Oregon Trip - Crater Lake

Reunion | Sunriver | Crater Lake | Bachelor Ride | Volcanos

One day of the Fry family reunion involved trip to Crater Lake National Park. We visited the park back in 2012, but this time I planned to loop the lake by bike. The loop was only 33 miles, but it included 3800' of gain. I could only convince Garrett to do the ride with me so the rest of the family explored the area around the visitors center and lodge while we were out.

I was worried about the road being partially closed due to uncleared snow and on the day we arrived around a third of the road was still officially closed. The rangers at the visitors center thought the road was closed to all vehicles, including bikes, which would have prevented our loop. We still did the ride and made it partially around the lake to a closed gate. Fortunately a ranger was there and she said we could continue on with our bikes. Surprisingly the closed section was completely clear except for some easily avoided rocks and branches in one area.

Overall the loop was a wonderful scenic ride made even better with the absence of cars for part of it. Either the lake was in view to our right or mountains were on our left. There weren't any boring parts of the ride. I was well conditioned to handle the elevation and Garrett did especially well since he rarely rides. In under three hours we finished the loop and met back with the family.