7,700 years ago Mount Mazama erupted in volcanic fury, destroying itself and leaving a massive crater where the mountain's peak once was. Now the caldera is filled with the deepest lake in the entire United States, containing a volume of over 18 cubic kilometers of water.

I made the trip to Crater Lake in July 2021 and was stunned by the deep blue water and sheer scale of such a massive landmark. It's impossible to take a single photo of the entire lake - but from the western viewpoint near Wizard Island, I was able to scan a wide panoramic photo of the whole lake from end to end, about 5 miles across. Wizard Island appears disproportionately large due to its proximity to my perspective.

Crater Lake is an example of how unimaginable destruction - the violent explosion of a 12,000 ft. high mountain - can result in stunning beauty that we get to enjoy thousands of years later. Creation is born out of chaos.