Larch Mountain on Lidar. Glaciers? Well, maybe. Before seeing this, sure. But man, there's only one mountain around here that I know of that looks like that, and it sure wasn't shaped by glaciers.
Showing posts with label Boring Lava Field. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boring Lava Field. Show all posts
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Mt. Talbert Nature Park, Clackamas, Oregon: June 17, 2011 (Updated October 2, 2012)
UPDATE: October 2, 2012
Not that I have returned there, just that I didn’t write much in the first place and this walk (not so much a hike) has become something of a benchmark… Though not, necessarily, in a good way.
First, let me say, the fact that this park exists is awesome. We need these sorts of green spaces and too many of our buttes are covered with houses, not trees or meadows.
Let me also say, this butte and its trails must be awesome for those who live near by. We hit our stretch of the Springwater Trail at least once a week, most weeks. Dog walks, transportation, just getting outside… We have several such places within walking distance or a quick drive, including Powell Butte. If Talbert was this close, I am sure I would spend a lot of time on it.
However, as a destination… Well, I am pretty spoiled living right down the road from Powell Butte, which is, quite simply, spectacular.
Since taking this hike a little over a year ago, Mt. Talbert has become the standard of dull, viewless walks through humdrum second or even third growth woods. As I am putting together some new posts on some other hikes, walks, and parks this fall, I realized that, before I start referencing Talbert, perhaps I should revise this old post to reflect what I am writing about these days.
So, in June 2011 my son and I made a quick loop over the Summit Trail from the Mather Road Entrance. It was pleasant and close to home. Being the middle of the summer, there were no views, though some may be visible through the trees in the winter.
Actually, I remember thinking that this would be a much better winter hike than a summer hike, not only because of the faint possibility of a view or two, but mostly because it is close enough to home that I could sneak a decent little walk in before the early sunset shuts my preferred trails down and it, obviously, will not be buried under feet of snow 99.99999% of the winter.
In the summer, this is about the best I can say for it… It was fun as a little hill climbing workout but, by June, I was in decent enough shape that I was barely winded by the time we reached the 750 foot summit, though for my son it was pretty tiring (see the photos in the original post below). I tend to have a collecting streak in me, so getting to the top was worth an afternoon and exploring a new park was fun. As I told my son, at the very least, it was worth it so we can say, “Been to the top of that one.”
But, bottom line… All things considered, I’d rather be on Powell Butte. There is nothing terrible about the walk up Talbert. Just nothing terribly exciting, either. Perhaps I am spoiled.
I grew up spending my winter afternoons and summer days wandering through second growth woods just like these up near Seattle. At least the woods of my youth were filled with little hidden lakes and other secret spots of interest (interesting, at least, to a pre-teen boy). There may be some great secret spots on Talbert, but we didn’t find them on the first trip and my interests have, alas, probably grown more jaded over the years.
One of the problems (what a problem!) of living in the northwest is that we are very spoiled. It takes me about ten minutes longer to drive to the Gorge than it does for me to drive to Talbert. And far less time to drive to Powell Butte.
But, I will say this to wrap up… The meadows on Powell are spectacular, but they aren’t natural. They are an artificial environment. Rocky Butte and Mt. Tabor? They are not wild places, ur… Well, they ain’t wild in the environmental sense. At least we have one butte in the area that is relatively untouched, at least for the last 100 years or so, and that will remain undeveloped for the future.
On Talbert, we are not talking about a pocket of a park surrounded by a desert of housing developments, or graded meadows and abandoned orchards, we are talking about an entire butte slowly reverting to its natural state, as it was for ages before this area was developed. And that is very cool. While it might not make for the most interesting of walks or hikes, the Park itself is a real treasure.
Especially considering how Powell Butte is currently being torn up by the water bureau and how most of Jenne Butte’s summit looks doomed to development as soon as the housing crisis resolves itself, having an entire butte that will remain untouched forever (hopefully) is a real win for Metro and for all of us who appreciate such things..
So forgive me if I am a little hard on the place, I really do appreciate Mount Talbert. I am glad it is there and I am sure that I will spend some more time on it this winter. But, for the most part, it is like a museum piece. It comforts me to know that it is there, safe and preserved, but if I am looking for fun times and exciting adventures, I’ll probably head elsewhere…
A Cave?
Just one final note… Glancing through the comments on one of the articles below, I discovered that there may be a cave on Talbert. Now that is a secret cool spot that I am not too jaded to get excited about.
