Pacific Tarn
Small lake in the Colorado Rocky Mountains
title: "Pacific Tarn" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["lakes-of-summit-county,-colorado", "glacial-lakes-of-the-united-states", "lakes-of-colorado", "lakes-of-the-rocky-mountains"] description: "Small lake in the Colorado Rocky Mountains" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Tarn" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Small lake in the Colorado Rocky Mountains ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox body of water"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Pacific Tarn |
| image | PacificTarnColorado.jpg |
| caption | Pacific Tarn in the Tenmile Range of Colorado |
| alt | Pacific Tarn from Pacific Peak |
| coords | |
| location | Summit County, Colorado, United States |
| basin_countries | United States |
| length | 560 ft |
| width | 464 ft |
| area | 4.7 acre |
| max-depth | 28 ft |
| elevation | 13420 ft |
| pushpin_map | Colorado#USA |
| pushpin_map_alt | Location of Pacific Tarn in Colorado, USA. |
| :: |
|name = Pacific Tarn |image =PacificTarnColorado.jpg |caption =Pacific Tarn in the Tenmile Range of Colorado |alt = Pacific Tarn from Pacific Peak |image_bathymetry = |caption_bathymetry = |coords = |type = |location = Summit County, Colorado, United States |inflow = |outflow = |catchment = |basin_countries = United States |length = 560 ft |width = 464 ft |area = 4.7 acre |depth = |max-depth = 28 ft |volume = |shore = |elevation = 13420 ft |islands = |cities = | pushpin_map = Colorado#USA | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_alt = Location of Pacific Tarn in Colorado, USA. | pushpin_map_caption = | website = | reference =
Pacific Tarn is a small lake located in the Colorado Rocky Mountains in the United States. It is notable for its 13,420 foot (4,090 m) elevation, making it the highest lake in the United States whose name is recognized by the United States Board on Geographic Names, surpassing other lakes such as Hawaii's Lake Waiau on Mauna Kea, and California's Tulainyo Lake near Mount Whitney.
The lake sits atop the broad eastern ridge of Pacific Peak in the Tenmile Range.
Efforts to name the lake were spearheaded by Carl Drews, a Boulder, Colorado resident who organized an expedition to the lake in 2002 to measure the size, depth and water chemistry. The lake remained unnamed until January 8, 2004, when the United States Board on Geographic Names officially approved the name Pacific Tarn for the lake.
The first scuba dive in the lake occurred on September 7, 2013.
References
References
- {{cite GNIS. 2025767. Pacific Tarn. 11 August 2012
- Bali, John. (2013-10-12). "My Dive Into the Highest Named Lake in the United States".
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::