Lake Crescent is amazing. Its crystal clear water sparkles with colors ranging from the deepest sapphire blue to turquoise. It is Olympic National Park’s largest lake and Washington’s second-deepest lake. Even though its size doesn’t match Lake Tahoe or Crater Lake, it is just as beautiful as, or, for me, more beautiful.
Location
From Port Angeles, follow U.S. Highway 101 west for 18 miles, and you will enter the north side of Olympic National Park. The lake is on the north side of the Highway, which flanks the south side of the lake along the southern shoreline.
Access
Public access to the lake is at East Beach and along East Beach Road. East Beach Road is located on the northeast corner of the lake. Additional access is at the Fairholme Campground on the western shore.
Camp David Jr. Road starts at Fairholme and provides access along part of the northern shoreline, leading to the Pyramid Peak Trailhead. Continuing by foot along the northern shoreline, you will follow the Spruce Railroad Trail eastbound. The name changes to become the Olympic Discovery Trail somewhere along the trail.
The Lake Crescent Lodge is at the narrow point of the lake where Barnes Creek flows into the lake. These three locations are the only major access points. Parking is also available at multiple points along the Highway.
History
Historically, Lake Southerland (to the east) and Lake Crescent were all one lake flowing into the Elwha River. About 8,000 years ago, a landslide from Mount Storm King on the southeast side of the lake changed the area forever. The valley was divided, and Lake Crescent was formed. It didn’t take long for the abundant rainfall in the area to fill the lake, making a new outlet at Lyre River.
Weather
We visited Lake Crescent at the Dungeness Recreation Area north of Sequim, Washington. You can get a good feel for that area in our post about Sequim in this post. Olympic Rain Shadow
The weather on both days we were at Lake Crescent was beautiful. Rainfall, however, should be noted as a real possibility. Mount Storm King is the mountain that created the landslide and Lake Crescent. This should be a good description of the year-round weather. The lake isn’t in the Olympic Rain Shadow. Rainfall totals are about 60 inches per year.
Our Visit
From Sequim, our drive to Lake Crescent was about our forty-mile limit, but we are so glad we visited for the day. After a slow start (typical for us), we arrived at the lake in the early afternoon and immediately saw that we should have been camping closer to the lake so we could have made multiple visits. A better campground for us would have been at the Salt Creek Recreation area north of the lake.
Camping
Reviews stated that the Fairholme Campground was not big rig-friendly so that it wouldn’t have worked. Since then, I have learned that a few sites at Fairholme might have worked, but I have not personally verified the sites.
Kayaking
For that one day, we made an afternoon trip out on the lake, launching from East Beach. From the beach, the beauty of the Lake was exceptional. The water was calm with no wind. As we started, we could see what I estimated to be more than one hundred feet to the bottom of the lake. After about a half hour, we covered nearly a mile, heading across the lake, and we picked up a tailwind. That tailwind should have been our clue to turn around immediately. A tailwind going out means a headwind going back.
It was a strenuous return trip to the beach. Just before our arrival, the wind stopped, and the water returned to calm.
Driving West
A couple of the photos included in this post were taken on our drive along Highway 101, on our way to the westernmost point in the continental United States.
As I am sure you recall, our goal of crossing the states was nearing completion. We departed Key West, Florida, nine months earlier to complete the crossing. Driving along the shoreline of Lake Crescent put us closer and closer to our goal.
It is better than Lake Tahoe and Crater Lake.
How could this small lake located at the north edge of Olympic National Park be better (for me) than these two iconically beautiful lakes? In our travels over the last five years, we have visited Lake Tahoe and Crater Lakes, and we love both. As for Crater Lake, it is tough to get to the shoreline. Crater Lake National Park
Someday, we will stay at Lake Tahoe, but it is so popular that I don’t prefer the wilderness.
Our visit to Lake Crescent was far too short. I can say this for the entire Olympic Peninsula. I think visiting for a couple of months would be about right. For me, it needs to be a summer visit. I don’t think I would have fun in “abundant rainfall.”
Our visit to the Olympic National Park
Quinault Rainforest and Kestner Homestead
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Olympic National Park, Lake Crescent
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Very beautiful. We loved our visit to Crater Lake. We just drove around one side of it and back. Scary cliffs.
Beautiful! Thanks for taking us along on your travels
I suggest you find Muncho Lake in beautiful British Columbia, on the Alaska Highway. You might find that it rivals Lake Crescent. I hope you get to experience Alaska. Let us know if you head that way, and we might be able to join you! We spent three wonderful months on that trip this summer.
Why do you think the water is so clear?
The water is so clear because it is very pure. The reason that water usually isn’t clear is that it has suspended particles in it.
Typically the contaminant is natural algae is one of the most common suspended plant life. Algae don’t grow in Lake Crescent because the water lacks nitrogen. Nitrogen is a common fertilizer.
Lake Crescent lacks nitrogen because the rainwater feeding Lake Crescent is very pure and abundant. The forests around the lake strip nitrogen to fertilize the forest.
The forests around Lake Crescent also lack tannic acid that tends to stain water to a slight rust color.
The depth of Lake Crescent also contributes to water clarity. Plant material often ends up sinking into the depth where light is very low and temperatures are near freezing. Thus the plant material doesn’t decompose readily and this lack of decomposition helps keep the water clear.
Unfortunately, the downside of crystal clear water is that it doesn’t support other life (bugs and fish) nearly as well as slightly stained water.
Great comments on Lake Crescent. Loved it. How cold do think the water there was? How about the air temp?
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