May, 2022
Why “potholes”? You probably already know, but here’s the deal …
First let me share a few photos with you from this afternoon’s excursion in the big white truck, not too many photos but some. We spent hours here and saw hundreds (thousands?) of “pothole lakes”. I’m sharing only a few photos with you. This area is one of those areas in the world that sustains mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, that exist no where else on this planet. And the area is HUGE. As mentioned, it took hours for us to drive through. Well, ok, we stopped lots, and wandered lots, but still, it took a lot of time. 🙂
At the end of this blog, I’ll share some links to scientific and historic info.
Click on the photos here to enlarge them. I wish everyone reading this (and me too) had an eight-foot wide screen to view the photos on … this place was spectacular. Ok … onward. 🙂
This afternoon we drove out again over the O’Sullivan Dam, the earth dam. After crossing over the small concrete dam, we turned right onto another gravel road and headed down, down, down and into the true pothole area of this national wildlife area.
Remember, this is/was/used to be part of the Columbia River system. Time and tide (and rivers, and earthquakes) make all sorts of changes happen. This land is full of water … full of potholes that are full of water. In the photo below, while standing there we could count at least four separate pothole lakes that were not connected by above-ground water.
Please keep in mind that photos cannot convey the vast areas that we were exploring … the rocks and cliffs, the sky, the valleys, the hundreds and thousands of “lakes” or “potholes”, the scrub, the birds … any of it. It was immense. And so incredibly amazing.
Our first stop (above, although we had already driven past probably two dozen of these “lakes”). I pulled the truck over to the side so we could get out and walk around. There were lots of birds around us in the distance, but then one landed, right in front of us!
This fellow, a Red-winged Blackbird, was gorgeous.
And then on down the road, around another corner, and gosh here’s another small pothole … and then some larger potholes. In all of this environment, you almost never see a river or creek or even a tiny rivulet between these pothole lakes. It’s all done in secret, underground!
The water travels underground. Then the water rises when it’s able to and so then makes a lake or what we call a “pothole”.
We were mesmerized by all of it … the water systems, the birds (everywhere the birds), the wide open expanses, the big sky, the rocks and cliffs made by lava hundreds of thousands of years ago, some of them millions of years ago.
Even cows inhabited some of the land in between potholes. 🙂 Although this was national wildlife refuge land, some of the pothole land did border on private or “public” land such that cattle could graze there. It was fun to find the cows there.
All in all, this was an amazing afternoon, truly … and humbling about what the earth is, what our planet is. It took us much longer to drive the route than we had expected, but we were so grateful to be able to see this, to spend time here, the time didn’t really matter. I wish I could show you the expansiveness of the earth and the sky out here. Take some of the photos above, the ones taken from a distance, and then open them as large as you can then imagine them ten TIMES that size and ALL around you. It was so humbling and so joyous all at the same time.
So … that’s why this area is called “potholes”. Underground water feeds these potholes.
Ok, 🙂 … now for some scientific and historic internet/website links.
From the Washington Trails website (with more links to other reports of trips/hikes in this same area, at the bottom of that webpage) … https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/potholes-wildlife-area
From the Washington State Department of Fisheries … https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/locations/lowland-lakes/potholes-reservoir
A potholes wildlife video … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV2TvurKvQg. Much of this video shows the Potholes Reservoir north of the earth dam, and not so much of the actual pothole lakes south of the reservoir. We went to this same area later this week, photos to come. You can imagine that, before the earth dam, the area now covered by the Potholes Reservoir must have had thousands or millions of pothole lakes on it. And, if some of the lava columns are millions of years old, and they are ABOVE the land, as cliffs and such, then think how old this land is.
From wikipedia … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_National_Wildlife_Refuge. A quote from this wikipedia webpage … “the most spectacularly eroded area of its size in the world”!
A whole bunch of official US Fish & Wildlife (UFW) “Columbia National Wildlife Refuge” links were offline and not available over several weeks while I was writing this particular blog post. Birds, fishing, hiking, lakes, what’s with them having their webpages offline? Feel free to Google them in the future.
