This panorama of Crater Lake, taken by James Blakeway, features a stunning blue lake with depths of 1,943 feet and two picturesque islands, surrounded by sheer cliffs almost 2000 feet high. Located in Oregons Crater Lake National Park, it is the deepest lake in the United States and ninth deepest in the world. Known for the purest water on earth, the lake is isolated from surrounding streams and rivers, with no inlet or outlet, and receives its primary input from an average of 524 inches of snowfall annually. Almost 7,700 years ago, a 12,000-foot-tall volcano collapsed following a major eruption and created the beautiful lake we know today, whose waters are of unmatched color and clarity.