Mount Hood & Crater Lake Road Cameras: Oregon Park Drives

Two of Oregon's signature drives climb straight into the snow line. US-26 carries you up the south flank of Mount Hood to the ski lodges at Government Camp, and OR-62 delivers you to Crater Lake National Park, the deepest lake in the country, ringed by a road that vanishes under 40-plus feet of snow each winter. Both trips are gorgeous — and both can turn on you fast when a storm rolls in off the Cascades. Before you commit to either, pull up the live Oregon camera map and see what the road is actually doing, pass by pass.

This guide is built around the destinations: which cameras and routes reach Mt. Hood and Crater Lake, the park roads that close in winter, and how to read the conditions before you climb.

Mount Hood: US-26 to Government Camp

Mt. Hood rises to 11,249 feet, the tallest peak in Oregon, and the road that serves it is US-26 (the Mount Hood Highway). From Portland the highway runs about 55 miles east and climbs to Government Camp at roughly 4,000 feet, the village at the base of the ski areas. Just past it, US-26 meets OR-35 near the Barlow/Bennett Pass area, the loop route around the mountain toward Hood River.

This is a year-round road, but it is firmly winter country from late fall into spring:

• Timberline Lodge sits at 6,000 feet, reached by a steep spur road off US-26 at Government Camp. It has the longest ski season in North America — lifts often run into summer on the Palmer snowfield.
• Mt. Hood Meadows lies a few miles east near Bennett Pass on OR-35, and Mt. Hood Skibowl is right at Government Camp.
• ODOT routinely posts traction-tire and chain requirements on US-26 above the foothills during storms. The mountain can be clear in Portland and a whiteout at the Camp.

On the Oregon camera map, the Central Oregon area chip pulls in the US-26 cameras over Mt. Hood at Government Camp, and you can search "Government Camp," "Mt. Hood," or "US-26" to jump straight to the climb. Check the summit cameras before you leave the valley — the picture at the top tells you more than any forecast.

Crater Lake: which entrance is open

Crater Lake is the trickier trip to plan, because the way in depends entirely on the season. The park has more than one approach, and most of them close for winter.

• South Entrance via OR-62 (Annie Spring) — this is the only entrance plowed and open year-round. OR-62 reaches it from Medford (about 80 miles) to the west or from Klamath Falls to the south. From the entrance, Munson Valley Road is plowed up to Rim Village for winter lake views.
• North Entrance via OR-138 — this approach from Roseburg and Diamond Lake is closed by snow roughly November through June. When it's shut, the standard winter workaround is OR-138 to OR-230 down to OR-62.
• Rim Drive — the 33-mile loop around the caldera is closed all winter, typically from late October until it can be cleared in late spring or early summer. With elevations from about 5,850 to 7,960 feet and over 40 feet of snow a year, it isn't plowed at all in the cold months.

So if you're driving to Crater Lake between roughly November and June, plan on OR-62 and the south entrance, expect Rim Drive and the north entrance to be gated, and check those approach cameras first on the Oregon ODOT map. ODOT's cameras cover the OR-62 and OR-138 corridors that feed the park; for conditions inside the park itself and exact gate dates, the National Park Service is the authority.

Honest seasonal closures

The single most important thing to know about both destinations is what is not open:

• Crater Lake Rim Drive: closed every winter (roughly late October to early summer). The lake is still visible from plowed Rim Village in winter, but you cannot drive the loop.
• Crater Lake North Entrance (OR-138): closed in winter and spring, usually until early June.
• Mt. Hood passes stay open but go to chains. US-26 over Government Camp and OR-35 over Bennett Pass are kept open year-round, but traction devices are frequently required, and ODOT does close them temporarily in severe storms or for avalanche control.

Always verify gate status before you go — a long drive to a closed entrance is a wasted day. The cameras show you the driving conditions; the park and ODOT confirm whether the road is open.

Winter and weather driving

• Check the summit camera first on the US-26 climb to Government Camp — the valley and the mountaintop are routinely two different storms.
• Carry chains for either trip in winter, even with good tires. Both Mt. Hood and the Crater Lake approaches see traction requirements, and OR-62's high stretches ice over fast.
• A wet-looking road near freezing is usually ice. Tap a camera's nearby road-weather (RWIS) station to pair the image with air and surface temperature before you climb.
• Fuel up low. Services thin out fast past the last towns on both routes; the Diamond Lake area is the main stop on the OR-138 side.
• Storms move in off the Pacific, so conditions can deteriorate hour to hour — recheck the cameras right before you leave, not the night before.

How to use the map for these trips

The Oregon camera map is built for exactly this kind of pre-trip check, and a few features make it faster:

• Area chips — tap Central Oregon for the US-26 / Mt. Hood cameras, or Southern Oregon to scan the OR-62 corridor toward Crater Lake.
• Search — type a highway or place ("US-26," "OR-62," "Government Camp," "Medford") to jump straight to the route you care about.
• Favorites — star the cameras you check every trip, like the Government Camp climb or your OR-62 turnoff, so they load with one tap on your device.
• Nearby weather — open any camera to see a larger image alongside the closest road-weather station, the quickest way to catch ice before it catches you.

Heading farther afield? You can also pull up the all-states road camera map to plan a multi-state route, and if your trip continues north across the Columbia, the Washington WSDOT cameras cover the passes and corridors on the other side of the river. The map is a real-time gut check — but for official closures, chain laws, and park gate dates, always confirm with ODOT (TripCheck, or dial 511 in Oregon) and the National Park Service before you travel.