Take a peek at my trip to Crater Lake in Oregon on August 21, 2003. Though the temperature in the lower elevations where very warm at 88ºF and up; it was very cold up in the mountains and around the lake.

This lake has to be the bluest of blue I have ever seen in my life; as you will soon see from my pictures.

Here is a brief history of the lake...
Crater lake is five miles wide and ringed by cliffs almost 2,000 feet high, the lake itself is the shattered remnants of a volcano called Mount Mazama, which errupted and collapsed into itself 7,700 years ago. Later eruptions formed Wizard Island and other volcanic features, now hidden under the lake. Crater Lake filled with rain and melted snow. At 1,943 feet deep, it is the deepest lake in the United States and one of the deepest in the world (7th).

The eruption that collapsed Mount Mazama was the largest in North America for hundreds of thousands of years covering over 5,000 square miles of ash. The lake that has formed in its shattered remnants is one of the purest and most pristine in the wold.



Facts

Maximum lake depth Average lake depth Maximum lake width Lake surface elevation Wizard Island elevation Wizard Island heigth above water Cliff elevation Percipitation, yearly average Snowfall, yearly average

1,943 ft 1,148 ft 6 mi 6,173 ft 6,940 ft 767 ft 8,173 ft 66 in 44 ft