Strawberry Lake is a natural high-elevation body of water in the

Strawberry Mountain Wilderness Strawberry Mountain Wilderness is a wilderness area of the Strawberry Mountains, Strawberry Mountain Range, within Malheur National Forest in the Blue Mountains (Oregon), Blue Mountains of east Oregon. The area comprises , including mountain pea ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. Located in the

Malheur National Forest The Malheur National Forest is a United States National Forest, National Forest in the U.S. state of Oregon. It contains more than in the Blue Mountains (Pacific Northwest), Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon. The forest consists of Great Basi ...

about south of Prairie City in

Grant County Grant County may refer to: Places ;Australia * County of Grant, Victoria ;United States * Grant County, Arkansas * Grant County, Indiana * Grant County, Kansas *Grant County, Kentucky Grant County is a county located in the northern pa ...

, the shallow lake covers about surrounded by forest. Recreational activities in the lake basin include hiking,

backpacking Backpacking may refer to: * Backpacking (travel), low-cost, independent, international travel * Backpacking (hiking), trekking and camping overnight in the wilderness * Ultralight backpacking, a style of wilderness backpacking with an emphasis on ...

, skiing, and fishing.

Geology and geography

Stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...

es erupting about 14.7 million years ago in the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

covered about of what later became Grant County with

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

lavas and mudflows. The Strawberry Mountains are eroded remnants of the mountains created by those volcanoes and by

intrusions In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of Intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety o ...

igneous Igneous rock ( ), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. The magma can be derived from partial ...

rock. Strawberry Lake is the largest of the small

glacial lake A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,0 ...

s found in the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness. The surface of the lake is more than above sea level. Occupying part of a valley carved by ice in the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

, the lake formed behind a landslide dam across Strawberry Creek. Water from the lake does not flow over the dam except in high water but seeps through the landslide to re-form the creek several hundred yards (meters) downstream. Strawberry Lake has an average depth of and a maximum depth of . The length of its shoreline is about . Despite water-quality problems stemming from recreational activity in the lake's drainage basin, the water remains transparent enough that the lake bottom is visible from the surface even at the lake's deepest point.

History

Nathan W. Fisk homesteaded in the area in 1870 and named local features Strawberry Butte (now Strawberry Mountain) and Strawberry Creek for the abundance of wild strawberries in the area, and the name spread to encompass Strawberry Valley and Strawberry Lake.

Recreation

Hiking, backpacking, and camping are among the recreational activities available near the lake. Strawberry Camp, downstream from the lake along Strawberry Creek, is connected to the lake by a hiking trail. The trail continues upstream from the lake to Strawberry Falls and then another to Little Strawberry Lake. Another trail leads from Strawberry Falls to the peak of Strawberry Mountain.Sullivan, pp. 247–52 Winter sports enthusiasts visit the lake in winter even though the access road, County Road 60, from Prairie City to the edge of this part of the wilderness is unplowed and blocked by snow downstream from Strawberry Camp. The lake, frozen Strawberry Falls, and Little Strawberry Lake can be reached by cross-country skiers and

snowshoe Snowshoes are specialized outdoor gear for walking over snow. Their large footprint spreads the user's weight out and allows them to travel largely on top of rather than through snow. Adjustable bindings attach them to appropriate winter footw ...

rs. Fishing in the lake is allowed all year, though snow makes access difficult in winter. Many

brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada. Two ecological forms of brook trout h ...

inhabit the lake as well as some

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

, with fish present due to being stocked.

References

Works cited

* Bishop, Ellen Morris (2003). ''In Search of Ancient Oregon: A Geological and Natural History''. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. * Sullivan, William L. (2009). ''Atlas of Oregon Wilderness''. Eugene, Oregon: Navillus Press.

External links