Crater Lake National Park won't accept cash for entry fee in 2023

Zach Urness, Salem Statesman Journal
·1 min read
1
A view of Crater Lake as seen from The Watchman viewpoint.
A view of Crater Lake as seen from The Watchman viewpoint.

Crater Lake National Park will move to a fully cashless system for entry fees beginning on Jan. 1.

In an effort to save costs, the park said it would only accept credit or debit card payments, as well as payment apps on mobile devices. The entry fee remains $30 per car in summer and $20 per car in winter.

Passes for Crater Lake can be purchased in advance at Recreation.gov, along with the $55 annual pass or the $15 snowmobile fee. The America the Beautiful Pass, which is good at all national park sites and other federal land areas, is also available at the USGS Store. People who buy an annual pass at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, Lassen Volcanic National Park and Lava Beds National Monument in Northern California and Crater Lake National Park can use it to visit all four parks in 2023, according to the National Park Service.

The park said that moving to a cashless system "allows parks to be better stewards of visitor dollars by reducing the amount of time park staff spend managing cash, increasing the amount of fee revenue available to support critical projects and visitor services, and improving accountability and reducing risk," a news release said.

"Entrance fees are an important source of revenue used to improve the visitor experience in national parks, including road and facility repairs and maintenance, trail improvements, installation of accessible exhibits, visitor and resource protection services, and more," the release said.

Explore Oregon Podcast:Crater Lake winter road trip features snowshoeing, skiing, hot springs and waterfalls

Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 15 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. To support his work, subscribe to the Statesman Journal. Urness is the author of “Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon” and “Hiking Southern Oregon.” He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or 503-399-6801. Find him on Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Crater Lake National Park won't accept cash for entry fee in 2023