Wyoming is home to Yellowstone National Park, which includes the picturesque Yellowstone Lake. Thousands of other lakes (around 4,000) are scattered across the state. The Flaming Gorge Reservoir is on the southern border, Jackson Lake is in Grand Teton National Park, and the Glendo Reservoir is in eastern Wyoming. Some of the biggest lakes are also the deepest lakes. Occasionally, glaciers will carve out a smaller deep lake. Smaller deep lakes can also form in the crater of volcanoes.
Is one of the biggest lakes in Wyoming also the deepest? How deep is Yellowstone Lake? What fish prefer deeper cooler lakes? Let’s find out all about the deepest lake in Wyoming!
Formed by glaciers thousands of years ago, Fremont Lake is Wyoming’s deepest lake at 600 feet.
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What Is the Deepest Lake in Wyoming?
The deepest lake in Wyoming is Fremont Lake. Fremont is located about halfway between Yellowstone Lake and Flaming Gorge Reservoir. Fremont is a long skinny lake that is 12 miles long but only half a mile wide. On the southern shore, you will find a nice sandy beach and the CCC Ponds Recreation Area.
There is a great campground on the eastern shore with 54 campsites and a boat ramp for launching your boat. The Fremont Lake Campground is seven miles northeast of the city of Pinedale and a great option for staying on this mostly undeveloped lake.
Fremont Lake extends 600 feet below its surface. Glaciers formed Fremont Lake thousands of years ago. Similar to how the Great Lakes formed, the glaciers melted and dragged across the landscape gouging out deep depressions that filled in with melting ice water.
For comparison, the height of the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington, is 604 feet. If the Space Needle were dropped into the lake at its deepest point, a mere four feet would stick out of the water.
The lake gets its name from John C. Fremont who, while mapping out the Oregon Trail, surveyed the area in 1842. The Oregon Trail was an over 2,000-mile route from Missouri to Oregon used by pioneers in the mid-1800s to immigrate west. It is also a simple educational computer game that taught kids about the life of a 19th-century pioneer.
Kokanee salmon is just one of the many fish anglers can find in Fremont Lake.
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How Is the Fishing on Fremont Lake?
A beautiful, cool, deep lake will be home to some amazing fish. Some of the best catches in Fremont Lake are rainbow trout, brown trout, lake trout, and kokanee salmon. You can try fly fishing or take a boat out to find the perfect fishing hole. In the winter you can rent snowmobiles (or bring your own) and head out on the lake for some epic ice fishing.
Where Is Fremont Lake Located on a Map?
Fremont Lake is in Sublette County. It is about four miles from the city of Pinedale in western Wyoming.
Crater Lake in Oregon is the deepest lake in the United States, with a staggering depth of 1,943 feet.
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How Does the Deepest Lake in Wyoming Compare to the Deepest Lake in the U.S.?
The deepest lake in Wyoming is 600 feet deep, which is pretty deep for any lake, but compared to the deepest lake in the U.S., Fremont Lake doesn’t come close to the depth of Oregon’s Crater Lake. At 1,943 feet deep, Crater Lake is 1,343 feet deeper than Fremont Lake. While glaciers formed Fremont Lake, Crater Lake was formed in the crater of a blown-out volcano. At the top of the old Mount Mazama sits the royal blue waters of what is now known as Crater Lake. Mount Mazama erupted 7,700 years ago and left a collapsed crater that was more than a thousand feet deep. Rainwater and snow melt filled in the hole to create a lake.
