Crater Lake Entry Fee To Increase...Again

Above, Crater Lake's Wizard Island as seen though smoke from area fires in 2017. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

When I visited Crater Lake National Park three years ago during my Great American Eclipse trip, I really didn't notice what the entry fee was. That's because I was using my Senior Pass.

Apparently, according to an article in OregonLive, fees have been increasing somewhat steadily for the past four years. Well, they're about to go up again next year.

OregonLive reported:

Another year, another fee increase at Crater Lake National Park. 

In what has become a near-annual tradition, the entry fee at Oregon’s iconic national park site will once again go up next year, increasing from $25 to $30 per vehicle, effective Jan. 1, 2020. 

The new increase should cap off the incremental increases that have been implemented at park sites across the country in recent years – an effort to address an estimated $11.6 billion deferred maintenance backlog. 

For years, the entry fee at Crater Lake was only $5 per vehicle. In 2015, it went up to $15. In 2017, it increased to $20, then up to $25 the next year. In 2020 it will rise to $30 – six times what visitors paid six years ago.

To read more, go here.