Fossil Lake, Protected dry lakebed in Lake County, Oregon, United States

Fossil Lake is a dry lakebed in the Christmas Valley basin of northern Lake County, Oregon, at 4,295 feet (1,309 m) elevation. The flat bed with gentle swales lies above fossil-bearing sediments; pumice sand from Mount Mazama and Newberry Crater sits in the surface soils, underlain by a hard caliche layer. Moving sand dunes of lacustrine and aeolian material lie east of the lakebed.

In June 1877, former Oregon governor John Whiteaker explored the basin and found a large dry lakebed with two small alkali ponds, which he named the Fossil Lakes. He collected exposed elephant, camel, horse and elk fossils and delivered them to paleontologist Thomas Condon of the University of Oregon. Later that year his son J.C. Whiteaker returned with Condon to record the site, and in 1879 Edward D. Cope of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences came to collect.

Scientists have studied the fossils from the lake, and the discoveries are now displayed in museums including the University of Oregon and the Smithsonian Institution. Visitors can understand what animals lived here thousands of years ago by exploring these collections.

From Christmas Valley, drive east 8 miles on Christmas Valley-Wagontire Road, north 8 miles on Fossil Lake Road, then east 1.7 miles on gravel Lost Forest Road and south onto a rough unmarked dirt road. The interpretive sign is 1.4 miles from that turnoff; vehicles are barred from the Area of Critical Environmental Concern, so walk the last 150 yards. The lakebed lies 1 mile southwest of the sign.

John Whiteaker's 1877 expedition found horse and bird fossils especially plentiful, along with elephant, camel and elk remains and ancient human artifacts. He estimated the fossil beds at 1 mile wide and over 4 miles long, and delivered his finds to paleontologist Thomas Condon at the University of Oregon.