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52-487: With a maximum depth of 1,486 ft (453 m), Lake Chelan is the third deepest lake in the United States behind Crater Lake , the deepest, and Lake Tahoe , the second deepest. Because of overdeepening, the sides of this lake drop steeply to its bottom. The deepest part of Lake Chelan lies as much as 436 ft (133 m) below sea level. In places, the bedrock floor of the valley occupied by Lake Chelan, which

104-529: A 35.63 lb (16.16 kg) Lake Trout was caught, setting the state record. The Lake Chelan AVA surrounds the southernmost 12 miles of Lake Chelan. A subzone of the larger Columbia Valley AVA , the Lake Chelan AVA is home to 31 tasting rooms. At the north end of the lake, surrounding the town of Stehekin, is Lake Chelan National Recreation Area (NRA). Bordering the Lake Chelan NRA

156-399: A broad "shadow" of dry climate region behind the mountain crests . This climate typically takes the form of shrub–steppe , xeric shrublands or even deserts . The condition exists because warm moist air rises by orographic lifting to the top of a mountain range. As atmospheric pressure decreases with increasing altitude, the air has expanded and adiabatically cooled to the point that

208-473: A full-sized tree which is now a log that has been bobbing vertically in the lake for over a century. The low temperature of the water has slowed the decomposition of the wood, hence its longevity. In 1987, scientists sent a submersible down to the depths of Crater Lake to obtain more information about the geology at the bottom of the lake, and inspect moss samples found in moss beds as deep as 600 feet (180 m). Due to several unique factors, mainly that

260-408: A low throughout the course of the year. The name Chelan is a Salish Indigenous word, " Tsi - Laan ," meaning 'Deep Water'. Due to the isolated nature of Lake Chelan, especially at its northern reaches, there is not a large population that resides along the shore. Chelan , which had 4,222 residents at the 2020 census , is currently the only incorporated city situated along the lake shore. The city

312-624: A natural rock pillar, is located near the southern shore. Since 2002, one of Oregon's regular-issue license-plate designs has featured Crater Lake and a one-time plate surcharge is used to support the operation of Crater Lake National Park. The commemorative Oregon State Quarter , which was released by the United States Mint in 2005, features an image of Crater Lake on its reverse. The lake and surrounding park areas offer many recreational activities, including hiking, biking, snowshoeing, fishing, and cross-country skiing, and during

364-495: A period when the prevailing climate was less moist than at present. Some hydrothermal activity remains along the lake floor, suggesting that at some time in the future, Mazama may erupt once again. Crater Lake features a subalpine climate , with the rare dry-summer type ( Köppen classification Dsc ) owing to its high elevation and – like all of Oregon – the strong summer influence of the North Pacific High . In

416-522: A permit is obtained. The park's facilities lie at Rim Village, at the southern edge of the caldera. Lodging and camping facilities open during the summer season between May and October. No lodges, gas stations, or camping areas remain open from October through late May. Popular activities within Crater Lake National Park include biking , fishing, cross-country skiing , and snowshoeing . Rain shadow A rain shadow

468-432: A rate such that the total amount of water is replaced every 150 years. With a depth of 1,949 feet (594 m), the lake is the deepest in the United States. In the world, it ranks tenth for maximum depth, as well as third for mean (average) depth. Crater Lake features two small islands. Wizard Island , located near the western shore of the lake, is a cinder cone about 316 acres (128 hectares) in size. Phantom Ship ,

520-399: Is 5 by 6 miles (8.0 by 9.7 km) across, with a caldera rim ranging in elevation from 7,000 to 8,000 feet (2,100 to 2,400 m) and an average lake depth of 1,148 feet (350 m). The lake's maximum depth has been measured at 1,949 feet (594 m), which fluctuates slightly as the weather changes. On the basis of maximum depth, Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States,

