Blue Lake Crater in the foreground is one of three overlapping craters located east of Santiam Pass. The craters formed about 1,300 years ago during explosions through older volcanic bedrock; a chain of spatter cones about 6 km SSW of Blue Lake may have been active during the same eruption. The snow-covered summit of Pleistocene Mount Washington is visible in the background.

Photo by Lee Siebert, 1999 (Smithsonian Institution).

This image is made available under the Public Domain Dedication CC0 license, but proper attribution is appreciated.

Keywords: stratovolcano | crater

Blue Lake Crater

Washington