Oregon
Oregon’s Crater Lake to close to swimming, boat tours starting in 2026: What to know
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This coming summer will be the last chance to swim or take a boat tour in the waters of Crater Lake for an extended period.
Cleetwood Cove Trail, the only legal pathway to the shoreline of the United States’ deepest lake, will close in 2026 and stay closed for years due to a construction project, according to parks officials.
“The park is planning on starting construction in 2026,” a news release from Crater Lake National Park says. “Due to the extent work to be completed and short construction seasons, trail closures will be required and are expected during the duration of the 2027 and 2028 summer seasons.
“During this time, no boat tours will be provided and the trail will be closed due to construction and rockfall hazards. If construction goes as planned, the renovated trail will reopen in summer 2029.”
In an email to SF Gate, Crater Lake information officer Marsha McCabe confirmed that all access to the lake will be cut off and that visitors will only be able to enjoy views of the lake from above. Park scientists will be the only ones allowed the approach the lake, she said.
Although the news release says the trail will reopen in 2029, there appeared to be some chance it could reopen in 2028.
The Cleetwood Cove Trail is the most heavily used trail with thousands of park visitors hiking the trail to gain access to lakeshore each summer. At the bottom, there is a place to jump into the lake. The Cleetwood Cove Marina is the launch point for the concession-provided boat tours of Crater Lake and the park’s boats.
It’s not legal to access the lake by going down the lake’s cliffs into the caldera, and in fact there have been a number of rescues, deaths and accidents from people attempting to reach the lake through that method in the past.
“This project proposes to rehabilitate the trail and related infrastructure to ensure safe access to the lake, provide needed visitor services, and to protect the environment,” the news release said.
The work proposed includes:
- Rehabilitation of the entire 1.1 mile trail including improvements to trail tread and retaining walls.
- Rockfall scaling and mitigation along identified high risk zones.
- Removal and replacement of the failed bulkhead/dock with a structurally stable marina.
- Replacing the outdated and undersized composting toilets located near the marina.
The planning, design and compliance have been completed for the project, with the next step being solicitation of the construction contract.
Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 18 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on X at @ZachsORoutdoors and BlueSky at oregonoutdoors.bsky.social.
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USA TODAY
ESPN’s “College GameDay” is headed back to Eugene, Oregon.
The three-hour college football pregame show ― featuring host Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Nick Saban and Pat McAfee ― will preview the matchup between No. 5 Oregon and No.16 Southern California.
The Ducks faithful will be hoping for a better showing on “College GameDay” than the last time the pregame show came to Eugene: Oregon lost 30-20 to Indiana on Oct. 11, its lone loss of the season.
Saturday, Nov. 22, will mark the 33rd time Oregon will be featured on “GameDay” and first time since 2007 that “GameDay” has traveled to Eugene twice in the same season. The Ducks have a 20-14 record when on the show, and 9-4 when featured as the home team.
Oregon is coming off an impressive 42-13 win over Minnesota on Friday, Nov. 14. Dante Moore threw for 308 yards and two touchdowns, while Jordon Davison added two rushing touchdowns. The Ducks have won four in a row since the loss to the Hoosiers, which snapped an 18-game home winning streak.
USC is coming off a 26-21 win over Iowa to extend its winning streak to three straight games since a 34-24 loss to Notre Dame on Oct. 18. The Trojans are still alive for the College Football Playoff, and a win vs. Oregon could get them right back into the thick of the race. A loss, of course, could eliminate them.
Oregon and USC are both former members of the Pac-12, which moved over to the Big Ten ahead of the 2025 season. The Trojans lead the all-time series 38-23-2, with the Ducks winning the last three games.
The No. 8 Oregon Ducks dominated the Minnesota Golden Gophers from the opening kickoff on Friday night at Autzen Stadium, earning a 42-13 win to improve to 9-1 on the season. Throughout the season, the Ducks have been dominant in the running game, and that dominance was on full display in the win against the Golden Gophers.
Entering the game, Oregon had averaged just under 240 rushing yards per game, which is among the top 10 in college football. In the win against Minnesota, the Ducks found success in the running game from the start, with Jordon Davison reaching 12 touchdowns on the season in the first quarter, recording two rushing scores.
