kenski99

I am heading down to Crater Lake to ride from near Ft Klamath to Rim Village, any one with experience of the road above the ranger station about where the road starts the East Rim Drive?
Thanks for any info
Ken Pitman

bikingshearer 

There's the south Entrance Station (be sure to stop for the Rangers - they get kind of agitated if you just blow on through since they are supposed to charge you to enter the Park), then comes the Visitor Center area (about where the East Rim Road comes in), then the Rim Village. From the Entrance Station to the Visitor Center is steady slog but not hard. From the Visitor Center to the Rim Village is also a steady slog, a little steeper but not bad. The entire road to the Rim Village is the kind of climb where you can settle into a rhythm and don't have to vary it much, if any, unless you want to. Assuming you are in decent shape, the hardest thing about the climb is the elevation, and the second hardest thing can be the sun (wear sunscreen. If you don't you will burn). I am a sloooooooow climber and I do that climb in my 30x29 and am glad to have it, but it is eminently doable.

And oh, that first view of the lake when you get to the top.

Don't under-estimate the run from Ft. Klamath to the Entrance Station. What starts out as close to flat slowly ramps up to steady climb. I find that the climb itself isn't so bad in absolute terms, but it seems to go on forever and is harder than you think it ought to be. In other words, the biggest challenge here is mental, not physical.

The entire ride from Ft..Klamath up to the Rim Village is uphill except for the first handful of flat miles. If there is a quarter mile of downhill I'd be surprised. But that means you will have a incredibly fun run back down, not just to the Entrance Station, but all the way to a few miles short of Fort Klamath.

Oh, and don't underestimate the voraciousness of the mosquitoes in and around Ft. Klamath. They are, shall we say, plentiful.

mtnbud

When are you planning on heading over? You'll be able to drive up to the rim, but I believe the entire rim drive hasn't opened yet. https://www.nps.gov/crla/planyourvisit/conditions.htm
I second the heads up on mosquitos. You should be fine as long as you're moving, but they can swarm you when you stop - especially if you stop in a shady spot out of the wind. I recommend bringing the repellant just in case. The climb from the visitors center to the rim is a steep one. It's a narrow stretch, but the cars will be driving slow so it shouldn't be a hazard. You should get plenty of riding in even without riding all the way around the rim, but you might want to call the visitors center if you want to make sure the rim is open.

Check out Kimball State Recreation Site in the Fort Klamath area.

Have a good ride!