According to the Development Master Plan from 2000:
Long time neighbors of Mt. Talbert have described a natural cave located in the northwest quadrant of the study area. This natural feature is currently on private property and has not been explored by NCPRD staff or the consultant team. It has been described as a small cavern (inundated with poison oak) no more than 100 feet long with limited headroom. Caves are often associated with early Native American shelters and have been found to have archeological significance. This cave may also be used by bats. If this feature is to become part of the publicly owned park, a thorough analysis and record will be required. Until a comprehensive study is completed, any disturbance to this area should be avoided. (39)
A large chunk of land in the northwest quadrant was added to the park after the report was written. However, I am not sure if this is where the cave was rumored to be or not. Also, I have not been able to find any other references to this cave, so perhaps, it was just a rumor… Or is it waiting to be rediscovered?
I wrote recently that, wandering through the lava flows and buttes in Newberry National Volcanic Monument, I couldn’t help but to get the feeling that the landscape looked a lot like what my neighborhood might have looked like at one point in the distant past. Towards the end of the Lava Cast Forest trail, I found myself looking across a small valley that reminded me of home, with a small butte across from me that looked remarkably like Grant Butte in Gresham, surrounded not by flat wetlands, but by a flat, geologically recent lava flow.
Out on that lava flow, I started wondering what hidden volcanic features we might have in our area, including lava tubes. While any evidence of lava is long buried around here, our volcanoes preceding the Missoula floods by a fair bit, it still doesn’t mean that there might not be some lava tubes buried deep down beneath our feet.
A little research and I found that one tube has been discovered associated with the Boring Field, under St. Vincent’s Hospital and the Catlin Gabel School on the west side of the West Hills, of all places (Rubble: More fun with Boring Lava & the Catlin Gabel Lava Tube System in West Portland).
This is an ancient tube and no surviving caves have been discovered. The tube was discovered during the construction of the hospital, and it was filled with rubble. Further research turned up five collapse depressions and no access to any possible surviving caves.
Still, if there is one, might not there be another around here some place? I actually have my suspicions about some curious depressions I’ve seen on my end of town, but further research is required… Again, this would be an old, collapsed tube like the Catlin Gabel tube, but it would be cool, nevertheless. It’s something I plan on looking into more this winter.
Of course, the cave described here might not be a lava tube. Heck, it might not even exist at all, or any more...
Links & References
Mount Talbert - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Mount Talbert is an volcanic cinder cone in Clackamas County, Oregon. It is part of the Boring Lava Field,[3] a zone of ancient volcanic activity in the area around Portland. Its summit rises to an elevation of 740+ feet (226+ m).
The butte remains undeveloped and is the location of a nature park of the same name which is managed by North Clackamas Parks and Recreation. The park has several interlinked hiking trails, along which there are several interpretive signs about the area's natural resources.
Metro: Mount Talbert Nature Park:
The largest undeveloped butte in Northern Clackamas County, Mount Talbert rises as a forested green sentinel overlooking the web of development that surrounds it and the busy I-205 and Sunnyside Road interchange.
Stretching from Portland’s Rocky Butte southward to the Clackamas River, a group of extinct volcanoes and lava domes lend unique geographic character to the region’s east side, providing important wildlife habitat and panoramic vistas. Mount Talbert is the largest of these undeveloped buttes in northern Clackamas County.
The nature park includes the top of the former lava dome as well as the west facing slopes visible to the tens of thousands of people that travel I-205 every day or shop at the Clackamas Town Center. The park offers miles of new hiking trails, information about the cultural and natural resources found there and greater access to nature close to home.
Mount Talbert from Sunnyside Road Hike - Hiking in Portland, Oregon and Washington:
This area was logged in the early years of the 20th century, but has been relatively unspoiled since then. The forest has matured into an open stand of Douglas-firs. The understory is dominated by sword ferns and trilliums are common in the spring.
The Park Loop Trail once circled the mountain, but somehow part of it was built on private land and it's been closed.
… you'll enter an area of oak forest. Crews have recently logged the fir trees in this area to create a oak forest ecosystem. Things are still pretty chaotic looking, but hopefully nature will soon heal the landscape. Look for Oaks Toothwort and Stream Violets here. In the evening a small herd of tiny blacktail deer can often be found grazing here.