One of those two scores featured a beautiful 32-yard touchdown run to give the Ducks a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Davison finished the game with seven carries for 57 yards and two touchdowns.
Fresh off a 118-yard rushing performance in the Ducks’ 18-16 come-from-behind road win over the No. 21 Iowa Hawkeyes, Oregon’s leading rusher Noah Whittington put together another impressive game against Minnesota.
Early in the second quarter, with the Ducks up 14-3, Whittington had arguably one of the best touchdown runs of the season, as he escaped several Minnesota defenders to take it 40 yards to the house. On top of the crazy run, Whittington lost control of the ball momentarily in the end zone. After review for being a potential fumble in the end zone and a touchback, the play stood as a touchdown.
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Whittington finished the game leading Oregon in rushing with eight carries for 72 yards and a touchdown. Jay Harris, the Ducks’ fourth available running back, also added a 12-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter. Between Harris and running back Dierre Hill Jr, the two combined for 10 carries for 41 yards and a touchdown. Collectively as a whole, Oregon finished the game with 179 total rushing yards.
While not as dominant as it was in the road win against the Hawkeyes, the rushing performance was consistent in a game in which Oregon relied more on its passing game, led by quarterback Dante Moore.
Moving into Oregon’s final two games of the season against No. 17 USC at home and Washington on the road in Seattle, the Ducks’ dominance in the running game will be a strength to their offense that will be hard for opposing defenses to overcome.
At times this season, USC has struggled to defend the run, especially in its two losses to No. 10 Notre Dame and Illinois. Coach Dan Lanning’s Oregon team will aim to take advantage of that weakness against the Trojans and look to punish teams with its running game in the playoff, if the Ducks succeed in making it into the College Football Playoff for a second consecutive season.
Minnesota entered its matchup with Oregon having lost its first three road games of the season by an averaging of 30.0 points. It was much of the same story on Friday night with a 42-13 beatdown loss. Here’s what we learned.
After it took Oregon only nine plays and 4:13 to score a touchdown on the first drive of the game, Minnesota responded with one of the most baffling offensive drives you’ll ever see. After a false start on the first play, they went into wildcat formation, Darius Taylor pitched it to Drake Lindsey, who proceeded to complete a four-yard pass. They proceeded to fail a screen attempt, and then Lindsey was sacked for seven yards. It felt like it set the tone for the whole game.
When Minnesota returned Koi Perich and Kerry Brown at the safety position, it seemed like they would lead one of the better secondaries in the Big Ten. But the Gophers had to replace Justin Walley and Ethan Robinson at the cornerback position, and it has not gone well. Oregon QB Dante Moore was 18 of 20 for 200 yards and one touchdown in the first half, and it looked like the Ducks’ offense could get whatever they wanted.
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Minnesota’s best offensive drive in the first half resulted in a 26-yard field goal from Brady Denaburg. P.J. Fleck opted to settle for three points on a 4th and eight with 2:25 left in the first half, and a 21-3 deficit. That decision exemplifies his strategy in these games perfectly. Anyone who watches this team and watches college football, knew the Gophers weren’t going to have many trips in the red zone. If they wanted to play to win this game, that was an opportunity to make things interesting with a touchdown. Fleck opted to make the scoreboard look better, rather than try to win a football game.
After suffering a 27-14 nonconference loss at California, Minnesota failed to score a single touchdown in back-to-back blowout losses at Ohio State and Iowa. The Gophers settled for two field goals in the second half, but Lindsey found Javon Tracy in the third quarter to break a streak of 10 straight quarters without a touchdown.
You don’t have to be a sports betting expert, but point spreads often provide context for games like we saw on Friday night in Eugene. With another blowout loss, the Gophers move to 2-8-1 against the spread this season, which is tied for the second-worst mark in all of FBS. Fleck might point towards Minnesota’s touchdown, but they were not competitive in this game, and they weren’t competitive against Iowa and Ohio State. The Gophers obviously face a lot of challenges in terms of remaining competitive against programs like the Buckeyes and Ducks, but they aren’t even close.
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