Crater Lake North Entrance Road is open – Medford News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News

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Crater Lake North Entrance Road is open By Lee Juillerat Updated: Jun 13, 2022 08:46 AM A A Snow-clearing work at Crater Lake was well ahead of schedule earlier this year after an unusually dry winter at the park. Then came an unusually snowy spring, which dumped more than 10 feet of snow and halted roadwork. [Photo courtesy Crater Lake National Park] After delays caused by heavy late season snow, the North Entrance Road at Crater Lake National Park is open. Opening the North Entrance is significant because it allows park visitors to enter the park either from the north or from the South Entrance near Mazama Village off Highway 62. The North Entrance provides connections with Highway 97 north toward Bend and with Highway 138, which connects with Diamond Lake and Roseburg. Earlier this year it appeared the North Entrance would open much earlier than usual because of unusually low snowfall. Those hopes were squashed when heavy snow followed — more than 9 feet in a week and then nearly another foot over the Memorial Day weekend. Until opening the North Entrance, visitors could enter the park only by the South Entrance and, once at Rim Village, could drive only a mile on West Rim Drive to Discovery Point. West Rim Drive connects Rim Village with the North Entrance Junction. East Rim Drive and Pinnacles Road will open in sections as the roads are cleared of snow and necessary road repairs are completed. The entire 33-mile-long Rim Road around the lake will likely not be open until sometime in July, depending on weather and the clearing of rock slides. Road crews are currently clearing snow to Cleetwood Cove, where a 1.1-mile-long trail provides the only access to the lake. For information about the park's current conditions, see www.nps.gov/crla/planyourvisit/conditions.htm . Reach freelance writer Lee Juillerat at [email protected] or 541-880-4139.