A Clackamas River Outlook: Mount Talbert Nature Park:
An interesting and worthwhile ecological experiment is underway at the park involving the native Oregon white oak woodlands. This sun loving tree casts a very light shade beneficial to other plants. Douglas-fir seedlings are able to thrive in oak woodlands, but the fir grow 3 to 4 times higher than the oaks, and cast shade too deep for the oaks to tolerate. So in the natural forest succession the oaks will die out. It is thought that the Native American population in this area used fire to improve hunting and for other purposes, which kept the firs from growing, while the thick-barked oaks survived.
The experiment is to favor the oaks artificially by eliminating the competing firs, maples and shrubbery. About 19 acres of oak woodland has been treated in this way, out of 183 acres of parkland here. Firs and other trees in the selected areas have been girdled, topped or cut down, while allowed to continue thriving in the large areas with few or no oaks. This should result in a much more diverse ecology in the park and show us how different the tree cover types will be in terms of understory.
From the comments:
Andrew said... I'm curious to know if anyone knows where the cave is:
"Longtime neighbors of Mt. Talbert have described a natural cave
located in the northwest quadrant...It has been described as a
small cavern (inundated with poison oak) no more that 100 feet
long with limited headroom."
http://www.co.clackamas.or.us/ncprd/packets/mtb_report.pdf [See link to 2000 Master Plan below]
Bryon said... Judging from the volcanic nature of Mount Talbert, and the description, this is likely to be a lava tube cave. These occur when a flow partially cools but the still-liquid inner portions manage to break out, leaving the hardened outer portion behind to form the walls of the cave. Another one exists in the West Hills of Beaverton and Portland, extending from Providence Hospital a good ways uphill. It was actually broken into during construction of the hospital. Evidently no opening exists but a talus slope known to only a few people 'breathes' with air from underground. [See: More fun with Boring Lava & the Catlin Gabel Lava Tube System in West Portland]
…
I do not know the exact location of this privately-owned cave on Mount Talbert. The northwest side includes some very steep terrain.
2000 North Clackamas Parks & Recreation District Master Plan (PDF)
Mt. Talbert has been subject to the impacts of natural resource harvest. Historic aerial photos dating from 1936 indicate that different sections of Mt Talbert have been clear-cut for timber over subsequent years into the 1950’s. [sic] Nearly every face of Mt. Talbert has been cleared at one time or another. Over time, the resulting second growth forest has reclaimed the dome with a diversity of native plant species. Remarkably, there is very little evidence of exotic or invasive species taking root here. (25)
Cave
Long time neighbors of Mt. Talbert have described a natural cave located in the northwest quadrant of the study area. This natural feature is currently on private property and has not been explored by NCPRD staff or the consultant team. It has been described as a small cavern (inundated with poison oak) no more than 100 feet long with limited headroom. Caves are often associated with early Native American shelters and have been found to have archeological significance. This cave may also be used by bats. If this feature is to become part of the publicly owned park, a thorough analysis and record will be required. Until a comprehensive study is completed, any disturbance to this area should be avoided. (39)
Clackamas County Mount Talbert Nature Park – Metro
Mount Talbert Summit Loop Hike - Hiking in Portland, Oregon and Washington:
Look for blacktail deer in this area near sunset.
Mount Talbert Nature Park | EveryTrail:
This short loop to the top of this extinct lava dome in Clackamas County is perfect for the whole family. The trail winds through beautiful forest and is filled with interpretive signs about the environment you are walking through and the flora and fauna you may see along the way.
February afternoon at Mount Talbert Nature Park in Clackamas |:
Lots of cool bug and fungi experiences, and we could hear scores of chorus frogs near the parking lot.
Muddy Boots Family Nature Club at Mount Talbert Nature Park |:
We saw a turkey vulture, heard a hawk screech, saw several banana slugs, and found some owl pellets…
Mount Talbert Nature Park | Things to do in Portland with children:
In much the same way as Forest Park, the gain in elevation is sadly not rewarded with a magnificent view. Just more trees.
Trail Map (PDF): http://library.oregonmetro.gov/files/talbert_map_web.pdf
Original Post
Trailhead.
 |
| From 2011-06 (Jun) |
One quarter of the way up.
 |
| From 2011-06 (Jun) |
Three quarters of the way up.
 |
| From 2011-06 (Jun) |
Summit.
 |
| From 2011-06 (Jun) |
Mt. Talbert Nature Park, Clackamas Co., Oregon. June 17, 2011.
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Monday, October 01, 2012
Clatsop Butte City Park & Natural Area, Portland, Oregon
Found this spot while playing around with Google Earth and decided to drive up and check it out. This is a very nice spot, with decent views and nice meadows to wander through. There is at least one trail wandering through the parks woodsy “Natural Area,” but I didn’t have time to check it out today. I guess that forces me to plan a return trip. Shucks.