572-535: Is a popular recreating activity on Lake Chelan. The following fish are or were native to the lake: Bull Trout , Westslope cutthroat trout , Largescale sucker , Longnose sucker , Bridgelip sucker , Northern pikeminnow , Peamouth , Redside shiner , Mountain whitefish , Pygmy whitefish . In addition to these native species, six species have been introduced to the lake, primarily for sport fishing purposes: Yellowstone cutthroat trout , Rainbow trout , Kokanee , Brook trout , Chinook salmon , Lake trout In 2013,

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624-411: Is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds , known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes ) is carried by the prevailing onshore breezes towards the drier and hotter inland areas. When encountering elevated landforms , the moist air is driven upslope towards

676-504: Is buried by Pleistocene glacial and lacustrine sediments , lies at least 1,529 ft (466 m) below sea level . Two communities lie on the southern end of the lake, and a third sits at the far north end, providing a gateway to the North Cascades National Park . On an annual basis, an average of 2,200 cubic feet per second (62 m/s) flow into the lake. Approximately 75% of the water that flows into

728-477: Is in this part of the lake that the maximum depth of 1,486 feet (453 m) is found. Lucerne basin contains 92% of the water in Lake Chelan and 74% of the surface area, leaving Wapato with only 8% of the total volume of water and 26% of the surface area. The upper basin of Lake Chelan is surrounded by more mountainous terrain, resulting in few beaches along the shoreline. Approximately 50 miles (80 km) of

780-600: Is located at the southern terminus of the lake, adjacent to the Lake Chelan Dam and the Chelan River outflow. The census-designated place of Manson , which had 1,523 residents in 2020, is also located at the southern end of the lake. The unincorporated community of Stehekin , with approximately 75 residents, is located at the northern terminus of the lake, adjacent to the Stehekin River inflow. At

832-414: Is notably dry, with Chelan averaging only 11.4 inches (29 cm) of rain per year, along with 21.8 inches (55 cm) of snow. Stehekin receives an average of 35.5 inches (90 cm) of rain per year, and 122.5 inches (311 cm) of snow. Other than precipitation trends, the climates are remarkably similar. Both locations average around 60 °F (16 °C) for a high, and 40 °F (4 °C) for

884-462: Is permitted in Crater Lake, but the only legal and safe way to get to the shore is by following Cleetwood Cove trail and people can enter the water from there. Other activities include fishing and a 2-hour boat tour around the lake provided by a Park Ranger from Crater Lake National Park . As the region lies within a national park area, collecting rocks within the vicinity is prohibited unless

936-522: Is shallower and approximately a fourth the total length of the lake. The upper basin, Lucerne, is much deeper and extends for the remainder of the length of the lake. The two basins are separated by a sill rising to within 122 ft (37 m) of the surface, at a point known as the narrows, at which the lake is only 0.35 miles (0.56 km) wide. The lower basin, Wapato, reaches a maximum depth of only 400 feet (120 m). About 600 feet (180 m) of glacial sediment and rockslide deposits rest on top of

988-497: Is the Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness . The Wenatchee National Forest surrounds much of the lake on either side. Two state parks are located on the southern edge, not far from the city of Chelan. These state parks are Twenty-Five Mile Creek State Park and Lake Chelan State Park . In addition to the protected land located directly on the shores of Lake Chelan, Stehekin serves not only as a gateway to

1040-506: Is the third deepest lake in the United States, and the 25th deepest in the world . At its deepest, the lake bottom is 388 feet (118 m) below sea level. The total watershed of the lake is 924 square miles (2,390 km) More than 90% of the watershed is forested land. The remainder of the basin is composed of the lake itself (5.6%) and agriculture (3.5%). The fjord-like topography of the Lake Chelan valley results from repeated glacial erosion and deposition (maybe nine or ten times) during

1092-474: The Cascade Range volcanic arc , was built up mostly of andesite , dacite , and rhyodacite over a period of at least 400,000 years. The caldera was created in a massive volcanic eruption between 6,000 and 8,000 years ago that led to the subsidence of Mount Mazama. About 12 cubic miles (50 km ) of rhyodacite was erupted in this event. Since that time, all eruptions on Mazama have been confined to

