The Roads of Crater Lake

Crater Lake has entrance roads approaching it from the west, north, and south. All of these lead to Rim Drive, a 32.4 mile loop road around the lake. Countless pulloffs and developed viewpoints allow nearly constant opportunity to again convince yourself that the lake is, in fact, real.

Rim Drive is closed for most of the year due to an incredible level of snowfall. It is only reliably open from July to September, although depending on the year, that range may not hold. When we visited on July 5, 2006, half of the drive was still closed. The following year it opened much earlier.

Rim Drive Part 1

Start Point: Mile 0 – South Entrance Road
End Point: Mile 8.3 – Pinnacles Road

Rim Drive Part 2

Start Point: Mile 8.4 – Pinnacles Road
End Point: Mile 23.5 – North Entrance Road

Rim Drive Part 3

Start Point: Mile 23.6 – North Entrance Road
End Point: Mile 32.4 – South Entrance Road