This post is, what Wikipedia would call, a stub. I’ll expand it later.
1994 & 2011 (Click to enlarge)
1939 – 1989 (Click to enlarge)
Links & References
Clatsop Butte - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Clatsop Butte is an upland butte lying directly south of Powell Butte in southeast Portland, Oregon, United States. Clatsop Butte City Park, which occupies part of the butte, is at coordinates 45.47456°N 122.50676°WCoordinates: 45.47456°N 122.50676°W at an elevation of 571 feet (174 m).[1] Johnson Creek, Southeast Foster Road, and the Springwater Corridor Trail pass between Powell Butte and Clatsop Butte near Southeast 152nd Avenue.[2]
The City of Portland acquired about 16 acres (6.5 ha) of land on the butte for a park and natural area in 2000.[3] Other land acquisitions increased the park's size to 102 acres (0.41 km2) by 2007 but led to controversy about public expenditures. A 16-member oversight committee was to review the purchases in 2008 to decide whether the money had been wisely spent.[4] As of 2008, Metro the regional government in the Oregon part of the Portland metropolitan area, included 49 acres (20 ha) of the acreage on its list of protected natural areas.
The natural area, comprising densely forested hillsides and creek frontage, supports wildlife including deer, foxes, coyotes, Northern Flickers, Pileated Woodpeckers and other local and migratory birds.[5]
Clatsop Butte is one of several dozen volcanic vents or domes that make up the Boring Lava Field, dating to the Pleistocene. The rock is Springwater Formation basalt. The soil on the Butte consists of windblown silt deposits from the catastrophic Missoula Floods. (15)
The high point at the southern end of the open area of Clatsop Butte has dramatic views in all directions. Looking east is an iconic, virtually unobstructed view of snowcapped Mt. Hood. To the south, Mt. Jefferson’s summit is visible on clear winter days. Larch Mountain and the western end of the Columbia Gorge can be seen in the northern foreground, with Silver Star Mountain, Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens appearing on the horizon. The towers of downtown Portland and Forest Park’s long ridgeline are seen to the west, with other high places such as Mt. Scott, Mt. Tabor and Willamette National Cemetery in the western foreground. Views from the park are outstanding and will be a significant draw for local as well as regional users. View destinations such as the Clatsop Butte Park are highly desirable and should create an incentive great enough to draw users from the Springwater Corridor and from Powell Butte. (22)
The park property was purchased by PP&R from a private developer in 2000. It encompasses several tax lots and several vacated street rights of way. Clatsop Butte Natural Area encompasses three tax lots, all owned by Metro but managed by PP&R. The open space tract to the north of the property is owned by Multnomah County.
There are three neighborhood Homeowners’ Associations surrounding the site, all of which control private tracts of open space: Emerald View to the east (including a long sliver of land that separates two parcels of the natural area), Lexington Hills to the south and McGregor Heights to the north and west. (25)Two large mounds have been created on this site, from topsoil bulldozed off the property in preparation for development. Standing atop one of the mounds offers a unique viewpoint over treetops and rooftops. These mounds could be removed and their topsoil could be redistributed on the site. One of these mounds could be reshaped or retained near the highest part of the site as a new artificial hill, shaped to offer an overlook of surrounding natural features. (35)
TLC Home "Lesser Known City Parks: Portland":
Not far from Powell Butte Natural Park— one of Portland's larger parks— Clatsop Butte Park is hidden away in the Pleasant Valley area of southeast Portland. Don't be fooled by the spare hillside when you pull up; walk down the hill to get a small trailhead and sign. It's removed from the road and nearby development, and a good…
Buttes get security: The neighbors' eyes | OregonLive.com (2008):
Clatsop Buttes Natural Area is made up of five adjoining parcels at the edge of the city limits -- including a 43-acre grassy meadow called Clatsop Butte Park with spectacular views of Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens, Mount Adams and downtown Portland --and an adjoining 49-acre sloping, forested area popular with hikers and equestrians.
Additional wooded parcels and open spaces have been cobbled together in recent months by city and Metro officials to form the 150-acre natural protected area crucial to the environmental health of the Johnson Creek Watershed.
