Old Man of the Lake, Natural phenomenon in Crater Lake, US

The Old Man of the Lake is a bleached hemlock trunk about 30 feet (9 m) long and 2 feet (61 cm) in diameter at the waterline, floating upright in Crater Lake. Roughly 4 feet (1.2 m) protrudes above the surface, with a jagged, splintered top and a dark brown band near the waterline; the submerged length is visible through the clear water.

Geologist Joseph Diller first noticed the floating trunk in 1896 during a scientific expedition to Crater Lake. Limnologists later documented its travels across the water, recording that it covered roughly 62 miles (100 kilometers) between July and October 1938.

Boat captains once relayed the Old Man's position to one another by radio as a navigational warning, since the drifting trunk could lie anywhere on the lake. In 1988 researchers moored it near Wizard Island and, they reported, storms and August snow followed until it was set loose.

The log drifts with wind and current and may appear at different points around the lake, so watch carefully from boats. The park service occasionally tracks its position to help visitors and researchers locate it.

The trunk floats upright because a heavy stone once lodged in its root mass, holding it vertical until the roots rotted and the stone dropped away. The upper part dried and lightened while the lower part swelled, keeping the log stable. Fontinalis moss, normally found only underwater, grows on its exposed top.