Lake Waiau
Locations
Lake Waiau: Description
Tiny Lake Waiau on Hawaii's Big Island is one of the highest elevated lakes on the planet. Located at the summit of Mauna Kea volcano, Lake Waiau lies in the crater of Pu'u Waiau cinder cone in the Mauna Kea Forest Reserve. Its size varies with its water level. It's one of just a very few lakes in the state of Hawaii. Despite its tropical location, Lake Waiau freezes during winter.
Measuring less than 2 acres and about 300 feet across at "full pond", Lake Waiau raises the question "What is a lake?". Lakelubbers' answer is that a "lake" is any body of water that is called by that name. There's no "accepted" minimum or maximum size of a lake. As we build our database, Lakelubbers is focusing on lakes with surfaces that are 640 acres (1 square mile) or larger. But there are millions of lakes on Earth that measure less than 640 acres, including this one.
Lake Waiau is included here because some consider it to be the highest elevated lake in the USA. One lakes enthusiast says that it's just #7 by that measure and says that the USA's highest elevated lake is "Lake Muriel", 14,100 feet, in Washington state. See the article referenced in the links below to decide for yourself.
Lake Waiau: Statistics
- Type: Natural Freshwater Lake, Not Dammed
- Area: 2 acres
- Normal elevation: 13,020 feet
- Minimum elevation: 13,020 feet
- Maximum elevation: 13,020 feet
- Mean depth: 5 feet
- Maximum depth: 7 feet
- Population: 0
