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Wizard Island is a volcanic cinder cone which forms an island at the west end of
Wizard Island was created after
Current public access to Wizard Island is available only during the summer months when boat tours on Crater Lake are in operation. The tours depart from Cleetwood Cove at the north end of the lake, and circle the lake in the counterclockwise direction, stopping at a dock at Governors Bay on the south side of Wizard Island.
Passengers on boat trips early in the day may choose to disembark on the island, but must be prepared to spend the entire day on the island if subsequent boats are too full to take on additional passengers. Those on late afternoon boat trips are not permitted to disembark. A final boat is dispatched at the end of each day to pick up any stragglers since overnight camping is not permitted on the island.
Two hiking trails are available on Wizard Island, one of which switchbacks up the flanks of the cone and circles the crater on top while the other trail meanders from the dock towards the western end of the island.
USGS Crater Lake Data Clearinghouse
Crater Lake National Park
(National Park Service)
(NPS concessionaire site) {{authority control Cascade Range Cascade Volcanoes Cinder cones of the United States Volcanoes of Oregon Volcanoes of Klamath County, Oregon Subduction volcanoes Lake islands of Oregon Crater Lake National Park Uninhabited islands of Oregon Volcanic islands Crater Lake
Wizard Island is a volcanic cinder cone which forms an island at the west end of Crater Lake
Crater Lake ( Klamath: ''Giiwas'') is a volcanic crater lake in south-central Oregon in the western United States. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is famous for its deep blue color and water clarity. The lake partly fill ...
in Crater Lake National Park
Crater Lake National Park is an American national park located in southern Oregon. Established in 1902, Crater Lake is the fifth-oldest national park in the United States and the only national park in Oregon. The park encompasses the caldera of ...
, Oregon
Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...
. The top of the island reaches above sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...
, about above the average surface of the lake.
The cone is capped by a volcanic crater
A volcanic crater is an approximately circular depression in the ground caused by volcanic activity. It is typically a bowl-shaped feature containing one or more vents. During volcanic eruptions, molten magma and volcanic gases rise from an und ...
about wide and deep. The crater was named the "Witches Cauldron" by William Gladstone Steel
William Gladstone Steel (September 7, 1854 – October 21, 1934) was an American journalist who was known for campaigning for 17 years for the United States Congress to designate Crater Lake as a National Park. Steel is from Ohio, and worked in th ...
in 1885, who also gave Wizard Island its name at the same time.
The land area of the island is .
Formation
Wizard Island was created after Mount Mazama
Mount Mazama (''Giiwas'' in the Native American language Klamath) is a complex volcano in the state of Oregon, United States, in a segment of the Cascade Volcanic Arc and Cascade Range. Most of the mountain collapsed following a major erupt ...
, a large complex volcano
A complex volcano, also called a compound volcano or a volcanic complex, is a mixed landform consisting of related volcanic centers and their associated lava flows and pyroclastic rock. They may form due to changes in eruptive habit or in t ...
, erupted violently approximately 7,700 years ago, forming its caldera
A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...
which now contains Crater Lake. Following the cataclysmic caldera-forming eruption, which left a hole about deep where the mountain had once stood, a series of smaller eruptions over the next several hundred years formed several cinder cones on the caldera floor. The highest of these cones, the only one to rise above the current lake level, is Wizard Island, which rises over above the lowest point on the caldera floor and the deepest point in the lake.
Another large cinder cone, Merriam Cone, is in the northeast part of the lake. Although Merriam Cone rises about above the caldera floor, its summit is still below the average lake level. Its surface features and lack of a crater indicate that Merriam Cone formed under water.
Access
Current public access to Wizard Island is available only during the summer months when boat tours on Crater Lake are in operation. The tours depart from Cleetwood Cove at the north end of the lake, and circle the lake in the counterclockwise direction, stopping at a dock at Governors Bay on the south side of Wizard Island.
Passengers on boat trips early in the day may choose to disembark on the island, but must be prepared to spend the entire day on the island if subsequent boats are too full to take on additional passengers. Those on late afternoon boat trips are not permitted to disembark. A final boat is dispatched at the end of each day to pick up any stragglers since overnight camping is not permitted on the island.
Two hiking trails are available on Wizard Island, one of which switchbacks up the flanks of the cone and circles the crater on top while the other trail meanders from the dock towards the western end of the island.
Notes
References
*External links
USGS Crater Lake Data Clearinghouse
Crater Lake National Park
(National Park Service)
(NPS concessionaire site) {{authority control Cascade Range Cascade Volcanoes Cinder cones of the United States Volcanoes of Oregon Volcanoes of Klamath County, Oregon Subduction volcanoes Lake islands of Oregon Crater Lake National Park Uninhabited islands of Oregon Volcanic islands Crater Lake