · 03-28-2006, 06:03 AM

Bob and Jan ... we stayed in Chiloquin, Oregon, the Waterwheel RV Park. It's about 30 miles from the entrance to Crater Lake. I don't remember if there are any campgrounds any closer, but it was a nice park and the scenery there is so amazing!!!

(Added after reading Nancy and Roy's post.) We were there in early May and there was so much snow, that the road around the lake was closed. The only way we could see the lake was to climb up on a 10ft snow bank. The Ranger told us this was not unusual and that, generally, the roads aren't completely clear until late June or July.

Have a wonderful time!

toolmanroy · 03-28-2006, 07:31 AM

Have you checked to see if the lake road is open? The snow has been piling up around here! Depending on how close you want to be, I would have several suggestions but I am not sure what is open this time of year. I do know that Lost Creek Lake/Stewart State Park (Oregon) is open as of March 1st. It has electric and water and large camping spots. Diamond Lake Forest Service campgrounds are closed but there is a private park within, though the lake is at 5000 ft and probably with considerable snow. I believe it is a Good Sam park. There is a private park in Prospect, a Good Sam park, which is open year round and is very nice in the trees. Stewart and Prospect RV Park are the two I know are open for sure on Highway 62. Both parks on highway 62 are probably not in the snow. Once you get north of there you will most likely find considerable snow. It depends on the direction you are traveling.

Our favorte campground in Chiloquin would be Collier State Park and Logging museum on the north end of Chiloquin on 97, but I do not think it is open for the season. There is a cam at the lodge parking lot at Crater Lake to check for conditions. I tried to find the link, but they say the cam is out of commission. ODOT will have road condition information. When I looked it said ice and snow and to carry chains.

If you want any other information for this area, we live outside of Medford and would be happy to help you.

bobgay · 03-29-2006, 03:45 PM

Thanks for the input, everyone. We decided not to try it yet since the north entrance and the rim road are still closed

. We will try a little later. We are volunteering at Cove Pallisades State Park near Madras for the month of April. Maybe towards the end of that stretch we can get back down there. Sure hope so, because we've heard such glowing reports about the lake.

sreigle · 03-31-2006, 01:03 PM

When we were there the South Entrance road was open to the Visitor Center right at the rim. The North Entrance road and the rim road were both under 8 to 10 feet of snow. As Vicki said, that was early May. But the view of the lake is absolutely worth the trip. Awesome. The water is just as blue as in this picture Vicki took. I use this picture for my pc wallpaper. By the way, the ranger told us they are in some kind of path that gets lots of snow.

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