Crowley Lake and the Long Valley
Crowley Lake is located twenty–five miles north of Bishop at an elevation of 6,800 feet. It is easily accessible and there are several good viewpoints from Highway 395. The lake is actually a man made reservoir formed by the damming of the Owens River Gorge. The lake stays cool in the summer and does not go into a deep freeze during the winter. The Upper Owens River, McGee Creek, Convict Creek, Hilton Creek, and Crooked Creek feed the lake and continually bring in oxygen and nutrients. The lake is outstanding for fishing and has Little Kern Golden trout in good numbers. The Fish Camp Store at the sound end of the lake at South Landing offers boat rentals, snacks, beverages, and fishing related necessities. There are camping and RV sites available at South Landing. Float tubing is also very popular in the lake, which can have strong winds.
Crowley Lake lies in the Long Valley Caldera, which is a depression that begins near the city of Mammoth Lakes. The valley is one of the largest calderas on earth. It measures about twenty miles long in an east to west direction and eleven miles wide, in a north to south direction. The valley was formed 760,000 years ago as the result of a huge a huge volcanic eruption, which released tremendous amounts of ash, that later cooled to form the Bishop tuff, a type of rock which is common in the area. The valley floor of the caldera is 6,500 feet to the east and 8,500 feet in the west. The caldera walls rise up over 3,000 feet to the west, but only about 500 feet to the east. The Whitmore Hot Springs, located near the Mammoth–Yosemite Airport, are inviting to visitors.