By:
Submission
Carter Lake Campground is a family favorite in the Oregon Dunes Recreation Area. This campground is located on Carter Lake, perfect for fishing, swimming and boating. The Pacific coast is just a short drive away. Recreation Hike the Carter Dune Trail, which attracts campers and locals alike. Fishing for rainbow trout is a good way to pass the time, and canoeing and kayaking are excellent on Carter Lake. The dunes region is famous for off-road vehicle riding trails, too. Facilities Drinking water and flush toilets are available and each site has a campfire pit, picnic table, trash and recycling collection. Parking aprons are paved. Natural Features Campsites are nestled among shore pine, sitka spruce and Douglas fir, with hedges of rhododendron. Carter Lake spans 28 acres at an altitude of 100 feet. The campground is part of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, known for its wind-sculpted sand dunes towering up to 500 feet above sea level. Nearby Attractions Explore the waterways of the region, including Oregon's lovely Pacific Ocean, Tahkenitch Lake and Siltcoos Lake. ADA Access: N
From Florence, travel south on Highway 101 for 11 miles. Carter Lake Campground entrance is on the west side of Highway 101.
Outstanding place to visit with friends and family. The views are spectacular and well worth the trip. We took the trolley which you have to reserve at least a day prior and then pay, check in and hop in. It takes 2hrs with multiple stops for the trolley to show you all the amazing views and tell you about the history of the park. I highly recommend this location.
I have been meaning to come to this park for a decade, and it just hasn't happened. I'm glad I finally made it. It is a beautiful place to be, and you really don't get the same experience looking at photos. Right now, the East rim is shut down for the next few years, to repave it and make it safer.
If you want to be able to see inside the visitor center, which has more educational material, that is only open between may and August, so we missed it. There is a park ranger on hand if you have questions or want to get more information, but he was very reluctant to answer any questions. I found this odd as that is the reason he stands there, next to the visitor center.
Dogs are allowed on leash as long as they are well-behaved. Unfortunately, while we were there, there were a couple of older ladies who had wire-haired terriers of some kind, who were dog vicious... even if on leash. Our dog tripped over herself, trying to get away when they lunged at her, and the older ladies clearly were not in control and struggled to pull those dog aggressive terriers back physically.. I could hear that they were using shock collars, but the dogs were ignoring it. I was very disappointed to see the park rangers did not intervene or say one word to the ladies with the vicious dogs.
There are banded chipmunks running all over the place, and they will try to steal your food from you.
Gift shop is all China important junk. As is typical, it is all extremely overpriced. The bathrooms are outside of the gift shop in a building by themselves next to the paved walkpath with the viewpoints of crater Lake. There is also an interpretive area giving you more education about the area, the lake, and all the volcanoes in the area, down a steep, paved decline, and some steps. I found out that the center has been there since nineteen-thirty, so some of those steps are rather uneven, and they can be a trip hazard, as some of the patrons experienced heading back up.
Overall, it was a fun and interesting place to see once.
Great place to visit if you love nature! We really enjoyed ourselves here, although the food at the Rim Lodge was expensive and they didn't have all the stuff on the menu!
Awesome, as always. The eastern section of the park was closed for road work. The place could use a few more restrooms at the viewpoints. The usual amount of Darwin Award candidates were present, standing on the edge beyond the signs and fences.
