What are the most beautiful lakes in the US?

[NCN]

Lake Tahoe is the most beautiful lake I have ever seen. Lake Norman causes an I-77 slow down.

[AnythingOutdoors]

Originally Posted by TacoSoup

The thread question needs to be what are the most beautiful lakes after Lake Tahoe?

Hah! You can have Lake Tahoe. I've been many times and it's wonderful, but I'll take Redfish Lake, ID or Jenny Lake, WY or any number of alpine lakes in the Northern Rockies any day over LT. To each their own, I suppose

[NW Crow]

Colorado lake contenders include Grand, Bear, Trapper, Maroon, Trout, something in Gore Range (Upper Cataract?), or Sangre Dr Cristo Range, San Juans...

[Felt38]

Tahoe
Priest Lake
Pend Orielle
Couer d'Alene
Redfish
Yellowstone
Champlain
Flathead
Payette
Crater
Finger
Any high mountain lake in the Sierras, Rockies, Cascades, and Olympics

[ejisme]

A couple: Wallowa Lake in the far NE corner of Oregon. Redfish Lake near Stanley, ID

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wa...!14m1!1BCgIgAQ

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Re...4d-114.9293015

[NW Crow]

Claytor Lake in VA isn't a top national contender but it probably is a state and maybe regional contender.

Some of the lakes in the Ruby Mountains NV are contenders.



Lake scores are for lake itself and background combined. Some of my scores are heavily influenced by the backgrounds. Maybe one could try to rate on lake itself or lake experience. Hard not to be quite influenced by the background.

I didn't list desert lakes, at least yet. Different aesthetic but plenty of beauties out there, with the right point of view.