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Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Photo of the Day by A. F. Litt: September 18, 2012, Mt. Hood from Bobs Mountain
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Monday, September 17, 2012
SW Washington Lava Caves
Drove around the Big Lava Bed today and we were wondering about lava tube caves in the area…
Of course, there is Ape Cave, but that is a bit further away. Really, I want to know if any have been found associated with the Big Lava Bed flow itself… We did see a nice caved in tube, but didn’t poke around long enough to find a cave, though it would be surprising if there were not a ton of them.
Lists, links etc. to Trout Lake and Falls Creek caves…
Update September 29, 2012: Found a link to a pdf of Caves of Washington by William R. Halliday:
https://www.box.com/shared/syg47zjgqu#/s/syg47zjgqu/1/24749920/260009824/1
Trout Lake Caves - Oregon Grotto of the NSS:
Some links to Trout Lake caves. http://www.goodearthgraphics.com/showcave/wa.html
This area has hundreds of lava caves. There are large caves with 60 foot high ceilings (Cheese cave) to belly crawling caves. Too many of them to name. There are maze like caves like Deadhorse cave, Pickings cave and more. There are Ice caves (Gular Ice cave). Caves with cool formations, lava trenches (Wildcat cave), Natural Bridges and more. Then there are big long caves with lots of breakdown to give you a good work out like Big cave. Then there are caves with cool minerals in them like Happy cave, Slime cave and Metrocal cave.
Indian Heaven Volcanic Field, Washington
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/LavaTubes/description_lava_tubes.html
From: Wood and Kienle, (eds.), 1990, Volcanoes of North America - United States and Canada: Cambridge University Press, Contribution by Paul E. Hammond
- The Indian Heaven volcanic field is midway between Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams ... Basalt to mafic andesite lava flows range from 0.4 to 24 meters in thickness, whereas andesite flows are up to 90 meters thick. Individual flows extend up to 46 kilometers in length, have areas to 116 square kilometers, and volumes to 1.2 cubic kilometers. Most flows less than 150,000 years of age contain extensive lava tubes, making the Indian Heaven Volcanic Field and important speleological area.
From: Swanson, Cameron, Evarts, Pringle, and Vance, 1989, IGC Field Trip T106: Cenozoic Volcanism in the Cascade Range and Columbia Plateau, Southern Washington and Northernmost Oregon: American Geophysical Union Field Trip Guidebook T106.
- The Indian Heaven volcanic field, midway between Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams, is a Quaternary center, chiefly of basalt. ... About 60 eruptive centers lie on the 30-kilometer-long, N10degreesEast-trending, Indian Heaven fissure zone. The 600 square kilometer field has a volume of about 100 cubic kilometers and forms the western part of a 2000-square-kilometer Quaternary basalt field in the southern Washington Cascades ... Pahoehoe and a'a typify the basalt flows; some of the andesite is block lava. Tephra production was minimal, although the basaltic tephra accompanying extrusion of the Big Lava Bed flow has a volume of about 100,000 cubic meters. Big Lava Bed is known for its tubes and for the remarkable microtopography on its surface, which mostly results from inflation of the flow when its feeder tubes clogged.
Falls Creek Cave
Falls Creek Cave entrance photo from Curious Gorge Blog.
#59 Falls Creek Cave « Curious Gorge Blog:
Bring lights, have fun!! Falls Creek Cave is one of a number of “hidden” caves in the Gifford Pinchot forest, but unlike many, Falls Creek cave is reasonably easy to explore with technical caving gear, nor the need to crawl. Not many lava tubes allow you to make an underground loop like in Falls Creek cave. Gotta like that!!
del greening Says:
May 14, 2012 at 2:43 pm | Replyseveral years ago ,,in a book ( i think ” caves of washington state”) there was a ‘surveyed’ map of the falls creek cave… it is humungus the entrance was listed as having an elevetion of up to sixty feet. the map showed the twists and turns clear to the terminus…very detailed. i have made many trips thru with scouts. a great trip and further east are great places to rough camp near the creek. one thing to remember if you go,,, back in a ways there is a drop of maybe six to ten feet, it dse not hurt to carry a length of rope to tie off above and use as a safety line in passing either up of down,,….
