Crescent Lake is a popular recreation lake in a setting of woodedshorelines, sandy beaches and brilliant blue-green water. In addition to fishing for kokanee, lake trout, rainbow and brown trout, people come to this lake for sailing, swimming, water skiing windsurfing and camping. Lake trout are caught here in the 5 to 10 pound range with an occasional 20 pounder. In 1993 a 30 pound lake trout was caught at Crescent Lake.

Crescent Lake is on the Deschutes National Forest in a naturally glaciated basin behind a moraine dam and lies just east of the summit of the Cascade Mountain Range in Northern Klamath County. It is located about 3 miles south of Hwy 58 via Deschutes National Forest Road 60 from Crescent Lake junction. In 1922, a small earth and wooding dam was built across the outlet to store water for irrigation in Bend via Crescent Creek, Little Deschutes and Deschutes Rivers. The Bureau of Reclamation constructed a 40 foot-high earth and concrete in 1956 bringing the lake’s surface area elevation at full pool to 4,847 feet where it has a surface area of 4,008 acres. Water is drawn off for irrigation throughout the summer, so by summers end the lake level could drop as much as 15 feet.

Basic Directions