This week on our national parks journey, we travel to the northwestern state of Oregon. Here, you will find a huge, deep lake. It waters seem impossibly blue. It is the deepest lake in America and one of the deepest lakes in the world. Its water among the clearest and purest found on Earth.
Around the lake runs the wall of an extinct volcano. In the middle of the lake a small island rises over 230 meters above the surface.
Welcome to Crater Lake National Park.
The lake’s beauty inspires artists, photographers and nature lovers. That beauty was born from the violent burst of Mount Mazama about 7,700 ago. Hot liquid -- called magma -- rose from deep under the mountain, causing it to collapse.
The powerful burst destroyed the surrounding area. Huge amounts of ash fell on the land. The burst also left an enormous, circular hole in the mountain’s center. Scientists call this a caldera.