Summer Lake

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Summer Lake is a large alkali lake. It is approximately 20 miles (32 km) long and 10 miles (16 km) wide. The lake was named by explorer John C. Fremont on his expedition into Central Oregon in 1843. On 16 December 1843, Fremont led a mapping expedition down a steep cliff from a snow-covered plateau to reach a large lake in the valley below. Fremont named snow covered rim "Winter Ridge" and the temperate waters "Summer Lake." Fremont described the discovery and naming of Summer Lake as follows, "At our feet...more than a thousand feet below...we looked into a green prairie country, in which a beautiful lake, some twenty miles (32 km) in length, was spread along the foot of the mountain...Shivering on snow three feet deep, and stiffening in a cold north wind, we exclaimed at once that the names of summer lake and winter ridge should be applied to these proximate places of such sudden and violent contrast." (credit Wikipedia)