USA Guide
The Pacific Northwest
Crater Lake National Park
Just over a hundred miles south of Bend, the blown-out shell of Mount Mazama holds the resoundingly beautiful Crater Lake (seven-day access fee $10; 
www.nps.gov/crla ), the deepest lake in the Western hemisphere, formed after an explosion 42 times greater than that of Mount St Helens. The biggest island on the lake, Wizard Island, is actually the tip of a still-rising cinder cone, and the so-called Phantom Ship, is a jagged volcanic dike that, in dim light or fog, resembles a mysterious clipper on the water. In its snowy isolation, the lake, at a depth of nearly two thousand feet, is awe-inspiring; in summer, wildflowers bloom along its high rim; the waters host a small population of rainbow trout and kokanee (landlocked) salmon, but these were introduced in the early 1900s.