With a depth of 592 meters (1,943 feet), Crater Lake in Oregon is the deepest lake in the United States. It’s so deep that a giant could stack six Statues of Liberty on top of the other within the lake and it still wouldn’t breach the surface.
As its name suggests, Crater Lake is a volcanic crater filled with water. It was formed around 7,700 years ago when the volcano complex Mount Mazama collapsed following one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in the past 12,000 years, according to the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program.
Over time, the crater was filled with water from rainfall and snowmelt. The lake has no rivers flowing into or out of it, so it’s solely stocked by precipitation, endowing it with exceptionally clear water with a deep blue appearance.
Sitting on the body of water, there are two islands named Wizard Island and Phantom Ship, named such because it looks like a mysterious ghost ship emerging from the water. The water is also home to the “Old Man of the Lake”, a 9-meter (30-foot) tall tree stump that’s been bobbing vertically in the lake for at least over a century.
Crater Lake covers a total surface area of 53 square kilometers (20.5 square miles), which is relatively small considering its massive depth.
A satellite image of Crater Lake taken by Landsat-8 on March 18, 2023.
Image credit: USGS/NASA
This part of Oregon gets doused in snow most winters, although the lake rarely freezes over because it contains such a large volume of water with a relatively small surface area. According to the National Park Service, the last time Crater Lake froze was in 1949.
Occasionally, in the summer months, a strange yellow gunk can accumulate on the lake’s surface. Although visitors often worry it’s some kind of chemical pollution, it’s actually natural pollen from the surrounding pine trees.
No fish are native to the lake, but several species were introduced between 1888 and 1941 for the purposes of fishing. Today, two species continue to thrive: kokanee salmon and rainbow trout. Other residents include a unique population of common rough-skinned newts that possess an unusual coloration. Unlike other members of the species, the newts of Crater Lake are skinny, and feature a dark belly and black leopard-like splotches.
The pristine lake is situated within the Crater Lake National Park, home to a wealth of wildlife including elk, black-tailed deer, black bears, mountain lions, American pikas, and bald eagles.
The Klamath Tribes have inhabited the area for over 13,000 years and still consider Crater Lake to be a sacred place. Remarkably, several archaeological sites have been unearthed in the region that are believed to have been buried beneath volcanic ash from the cataclysmic eruption over 7,000 years ago.
