This week’s challenge provides an opportunity to spotlight Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, USA. Originally named Mount Mazama, it was the tallest peak in Oregon at 12,000 feet until around 5400 B.C. when the mountain had a massive eruption, which created the caldera and reduced it’s height to 7,000 – 8,000 feet. Over the next 720 years water filled the caldera to its present depth, and lava eruptions created Wizard Island and Merriam Cone.

Wizard Island

Merriam Cone

Crater Lake is 5 by 6 miles across and has no inlets or tributaries. Its average depth is 1,148 feet and at its deepest is 1,949 feet, which makes it the deepest lake in the United States, the Western Hemisphere and the third deepest lake in the world. If it is compared to the average depth of lakes with basins entirely above sea level, Crater Lake is the deepest.

Deep Blue

From every vista Crater Lake’s intense beauty is profound.