Lake Crescent is among the deepest lakes in Washington, plunging more than six hundred feet. Its famous clarity and intense blue come from very low nitrogen levels, which limit the algae that would otherwise cloud the water; visibility can reach sixty feet or more. The lake was glacially carved, then separated from neighboring Lake Sutherland by a landslide roughly eight thousand years ago. The historic 1915 lodge on the south shore hosted President Franklin Roosevelt in 1937, shortly before the park was established. US-101 follows the south shore, so you can take it in from the road.
That color out your window isn't a camera trick and it isn't the sky reflecting. That is the actual water. Lake Crescent runs so clear that on a calm day you can pick out a sunken log lying sixty feet down as if it were under glass, and so impossibly blue it almost doesn't look real. Here's the secret: the lake is starved of nitrogen, so almost nothing grows in it to cloud the water. No algae, no murk, just pure deep blue going down and down, the kind of blue you usually only see in a postcard that's been touched up. And it goes a long way down — more than six hundred feet, making this one of the deepest lakes in Washington. Ice-Age glaciers gouged the basin, and then, about eight thousand years ago, a great landslide came down and split this lake off from its neighbor, Lake Sutherland, sealing the two apart. The road you're on, Highway one-oh-one, hugs the south shore for miles, so you can drink all this in without ever leaving your seat. Look to the historic lodge on that shore. That's the nineteen-fifteen building, born as Singer's Tavern in its first life. On an autumn evening in nineteen thirty-seven, President Franklin Roosevelt sat by its fire, warming his hands while the lake went dark outside, and not long after that visit he all but signed this park into being. There's a whole history in those timbers. And brooding over the whole scene, that dark peak rising straight off the water, that's Mount Storm King. Cold, deep, and still, this lake is very good at keeping its secrets down where the light doesn't reach. For nearly three years it kept one terrible secret in particular, and that secret mattered more than anything to one woman who went into this water and didn't come out. Settle in here a moment. Ranger Boone has her tale.
Photo: Chris Light · CC BY-SA 4.0
Lake Crescent is the deep, startlingly blue glacial lake about 17 miles west of Port Angeles on US-101, carved by Ice Age glaciers and later shaped by an ancient landslide that split it from neighboring Lake Sutherland. Its famous clarity comes from very low nitrogen levels, which starve algae and let you see far down into water that drops to roughly 600 feet, making it one of Washington's deepest lakes. Steep forested ridges and Mount Storm King frame the shoreline.
The lake's cold, mineral-rich depths gave rise to the 'Lady of the Lake' legend: a 1940 murder victim whose body was preserved by the water into a soap-like substance and surfaced years later, helping solve the case. Today visitors come for kayaking, paddleboarding, swimming at spots like Devil's Punchbowl on the Spruce Railroad Trail, and lakeside lodging at historic Lake Crescent Lodge. The Marymere Falls and Mount Storm King trails launch from the south shore.
- • Getting there: right on US-101 about 17 miles (a 25-30 minute drive) west of Port Angeles; multiple pullouts, lodges, and trailheads ring the lake.
- • Fees: Olympic National Park charges $30 per vehicle for a 7-day pass (or use an America the Beautiful pass).
- • Time needed: a scenic drive-by takes minutes, but plan a half to full day to paddle, swim, or hike nearby trails.
- • Swimming is allowed and popular, but the water stays cold year-round; Devil's Punchbowl (off the paved Spruce Railroad Trail) is a favorite spot.
- • Pets: dogs are allowed on leash on the paved Spruce Railroad Trail but are prohibited on most other park trails, including Marymere Falls and Storm King.