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1144-740: The Southern Hemisphere . The westerlies are the prevailing winds in the middle latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees latitude , blowing predominantly from the southwest in the Northern Hemisphere and from the northwest in the Southern Hemisphere. Some of the strongest westerly winds in the middle latitudes can come in the Roaring Forties of the Southern Hemisphere, between 30 and 50 degrees latitude. Examples of notable rain shadowing include: On

1196-473: The Western United States . It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is famous for its deep blue color and water clarity . The lake partly fills a 2,148-foot-deep (655 m) caldera that was formed around 7,700 (± 150) years ago by the collapse of the volcano Mount Mazama . No rivers flow into or out of the lake; the evaporation is compensated for by rain and snowfall at

1248-438: The peak , where it expands, cools, and its moisture condenses and starts to precipitate . If the landforms are tall and wide enough, most of the humidity will be lost to precipitation over the windward side (also known as the rainward side) before ever making it past the top. As the air descends the leeward side of the landforms, it is compressed and heated, producing foehn winds that absorb moisture downslope and cast

1300-517: The Lake Chelan NRA, but also to the rest of the North Cascades National Park Complex, Stephen Mather Wilderness , and adjacent National Forest Wilderness Areas. Approximately 87% of the Lake Chelan watershed is owned by either federal, state, or local entities, with the rest in private ownership. Crater Lake Crater Lake ( Klamath : Giiwas ) is a volcanic crater lake in south-central Oregon in

1352-678: The Lake Chelan valley. The glacial lobe flowed down the Lake Chelan valley until meeting glacial ice of the main Okanogan Lobe advancing up the valley from the Columbia River drainage near Manson . The deposits of the northwestward advancing Okanagan lobe are characterized by large, basalt glacial erratics . As the Skagit Lobe during the Last Glacial Maximum and glacial lobes during older glaciations flowed to

1404-697: The Pleistocene Period. The last episode of glacial erosion and deposition in the basin occurred during the Last Glacial Maximum about 21,000 years ago. At that time, in the upper Similkameen River valley of British Columbia , the Skagit Lobe split from the Okanogan Lobe of the Cordilleran ice sheet and advanced south into the Skagit River drainage. Skagit ice passed through Fisher and Rainy passes, and down Bridge Creek into

1456-468: The Three Sisters located 80 miles (130 km) north of Mazama and Mount Thielsen , also to the north. The Cleetwood trail leads for 1 mile (1.6 km) down the northern flank of the caldera rim, eventually reaching Cleetwood Cove where boat trips run from late June or early July throughout the summer season to Wizard Island. Wizard Island can be climbed, offering views of Crater Lake. Swimming

1508-783: The West Coast: Most rain shadows in the western United States are due to the Sierra Nevada mountains in California and Cascade Mountains , mostly in Oregon and Washington . The Colorado Front Range is limited to precipitation that crosses over the Continental Divide . While many locations west of the Divide may receive as much as 1,000 millimetres (40 in) of precipitation per year, some places on

1560-484: The air reaches its adiabatic dew point (which is not the same as its constant pressure dew point commonly reported in weather forecasts). At the adiabatic dew point, moisture condenses onto the mountain and it precipitates on the top and windward sides of the mountain. The air descends on the leeward side, but due to the precipitation it has lost much of its moisture. Typically, descending air also gets warmer because of adiabatic compression (as with foehn winds) down

1612-406: The average window for freezing temperatures is August 20 through July 10, while for measurable (≥0.1 in or 0.25 cm) snowfall, September 28 through June 11. Since the collapse of Mount Mazama due to a volcanic eruption formed Crater Lake, no fish inhabited the lake until William Gladstone Steel decided to stock it in 1888 to allow for fishing. Regular stocking continued until 1941, when it

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1664-403: The bedrock. This section of the lake is 12 miles (19 km) long, and has an average depth of 190 feet (58 m). Due to the relatively modest size of this basin, water resides in this basin for only 0.8 years, compared to 10 for Lucerne Basin. The upper Lucerne basin is 38 miles (61 km) long with an average depth of 1,148 feet (350 m) and thus by far the larger of the two basins. It

