Karagöl (Toros)

Karagöl is a small crater lake in the Taurus Mountains in Turkey.

Geography
The midpoint of the lake is at 37.40306°N, 34.55833°W. It is situated almost on the borderline of Niğde Province and Mersin Province and is accessible from Darboğaz, a town in the Ulukışla district of Niğde Province. Its distance to the Turkish state highway D.750 is about 20 km.

The lake
Its altitude is about 2650 m. The surface area fluctuates, depending on winter snow fall, but is usually about 25000 m2. Due to high altitude, the area around the lake is devoid of trees, although the shore is covered with shrubs and wild flowers. The lake is home to Rana holtzi, an endemic frog (Werner, 1898), which is popularly called the "Frog of Toros" (Toros kurbağası) The lake is popular with mountaineers and trekkers.

Around Karagöl
Meydan Yaylası, a high plateau at the end point of the road from the highway, is about 2 km north of Karagöl. Mountaineers usually begin from Meydan Yaylası. Another interesting place is a smaller lake named Çiniligöl to the southwest of Karagöl and about 50 m higher and 300 m from Karagöl.