Cottonwood Crater

The  is an atomic bomb impact point in the Mojave Wasteland. It is highly radiated.

Layout
This area overlooks Cottonwood Cove from the southern mountains and contains a highly radioactive pool, a few Golden Geckos, and (usually) a dead Prospector with a Fat Man in poor condition. Simply follow the small peninsula until it ends and glance to the left.

Be careful while swimming around in the pool, there are cracks in the game map than can allow you to swim under and back up inside the rocks. It's easy to get turned around and stuck under the rocks as they are transparent when looking out, but still solid. If you do get trapped under the rocks you can fast travel out of it.

Also be careful with your companions as they get stuck easily around this area

Location
The ideal way to access Cottonwood Crater is to travel through Fire Root Cavern, which is hidden but located in the rocky hillside north-west of Cottonwood Crater. However Cottonwood crater can be reached via some slick mountain traversing past the east fence of Searchlight Airport (It's not even necessary to reach the actual crater; you only have to get close enough to "discover" the location, then you can fast travel to it).

Appearances
appears in Fallout: New Vegas.