1716-430: The caldera walls and other dangerous tasks. Those who were successful in such quests were often regarded as having more spiritual powers. The tribe still holds Crater Lake in high regard as a spiritual site. Located 56 miles (90 km) north of the city of Klamath Falls and 62 miles (100 km) northeast of Medford , Crater Lake can be reached from U.S. Route 97 on the east, on the southwest by Highway 62, and on

1768-462: The caldera. Lava eruptions later created a central platform, Wizard Island , Merriam Cone, and other, smaller volcanic features, including a rhyodacite dome that was eventually created atop the central platform. Sediments and landslide debris also covered the caldera floor. Eventually, the caldera cooled, allowing rain and snow to accumulate and form a lake. Landslides from the caldera rim thereafter formed debris fans and turbidite sediments on

1820-576: The collapse of Mount Mazama and the formation of Crater Lake, regard the lake as an "abode to the Great Spirit". Klamath oral history tells of a battle between the sky god Skell and the god of the underworld Llao (a prominent feature at Crater Lake is Llao Rock). Mount Mazama was destroyed in the battle, creating Crater Lake, called giiwas in the Klamath language . The Klamath people used Crater Lake in vision quests , which often involved climbing

1872-471: The eastern side, notably the cities of Denver and Pueblo, Colorado , typically receive only about 12 to 19 inches. Thus, the Continental Divide acts as a barrier for precipitation. This effect applies only to storms traveling west-to-east. When low pressure systems skirt the Rocky Mountains and approach from the south, they can generate high precipitation on the eastern side and little or none on

1924-547: The eruption roughly 7,700 years ago. Crater Lake remains significant to the Klamath tribes today. The Klamath name for the lake is Giiwas . In June 1853, Isaac Skeeter, John Wesley Hillman, and another man were the first non-Native Americans to report sighting the lake, while on a mining trip; Skeeter named it "Deep Blue Lake," inspired by Hillman's description of the site. The lake was renamed at least three times, as Blue Lake, Lake Majesty, and finally Crater Lake. The lake

1976-439: The lake bed. Fumaroles and hot springs remained common and active during this period. Also after some time, the slopes of the lake's caldera rim more or less stabilized, streams restored a radial drainage pattern on the mountain, and dense forests began to revegetate the barren landscape. It is estimated that about 720 years was required to fill the lake to its present depth of 1,949 feet (594 m). Much of this occurred during

2028-486: The lake comes from two tributaries. The Stehekin River alone contributes 65% of all water to Lake Chelan, averaging 1,401 cu ft/s (39.7 m/s) annually. The other major tributary, Railroad Creek , averages 202 cu ft/s (5.7 m/s) annually. The remaining water is added via a number of smaller tributaries as well as direct rain and snowfall. With a maximum depth of 1,486 feet (453 m), Lake Chelan

2080-623: The lake has no inlets or tributaries , the waters of Crater Lake are some of the purest in the world because of the absence of pollutants. Clarity readings from a Secchi disk have consistently been measured as being 120 ft (37 m), which is very clear for any natural body of water. In 1997, scientists recorded a record clarity of 142 ft (43 m). The lake has relatively high levels of dissolved salts, total alkalinity , and conductivity. The average pH has generally ranged between 7 and 8. The Klamath tribe of Native Americans , whose oral history describes their ancestors witnessing

2132-810: The largest scale, the entirety of the North American Interior Plains are shielded from the prevailing Westerlies carrying moist Pacific weather by the North American Cordillera . More pronounced effects are observed, however, in particular valley regions within the Cordillera, in the direct lee of specific mountain ranges. This includes much of the Basin and Range Province in the United States and Mexico . The Pacific Coast Ranges create rain shadows near

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2184-470: The leeward side of the mountain, which increases the amount of moisture that it can absorb and creates an arid region. There are regular patterns of prevailing winds found in bands round Earth's equatorial region. The zone designated the trade winds is the zone between about 30° N and 30° S, blowing predominantly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in

