Crater Lake, the nation’s deepest, to be closed to public access starting next year

Crater Lake National Park in Oregon is closing off access to its eponymous body of water next year in order to do repair, replacement and rehabilitation work on a marina and 1.1-mile trail.

Starting sometime in 2026, the Cleetwood Cove Trail and Cleetwood Cove Marina, used to access the lake for activities, will be closed for construction, the National Park Service said on its project-planning website.

NPS is planning to fix up the trail with new tread and retaining walls; to take measures to prevent and mitigate falling rocks in high-risk areas along the trail; to replace the marina with a structurally improved one at the same site; and to replace compost toilets near the marina site.

The trail is expected to be closed and there will be no boat tours on Crater Lake for the entirety of the summer 2027 and summer 2028 seasons, with the marina and trail slated to reopen for the 2029 season.

Although summer is the park’s busy season, it is also the only repair window NPS has due to snowfall earlier in the year.

“The significant annual snowfall at the Crater Rim limits access to the site and construction work to a few summer months,” Crater Lake National Park Public Information Officer Marsha McCabe told SF Gate.

Crater Lake is America’s deepest lake, and the national park is the only one located entirely in Oregon, though the are parks partially in the state and the Park Service administers some national monuments there.