Crater Lake

As part of a caldera lake in the western United State’s south-central Oregon area is that of Crater Lake and Crater Lake National Park. It is best known for its amazing water clarity and deep blue color. The lake was first formed due to the collapse of the Mount Mazama volcano nearly 150 years ago; it partially fills a deep caldera that reaches depths of 2,148 feet. While there are no flowing rivers into the lake, it makes up for evaporation with rain and snowfall that are plentiful enough to replace the low water levels every 250 years. Crater is the deepest lake in the United States, with total depths of 1,949 feet. It ranks ninth in the world for maximum depth. There are two islands in Crater Lake. Wizard Island - which was formed when Crater began to fill with water from a cinder cone that erupted and Phantom Ship - which is much smaller and is home to seven living trees. The lake lives just 60 miles northwest of Klamath Falls in Oregon’s city of Medford. One well-known feature of this area is a full-sized tree called the Old Man of the Lake, which is now just a stump that bobs vertically in the water and has done so for over a century as the wood slowly decomposes in the low temperature waters.