Crater Lake,OR
 

What is the nearest airport and how many days do you need to stay here?
Melissa

I would say Medford is the closest airport ( but would be cheaper to fly into Portland I suspect)
How many days to stay depends on what you want to do - you can drive around the Lake and do a little sightseeing in 1 day - or you can take your time and do some hikes in the area -

Good question. I spent most of one long afternoon there which included a boat ride on the lake.

If I had it to do over again, I would omit the boat ride. The view was like that from the bottom of a funnel looking up.

I think the view is much better from the top down.

After you look at the lake from the circumferential drive, I don't know what else there is to do unless you want to walk around the lake itself.

There are some odd geologic formations associated with volcanism that you might find interesting.

The hike up Mt. Scott is a 5 mile round trip and is steep. There are others as well. Take a look at the National Park Service web site. Just plug Crater Lake National Park into most any search engine and the address will pop up.

Or try this one for a first cut.

http://www.nps.gov/crla/home.htm

I think the most economical airport would be Portland, but it depends upon your point of origin. Portland would be my best bet because I would be coming from the Atlanta region.

I'd guess Sunbum is right; Medford is definitely closer, but Portland is probably cheaper. You'll need to decide if "cheaper" is worth the 3+ hour drive time difference.

I also agree that one full day in the park is enough, maybe less if you're nervous drivers (and don't want to drive the rim road). If it fits into your schedule, sunsets viewed from the deck of the Lodge are quite nice.

Looks like you've got a great trip planned. Have fun.

If all you want to do is view the lake, then one day is enough. But there is a nice hike from the lodge up Mt. Garfield where you get a spectacular view of the lake and surrounding area. And the boat ride on the lake is not that bad, especially since you get to wander around Wizard Island. You would not be bored if you allowed two days.

We fly in and out of the Medford Airport for all our travels, and it is not necessarily more money to fly there, however it usually does include an extra stop. I believe the only cities that currently fly direct into Medford are Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas. It will be about a 4.5-5 hour drive from Portland to Crater Lake.

I believe that there are direct flights between Medford and Salt Lake City as well.

dsquared - yes, I forgot about Salt Lake. Also drive from Portland is probably more like 5-5.5 hours. Drive from Medford airport to Crater Lake is about 1-1.5 hours depending on weather (time of year).

Here's a few suggestions...
Fly into Medford. Spend 3 days in the Rogue Valley. Stay in Ashland and in the Mountains east of Ashland
Spend 1 day at Crater Lake. It's spectacular to drive the rim, but you can see it all in a day.
You can go up or down Hwy 62, which has a scenic gorge
at Union Creek, then hit the turnoff to Crater Lake, but we like ascending from the Ashland/Ft. Klamath south approach, which takes you through the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument & Sky Lakes Wilderness. Spend 1 day river rafting either the Rogue or Klamath. All levels from beginner to expert.
Spend a day exploring Ashland, Jacksonville, and thestores, wineries and food of the Rogue Valley.
Here are a few Mountain Resorts fairly near Crater Lake.
http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2...ries/01biz.htm
http://www.boxrranch.com/Pinehurst.html
http://www.greenspringsinn.net/
http://www.lakeofthewoodsresort.com/experience.html
http://www.sova.org/
Whenever we go up for the day we prefer to descend on 62, following the Rogue down from it's start and through Shady Cove and on.
Hope this helps.