Interestingly, while driving around, we watched people fishing in the larger lakes and potholes. Since the water flows underground, I wondered how fish got to those lakes (though fish do swim underwater, no?). A few folks said the fish traveled in those underground “streams”. Is that so? I can’t find any information online about whether the lakes are stocked or whether the fish do truly move through underground waterways, or they just live and reproduce within each of those small lakes. Mark in Canada, I need you! Also Mark was the first person who taught me about those hexagonal lava columns that you see in almost every photo above and in the video below ….
A super video is here … taken/produced in May, 2022, just a week or two before my friend and I were here too. My friend and I didn’t go hiking off into the heart of these lands like the people did in the video do, but we saw those same sorts of sights from the roads.
More info and photos to come soon from our trip here. Later in the week, we got up close to some of the lava columns. I’ll share photos and info about that. As well as photos from our two day trips up into the northern reaches of the Reservoir.
I surely do have to go back here!
Yes! I’ve been here many times and it is every bit as amazing as Ann says, it’s incredibly impressive. And yes, the lava rock is millions of years old. I gotta go back.
Thanks Steve. Hope you get back there soon. It’s really terrific, isn’t it.
Yep, I’ve been there, saw that exact same bird, or maybe not. 🙂 Thanks Ann.
Ha! Nevada, I think that bird was calling your name! 🙂
How amazing! I had no idea.
I didn’t either, Ruby. What a great find.
This is so interesting. Here we have ‘kettle lakes” which are lakes formed when the glaciers moved through the area. I know of two of them specifically which are part of the state park I often camp at, halfway up the mitten of Michigan. I’m sure there are more. Someday you need to come visit us here!
More fascinating stuff. I need to live a long and healthy life. And yes, I need to go visit you, Dawn. Gotta meet little Penny too. 🙂
Aquifers and groundwater. There’s a serious problem in many areas on earth with reduced groundwater because of reduced rainfall. Our polar caps may be melting but it isn’t translating into rain in many areas all over the world. Some areas are getting more rain, but most are getting less, and so the groundwater is less, and so lakes like “potholes” that are fed with groundwater are in trouble in a good number of places on earth. It’s great to see how much water is in Potholes in WA State! And I love the tiny bit about lava … I don’t know anything about that. More please! 🙂
Interesting (and troubling) info about rainfall, Sesapa. I hadn’t heard that but have no doubt of it. Thank you for sharing that, truly.
Yes, more lava info and photos are coming. 🙂
Very nice red-winged blackbird. I sorta wish the other birds would quiet down so I could hear just him.
Me too, I couldn’t tell which calls were his and which were someone else’s.
I like the cows. 🙂 And that last video was great. And all the links were great. But I really like photo #7. It’s so peaceful, and small, and quiet, and it seems so happy and comfortable right where it is. May we all feel that way.
Thank you, Cindy. That’s really nice about feeling happy and comfortable right where we are. It’s so important.
I guess, in all of our travels over the years, we never noticed Potholes in Washington. I bet we drove by there a dozen times. You keep saying to slow down … ok, that’s now my best advice to everyone … SLOW DOWN. Stop. Ask around in a small town about what there is to see. Hubby and I saw lots of great stuff in lots of western states in the USA, but now I’m wondering what we missed. Ah well, we had a great time! Ann .. keep on keeping on and tell us all about it! 🙂
Oh and yes, the cows were really fun, made both of us chuckle. 🙂
Amen! Slow down and ask the local folks. On the other hand, how can we see it all, eh? I bet you and your hubby saw tons of great things that other people missed, and I bet you have great memories. Cows …. moooooo! 🙂
Absolutely amazing. #7 and the cows.
My favorites too. 🙂
Beautiful photos & fun story as usual! Brought back personal and fun memories of hiking, swimming, camping and fishing over there! I also remember the incredible evening skies with billions of stars!
You were over there?!? How cool. 🙂
We didn’t stay up late enough to see stars, or maybe my excuse is that it was cloudy. Blogger Dawn who comments here regularly takes photos of the night sky and her photos are gorgeous. Go find her name and click on it and take a look.
Thanks Melly. 🙂
How can there be so many extraordinary things in Washington State? And you find them all! I’ve seen “kettle lakes” in Michigan, they are amazing too. Life is great. 🙂
Well, I suspect every state has its extraordinary things, but I am having a blast finding things in Washington that are new and interesting to me. Glad you’re enjoying it too, Fran. And … you’ve seen “kettle lakes” in Michigan … we’re all connected aren’t we? Yes, life is great. 🙂