Home»Travel»Great Western Loop Road Trip '17»Crater Lake

I've never had much luck with photography at Crater Lake. A few years ago, I had to drive by it due to extreme haze from forest fires. This time, I had a short window of clarity when I first arrived, but that quickly disappeared due to smoke (see last photo from my iPhone for a glimpse of the haze)!

Crater Lake famous for its water clarity and deep blue color. It is the cleanest lake in the world.

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States. The volcano eruption was witnessed by the Klamath tribe thousands of years ago...and the caldera was quickly (a couple of hundred years) filled by rain and snow melt. Crater Lake averages over 500 inches of snow each year...which is part of the reason there is still snow there during my visit in late July.