A trailer at Crater Lake's headquarters is serving as the temporary post office.

It’s still snowing heavily at Crater Lake National Park, but park managers are busy planning for summer.

On Tuesday, 122 inches of snow was on the ground, or 101% of normal for late February, but the snowfall since Oct. 1, 2022, is 309 inches, or 75% of average.

In recent years, snow totals have been lower than average. The 2021-22 winter snowfall as 440 inches, 91% of average. It was snowy last weekend, with more than 50 inches of fresh snow since the previous weekend.

With more snow forecast — and crews attempting to open the road from Highway 62 to the park headquarters area — Marsha McCabe, the park’s information officer, says it’s possible the park can get closer to average. The recent and expected snowfall means visitors should check the park’s website or call before making a visit as the road from park headquarters to Rim Village is often closed.

While snow is part of life at Crater Lake, park officials are working on projects for the upcoming season.

“We’ve got a lot of different things to keep us busy,” McCabe said.

Work, for example, will resume after the snow clears on the Steel Center Rehabilitation Project on the historic building at the park headquarters complex. The center, which houses the park’s visitor center, was closed all last year. Rehabilitation work that was expected to be completed by November 2022 will resume sometime later this spring or summer with a goal of reopening late this summer or early fall.

“It’s definitely taken longer than expected,” McCabe said. Cost of the work is projected at upwards of $10 million. When completed, the Steel Center will retain its historic appearance.

In 2022, a temporary visitor center was located in a large trailer near the park’s south entrance, but McCabe said present plans call for relocating the center, which also serves as a sales outlet for park-related books and other information, to either the Kiser studio or the community house in Rim Village.

“We’re trying to figure out the best way to help the Crater Lake History Association and our visitors.”

Uncertain is when major repairs and upgrades will be done on 19 miles of East Rim Drive. It has been expected the project, forecast to cost $50 million over a five-year period, would begin late this year or in early 2024. McCabe said the work might begin earlier.

The work will be done in sections. While the work is happening, park visitors will be able to go around Rim Drive on the Crater Lake Trolley tours, which resumed operation last summer after being discontinued during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Work on the Cleetwood Cove Trail, which provides the only access to the lake, is planned to possibly begin in fall 2024. McCabe said the trail location will not change, but crews will do rock scaling and wall reinforcement to reduce the possibility of rock falls. The project, which is estimated to take three or four years at a cost upwards of $35 million, will mean visitors will not have access to the lake during the project. The work also includes improvements at the shore, including a possible floating dock, a pier and new restrooms.

Boat tours, which last summer lasted for only 3-½ weeks, will resume this summer with new, larger boats. It’s hoped the 45-passenger boats, which will replace smaller 37-passenger boats used the past several years, will be delivered early this summer. It’s hoped that Crater Lake Hospitality, the park’s concessionaire, will be able to provide an expanded offering of daily lake tours. A park interpretive ranger will discuss lake geology, history and other factoids on the concession tours.

McCabe said other programs, including increasingly popular Night Sky ranger talks and other ranger-guided activities, will resume this summer.

“It’s really nice to be doing programs again,” she said. The park is expected to be a focal point for viewing a solar eclipse that will begin at 9:13 a.m. Oct. 14.

Other plans include installing a bronze tactile model of Crater Lake at the North Junction, possibly resuming naturalization ceremonies for people receiving U.S. citizenship, and lake-area concerts. Several activities have been canceled or reduced in recent years because of COVID.

With the possibility of adding new programs and the likelihood of resuming other activities, McCabe notes, “It’s really, really nice to be doing things again.”

Snowshoe Walks

Ranger-led snowshoe walks are available at 1 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at the park. The walks, which last about two hours and cover 1 to 2 miles of moderate to challenged terrain, are offered through April 30 in the Rim Village area near and along Crater Lake’s rim.

If the road to the rim is closed, the walks explore the forest and meadows near park headquarters. The park provides snowshoes free of charge. The park’s winter entrance fee is $20. Reservations are required and can be made by calling the park visitor center at 541-594-3100. Group hikes may also be possible.