About Crater Lake National Park
Crater Lake is an inspiring place like no other. No place else on earth combines a deep, pure lake, so blue in color with surrounding cliffs measuring almost two thousand feet high, two beautiful islands and a violent volcanic past. Crater Lake is a place of immeasurable beauty, located in southern Oregon.
Crater Lake National Park is host to a diverse array of activities. While enjoying the natural scenic wonders, park visitors may hike in old growth forests, enjoy a boat tour around the lake, participate in a variety of interpretive activities, camp out or stay in a historic hotel, or even cross-country ski during the eight-month-long winters in the high Cascades. The park is always open, but many of the roads and facilities are closed during the winter.
The lake lies inside a volcanic basin, created when the 12,000-foot-high Mount Mazama erupted some 7,000 years ago and the top 5,000 feet of the mountain was blown away. Generous amounts of winter snow, an average of 533 inches per year, supply the lake with water, as there are no inlets or outlets to the lake. At 1,943 feet deep, Crater Lake is the seventh deepest lake in the world and the deepest in the nation.