2236-403: The less complete snow cover records show cover as high as 192 in or 4.88 m occurred during another particularly unsettled winter in 1981/1982. The heaviest daily snowfall was 37.0 inches (94.0 cm), which occurred as recently as February 28, 1971; 20 in (51 cm) or more in one storm has occurred in both June and September. Hard frost is possible even into the summer, and

2288-573: The mean, or average depth of lakes, Crater Lake becomes the deepest lake in the Western Hemisphere and the third-deepest in the world. Crater Lake Institute Director and limnologist Owen Hoffman states that "Crater Lake is the deepest, when compared on the basis of average depth among lakes whose basins are entirely above sea level . The average depths of Lakes Baikal and Tanganyika are deeper than Crater Lake; however, both have basins that extend below sea level." Mount Mazama, part of

2340-485: The mouth of the Railroad Creek sits Lucerne , a small community of private cabins served by commercial boats. Lucerne is also the primary gateway to the community of Holden Village , a Lutheran retreat center located 11 mi (18 km) inland from the lake. With approximately 50 long-term residents, Holden includes one of the few remaining public K-12 two-room schools in the contiguous United States. Fishing

2392-695: The northwest by Highway 138. Crater Lake and the remnants of Mount Mazama can be seen from Rim Drive, a 33-mile (53 km) road that surrounds the caldera, which is the only part within the Crater Lake National Park where vehicles are permitted. The Garfield Peak Trail , which runs 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east from the Crater Lake Lodge , offers views from 1,900 feet (580 m) above the lake's surface, with Mount Shasta visible 125 miles (201 km) southward. Another trail runs for 2.5 miles (4.0 km) from Rim Drive's eastern edge to Mount Scott, which offers views of central and southern Oregon such as

2444-615: The second-deepest in North America (after Great Slave Lake in Canada), and the ninth-deepest lake in the world . Crater Lake is often cited as the seventh-deepest lake in the world, but this ranking excludes Lake Vostok in Antarctica, which is beneath about 13,000 feet (4,000 m) of ice, and the recent depth soundings of O'Higgins/San Martín Lake , which is along the border of Chile and Argentina . When considering

2496-529: The shoreline of this basin are in National Forest lands, and 12 miles (19 km) in National Park lands. The climate of Lake Chelan's watershed is varied. From the southern end of the lake in the rain shadow of the Cascade Range , to the northern tip of the lake located in the eastern Cascades, the climate of Lake Chelan's watershed is as diverse as the lake is long. The south end's weather

2548-491: The southeast down the Lake Chelan valley, they excavated the deep glacial trough that is now occupied by Lake Chelan. The depth of the Lucerne Basin and the elevation of glacial till and moraines and glacier-scoured bedrock on the walls of the overdeepened Lake Chelan valley indicates that the thickness of the Skagit Lobe was over 1 mi (1.6 km). Lake Chelan is composed of two basins. The lower basin, Wapato,

2600-540: The summer, campgrounds and lodges at Crater Lake are open to visitors. Crater Lake is in Klamath County , around 60 miles (97 km) northwest of the county seat of Klamath Falls , and about 80 miles (130 km) northeast of the city of Medford . A Native American connection with this area has been traced back to before the eruption of Mount Mazama. Archaeologists have found sandals and other artifacts buried under layers of ash, dust, and pumice that antedate

2652-506: The summer, the weather is mild and dry, but in the winter is cold and the powerful influence of the Aleutian Low allows for enormous snowfalls averaging 463.1 inches (11.76 m) per year and maximum snow cover averaging 139 in or 3.53 m. This snow does not usually melt until mid-July, and allows for substantial glaciers on adjacent mountains. In the winter of 1949/1950 as much as 885.1 inches (22.48 m) of snow fell, while

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2704-457: Was evident that the fish could maintain a stable population without outside interference. Six species of fish were originally stocked, but only two species have survived: kokanee salmon and rainbow trout , with the former being the most plentiful. Fishing in Crater Lake is promoted because the fish species are not indigenous to the lake. Crater Lake is also known for the " Old Man of the Lake ",

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