Crater Lake (Southern Cascades)
written by the_fstops_here
on October 26th, 2008
, 2 comments
(3 votes)
Crater Lake is an 8 × 10 km remnant caldera of Mount Mazama located in the southern Cascades of Oregon. 7,700 years ago Mount Mazama explosively erupted in one of the world’s largest known Holocene (<10,000 years old) eruptions.
You can find ash layers from this eruption as far away as Canada and everywhere in between. Subsequent eruptions caused the crater walls to collapse forming what is now Crater Lake caldera. These eruptions also produced interesting features like Wizard Island (the conical shaped formation located in the lake) and Ghost Rocks. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States (maximum depth just over 600 m) and the seventh deepest lake in the world. The water is extremely clear and on a sunny day its shades of blue are absolutely amazing. There is a Crater Lake rim drive (~30km) you can take by car or bicycle where the lake is in view the entire time.
In early summer pollen from the trees that surround the lake coalesce in the water to form really interested patterns and swirls. There are many places to pull off of the road and have a snack. You can also hike down to the one and only boat launch, take a dip, or take the Park Service boat ride out to Wizard Island. I hear this is a must, unfortunately we had to pass this time around.
More information from the NPS and USGS:
http://www.nps.gov/crla/
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