Quick Stats
Creation Date
May 22, 1902
Entrance Fee
$10 per vehicle per week
Lowest Elevation
3,990 feet in southwest corner
Highest Elevation
8,929 feet on Mount Scott
Lowest Average Temp
18°F in January
Record Low Temp
-21°F in 1962
Highest Average Temp
69°F in August
Record High Temp
90°F in 1981
Park Creation Timeline
1902
On May 22, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt signs the bill creating Crater Lake National Park, the 6th national park in the United States.
Animals and Plants
The park's large mammals include Roosevelt elk, mule deer, black bears, coyotes, and bobcats. Smaller mammals include yellow-bellied marmots, snowshoe hares, and pikas.
Reptiles in the park are few due to the prolonged winter, but include a few lizards, the northern sagebrush, pygmy horned, and northern alligator, along with the valley garter snake. Amphibians are slightly more numerous, including several types of frogs and salamanders.
Birds include both bald and golden eagles, as well as a large number of others, such as ravens, Stellar's jays, mountain chickadees, and Clark's nutcrackers.
Four main forest zones are in the park, starting with ponderosa pine at the lowest elevations. This is followed, in order, by forests dominated by lodgepole pine, mountain hemlock, and finally whitebark pine, often found twisted and gnarled in the highest and most exposed locations in the park. For a brief bllooming period each year, a wide variety of wildflowers can also be seen. In fact, there is an entire trail dedicated to them, the Castle Crest Wildflower Nature Trail. See the
Hiking Page for more on this trail.
Crater Lake National Park
Info at (541) 594-3000
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