The holidays and new year slowed my national park progress and I was anxious and exited to see another park. A work trip brought me to Oregon for the first time and I used the opportunity to visit one of the most iconic national parks: Crater Lake. I’d seeing so many images of this natural wonder and was exited to see the deep blue waters and Wizard Island. I drove up through Umpqua National Forest on narrow roads completely lined with pine trees. The beautiful scenery soon was covered in snow as I headed up. Once I started winding up the sharp switchbacks to Crater Lake, the weather switched dramatically and I was surrounded by 15 feet snow drifts with fresh powder on the roads. I continued on and made it all the way to the rim road where a snow-covered gift shop was just opening its doors for the day.

The two-story lodge had drifts past the roof and the bathrooms were nearly hidden by snow drifts. After talking with a ranger I realized I was at the actual lake lookout. Normally, the beautiful blue waters could be seen from here. Unfortunately, the snow piles, clouds and white out conditions meant I could see nothing. While the adventure did not end in beautiful blue waters, the scenes along be way still made it worth it.

Crater Lakes receives an average of 43 feet of snow per year and during winter months the lake is Obscured by clouds at least 50% of the days.