Crater Lake is on a mountain top.
According to a legend of the Klamath tribe, Crater Lake was created during a battle between Skell, the god of the sky, and Llao, the god of the underworld. During the conflict Mount Mazama erupted, collapsed in spectacular fashion and created a caldera. Over the centuries the caldera filled with snowmelt and rainwater and formed a lake.
The erupting Mount Mazama shot enormous amounts of ash skyward. Some of that fell back to create the park’s 15m (50 ft) deep Pumice Desert. The desert is porous and cannot sustain much plant life. What exists is hardy enough to survive the terrain.
The six Klamath tribes were bound together by ties of loyalty and family, they lived along the Klamath Marsh, on the banks of Agency Lake, near the mouth of the Lower Williamson River, on Pelican Bay, beside the Link River, and in the uplands of the Sprague River Valley. The Modoc’s lands included the Lower Lost River, around Clear Lake, and the territory that extended south as far as the mountains beyond Goose Lake. The Yahooskin Bands occupied the area east of the Yamsay Mountain, south of Lakeview, and north of Fort Rock. Everything they needed was contained within these lands.
Geologists estimate that Mount Mazama erupted about 4860 BC.
The Klamath tribe may have been living in the area when the lake was formed about 7,700 years ago. To them and other American tribes the lake has long been a spiritual place accessible only to those with great wisdom and strength.
The lake is 78 sq.km (30 sq.mi) in area with an average depth of 350 m (1,148 ft) Its maximum depth is 594 m (1,949 ft) making it the deepest lake in the United States. Great Slave Lake in Canada is the deepest lake in North America. In terms of mean depth Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the Western Hemisphere.
The lake has no inlet or outlet. The water from centuries of snow melt and rain is a deep cobalt blue due to its purity and depth. It has very few minerals and almost no impurities. The water level is maintained by precipitation, evaporation and seepage.
Wizard Island, a rock formation, rises 52 m (170 ft) above the water near the west shore. It is the home of the Spirit Chief, ruler of the Land of the Dead
Crater Lake was rediscovered by a group of gold prospectors in 1853. They called it Deep Blue Lake. It became part of Crater Lake National Park in 1902.