Every Lake
Spirit Lake
Buried under 200 feet of debris on May 18, 1980, then it filled back in from the bottom up.
- 14 ft · first step
- 28 ft
- 42 ft
- 56 ft
- 71 ft
- 85 ft · bottom
About Spirit Lake
Spirit Lake sat at the base of Mount St. Helens and drew loggers, Boy Scouts, and vacationers for most of the 20th century. Resorts and YMCA and Boy Scout camps lined its shore, reachable by road from the timber town of Toutle. Harry R. Truman ran the Mount St. Helens Lodge on its edge for over fifty years and became known for refusing to leave when the mountain began showing signs of unrest in early 1980.
On May 18, 1980, the eruption sent a landslide and pyroclastic flow into the lake basin, raising the lake bed by hundreds of feet and pushing a wave of water and debris over the surrounding ridges. The lake refilled roughly 200 feet higher than before, and thousands of scoured logs have floated on its surface as a raft ever since. Scientists have studied the lake continuously since the eruption as a case study in how life returns to a sterilized landscape.
- 1 roads engraved around the shore, 1 of them labeled
- 6 depth layers, each step engraved with its depth in feet
- Compass rose, title block with coordinates, max depth and area; keyhole hanger on the back
Turn it in your hands
Live 3D of the actual cut files — drag to orbit, pinch to zoom. Every road you see is engraved on the real thing.
Viewer not showing? Open it full screen.
Spirit Lake depth chart, in wood
This is a Spirit Lake depth chart you can hang: 6 stacked layers of birch, each one a depth contour. The lake covers about 2.1 square miles, and 1 shore roads are engraved around it. The shape of the bottom comes from a peer-reviewed bathymetry model of the lake.
A Spirit Lake map for the wall — or a gift
Most of these go to a cabin wall, a lake house entry, or a home office; a lot are gifts — the family that has been on Spirit Lake for three generations, the retirement move, the first boat. The 12-inch is the desk-and-shelf size; the 24- and 30-inch boards read across a room. Add a line under the title and star your place on the shore, and it becomes the map of your Spirit Lake.
Spirit Lake map — the details
How big is the map?
Four sizes: 12, 17, 24 and 30 inches on the long side, from $149. Every size is cut from the same depth data of Spirit Lake; the bigger boards carry more shoreline roads and place names.
Is it made from real depth data?
Yes — from GLOBathy, a peer-reviewed bathymetry dataset that estimates the bottom of every lake from its shoreline and surrounding terrain. Each layer of birch is a depth contour. Where a lake has a published sounding survey we use that instead, and we are adding surveys lake by lake.
Can I add my own place on it?
Yes. At checkout you can add a line under the title (a family name, a cabin name, a year) and star the spot on the shore that matters to you.
How long does it take?
Made to order in Waterford, Pennsylvania and shipped in 7–10 days; shipping is free in the lower 48.
Can you make a lake that isn't listed?
Any lake in the United States — we hold depth data for 104,419 of them. Search for yours; if it isn't built yet we build it when you order.
- 6 depth layers
- 2.1 square miles of water
- 1 shore roads engraved, 1 named
- Title block, compass rose and depth markers
- Birch plywood, keyhole hanger, made in Waterford, PA
Keep reading
Guides from the people who cut these maps.
- Lake House Gifts That Actually Mean SomethingThoughtful lake house gifts and cabin gift ideas for Christmas: what lake people actually keep, how to choose a size, and how to word a personal line.
- Gifts for Fishermen Who Already Own Every LureUnique fishing gifts for the angler who has everything: a layered wood depth map of the lake they fish, with the structure they know by heart.
- Deepest Lakes in Michigan: Surveyed Depths and What Lies BelowWhich inland lakes in Michigan run deepest? Surveyed depths for Crystal, Mullett, Glen, Charlevoix and more, and how depth shapes color, fish and ice.
