I was digging through some old digitized slides of my father and came across this mystical image of a lake. A quick google search revealed what he snapped a picture of. This is a closeup of Wizard Island that sits in Crater Lake, a water filled caldera of Mount Mazama in Oregon, US.
Crater Lake - Oregon, US. Photo Credit: My father
Approximately 7,000 years ago, Mount Mazama underwent a cataclysmic eruption, spewing 12 cubic miles of material across most of the Pacific Northwest. It is described as super-colossal with a scale of 7 out of 8 on the VEI (volcanic explosively index) . The volcano collapsed and later filled with water. It is now called Crater Lake. [Google Maps] The cinder cone in the foreground developed and partially sits above the water, which is now called Wizard Island.
The lake has no natural inlets or outlets and therefore very little pollution since it has an altitude of 6200 ft. The water is very pure and is clear even at depths of 175 feet. The area receives about 500 inches of snowfall annually, that doesn't melt until mid July because of the high altitude. The lake itself is 1945 ft deep, making it the deepest lake in the United States.
You can swim there if you can tolerate the freezing water temperatures. Boating of any kind isn't allowed, but you can go fishing for rainbow trout and sockeye salmon that were stocked in the lake in the late 1800's before it became a state park in 1902. Crater Lake is the only state park in Oregon. I hope I get to visit it someday.
Awesome posts and pictures. I hope to visit here within the next year.
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