Crater Lake can be a great summer destination. Here is a compile from one of the recent discussions in Microsoft aliases. As usual, please use your own due diligence to plan your trip and have great fun.

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I have visited 2 weeks back; it was slightly cloudy on that day. Its better you go when there is sunny clear sky at Crater Lake, so that the lake looks very beautiful. And you can visit Diamond Lake present nearby Crater Lake.

At diamond lake you can take boat rides, also you can check the crater lake boat trip, it closes sometime, you can get more info at visitor center at crater lake.
We have stayed at Super-8, Roseburg, OR. Crater Lake is 85 miles from this hotel.
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-Drove to Crater Lake and camped overnight
-The following evening drove to Oregon coast and camped on the beach
-Went Dune buggy riding
-Drove to Florence and saw the Sea Lions
-Drove back to Portland.

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OK here is the plan. We will start (I mean we have to start) on Friday 07/04 very early morning around 5am. From home we will go to Multnomah Falls via Columbia George river and stay Friday night near to crater lake.

Wake up bit early morning on Saturday 07/05 reach Oregon cave. From Oregon caves back to Crater lake and roam around the rim which is around 50 miles. Here we can also visit Diamond Lake. We don’t have an idea about the timings of the caves so first we will go to caves and then come back to lake to spend some time at lake.

Sunday 07/06 we will start early around 6am to John Day Fossil Beds National Monument these are also called as painted hills. Spend some time there and visit nearby places and start back to home….

The total journey is 1331 miles and takes 1day 2hr for journey (drive only).

Multnomah Falls, Oregon to:Crater Lake, Oregon 97604 to:19000 Caves Hwy, Cave Junction, OR 97523 to:32651 Highway 19, Kimberly, OR 97848 to:Bellevue wa 98007

This is not final trip plan; we can always change our trip. We are bit late now to book the hotels so please let us know by tomorrow first half or meet me to discuss in person it will be easy to re design the trip if necessary.

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You could combine the Oregon Coast trip with Crater Lake… take Highway 101, stop by at various lovely beaches on the Oregon Coast (Cannon Beach, Lincoln city et al), go up to the Sand dunes on Oregon Coast and do the Fun Dunes Buggy ride out there… Crater Lake is about 2-3 hours drive from Sand Dunes. We stayed at this place called Union Resort (about 24 miles from Crater Lake) amidst the Rogue River National Forest… lovely surroundings for a reasonable price.

If you have time, go to Ashland Oregon. Besides the obvious—the Shakespeare Festival—it’s a lovely little town with a beautiful park (Lithia) at its center and lots of very nice little restaurants. To be sure you get play tickets, you should order ahead online, but you can go early in the morning and line up for last minute tickets, which are usually available, though they may not be for your first-choice production.

Even closer is the city of Jacksonville, Oregon and the Britt Festival. The town itself is interesting. It’s a well-preserved gold rush town, emblematic of the “Old West.” Nice little shops and restaurants there, too.
Even if the Crater Lake Lodge indicates they are completely booked, call every day to see if there are cancellations. The dining room is lovely, and its very convenient to be able to stay right at the lodge. There’s a hike that starts right outside the back patio which is interesting and accessible. Also drive all around the lake….quite an amazing experience. We did not take the boat ride on the lake itself because some in my group weren’t able to do the hike required, but I’ve heard that is worthwhile to do.
I don’t know what the weather is there right now, but prepare for it to possibly be cold. I visited Crater lake about this time of year some years ago - there was 6ft of packed snow on the ground, and it snowed as we were leaving. It’s best to go in August.

The lodge is pretty to visit, even if you don’t stay there.

I don’t know if you’re into fishing, but they let you fish as many fish as you want out of the lake.
Hi, I would recommend taking the boat trip to Wizard Island (I think that is the name of it…) and hiking up to the crater in the cinder cone. You get a really different perspective being right on the water, and learn about the geology of the place.

Also, there used to be a little roadside café on the road to Crater Lake from Medford that had wonderful home-made fruit pies and a great collection of cat clocks.

Crater Lake is really beautiful; have a great trip.
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One of the trips that I have done (thrice) and enjoyed in Oregon is the drive along the “historic columbia river highway”. This is a road that goes parallel to the Columbia River gorge and I84 and is very very scenic with about 10 waterfalls on the way and couple of mountain peaks and treks off it. This is just off Portland and the border between Washington and Oregon. The whole stretch would take you a day. (Including getting there)

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I just got back from a 2-day trip to the Portland area. We spent the first day at Multnomah falls on a really beautiful (but fairly easy) 6-mile hike, and followed it up with white-water rafting on the Clackamas river on the second day (it’s near the town of Estacada, OR). Thoroughly enjoyed both, definitely worth considering.

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I’ve been to crater lake a couple of times. Hwy 138 (N. Umpqua hwy) is an awesome drive with lots of waterfalls on the way.

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You can start off with Mount hood and then go to Ocean beaches along the Highway 101. There are places like Sand dunes along 101.
You can rent a ATV and drive in the dunes. It’s fun. Portland itself is kind of ok. Nothing really different than any other city in US.
Drive along the Columbia River Gorge is one of the spectacular drives I have been to. There are Multnomah falls in that drive. More on this here.
Also on the way to Portland you can visit Mt St Helens which is really close to Portland.

And if you have time and if you haven’t already been to Crater Lake then I would say do go and visit that place. The most beautiful spectacle I have been to.
Crater lake is far down the OR very near to CA border but if you start from somewhere like Eugene,OR at around 7 AM you should reach there and come back in a day.
There are also Oregon caves very near to crater lake as well and couple of falls.

Hope this helps.

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White water Rafting is really good in Oregon. Check out http://www.oregonriver.com/. I would recommend Clackamas river. You can also go to Sand Dunes near Florence. Check out http://www.sandland.com/.

Along the oregon coast you can go to Canon beach,Sand dunes.

Near to sand dunes you have Roseberg drive in safari.From there you can visit Crater lake.

Near around Portland you can visit Zoo,Multinomah water fall,Japanese garden,Columbia river gorge.

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In Portland:
• Columbia River Gorge cruise – it’s a 2 hr cruise. Very scenic and relaxing!
• Salmon hatchery (it’s near the cruise point). We thought this was informative.
• Multnomah Falls
• International Rose Garden

Keep driving on US 101 from Portland. It’s very scenic and you can cover these.
• Tillamook Creamery
• Sea Lion caves
• Sand dune rides at Florence, Oregon coast. It’s further down the state.

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