Falls Creek Cave : Trailpedia:
Directions: I-84 East from Portland: 1. Travel east on I-84. 2. Take Exit 44 for Cascade Locks. 3. Take an immediate right after the off-ramp. You will wind around a short on-ramp for Bridge of the Gods. 4. Cross Bridge of the Gods (NOTE: There is a toll). 5. Turn right onto Highway 14 East. You will follow the road through Stevenson, past a pond and toward Carson. 6. Turn left onto Wind River Road (milepost 47.5). 7. Go straight through the four-way stop in Carson to remain on Wind River Road. 8. Turn right onto the second Old State Road (milepost 5). 9. Take the first left onto Panther Creek Road (FS Road 65). You will cross Panther Creek in 4 miles, and pass a quarry in 7.3 miles. 10. Go straight through the “4 Corners” junction (10.8 miles in) to remain on FS 65. 11. Turn left onto FS 67 about 2 miles later; the pavement ends here. 12. Stay right at the fork for FS 6701 in 0.8 miles. 13. Continue 0.8 miles farther past a campground and quarry. 14. Turn right at the sign for Falls Creek Trail 152. There is a small, dead-end set of tire tracks just off the main road that is a good place to park.
http://www.oregongrotto.com/troutlake.shtml
Falls Creek: 633-204. About 6000 total feet with about 4300 feet in the main pain passage. There are three parts of the cave separated by collapse sinks. (AKA: Panther Creek, Lava Caves). See Caves of Washington for full write up.
Salamander Cave
Salamander - lower entrance photo (http://www.oregongrotto.com/gallery/v/washcaves/Falls-Creek/Salamander_Quick_e_mail_view.jpg.html)
No idea where this is but it is near Falls Creek, apparently. Maybe a part of the same tube system?
Salamander: 633-201
Double Eagle Cave
Again, I have no idea where this is but it is near Falls Creek, apparently. Maybe a part of the same tube system?
But I will say, I don’t like the looks of this… The caption is “dug open entrance.”
Apparently, it opens up a bit on the inside…
Photos from http://www.oregongrotto.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2308
Double Eagle: 633-200: A tight vertical entrance into a nice little cave. Mostly walking.
Skamaniac / Datus Perry
Photo from http://www.oregongrotto.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2308
Skamaniac: 633-205 See Datus Perry cave.
Datus Perrys Cave:…part of the Falls Creek Lava Tube System, was reported to Oregon Grotto in early 1968 by Datus Perry, a long-time resident and inveterate cave digger of Carson Washington. Best known for its lava stalactites and stalagmites, parts of the cave were photographed by Charlie and Jo Larson on May 19, 1968. Two photos depicting a two-foot lava stalagmite "before and after being broken," included in the 1980 Oregon Grotto Slide Show, were actually photos of the stalagmite as found (broken) and of it reassembled. In 1975, Oregon Grotto members surveyed 800 feet of the cave before the survey was abandoned because the cave was too cold for "shirt sleeves." Speleograph trip report by Libby Nieland Vol. 11 page 129. And Underground Express by bill Holmes 18 (3): 27.
Mrs. Olson’s Extension
Photo from http://www.oregongrotto.com/gallery/v/washcaves/Falls-Creek/
Olsen Cave
Photos from http://www.oregongrotto.com/gallery/v/washcaves/Falls-Creek/olsencave/
Three Sinks Cave
Photo from http://www.oregongrotto.com/gallery/v/washcaves/Falls-Creek/3sinks/
Three Sinks: At 2,800 feet map length, Three Sinks Cave is the second longest know segment of the Falls Creek Lava Tube System. Cavers learned of the cave from an Oct., 1967, letter from Clay Beal, then a U.S.F.S. Disrtict Ranger, to Bill Halliday which was forwarded to Oregon Grotto. First known cavers to
visit the cave were Charlie and Jo Larson who found it to be a world class example of stream flow, sedimentation and subsequent erosion of pyroclastics in a lava tube. Oregon Grotto held a Forest Service special use permit for several years; currently the cave enjoys special protection by the Forest Service. Trip report Speleograph 359 page 8.
Folgers Cave:
633-213: A segment of the Falls Creek Lava Tube System, named after a Folgers Coffee can found nearby, was first entered in March, 1968, by an Oregon Grotto party. A 1973 map by Rick Pope and Rick Lonergan shows about 2,100 ft (950 ft map length) of moderately sinuous underlain by terminal branches. Mostly breakdown, the cave exhibits some fascinating lava balls and sand castles. Trip report Speleograph 359 page 8.
Blister:
633-203 Falls Creek area cave.
Breakdown Mountain Cave
The cave is named for the prominet breakdown mountains in the cave. The small entrance sink, 8 foot deep, leads through a low opening (4 feet high) to a more spacious cave with 15-25 foot ceilings. Also known as "Lower Falls Creek System" with about 200 feet of passage at 2570 elevation.
Downdraft Cave
Near the Big Lava Beds. A very nice cave.
Big Crater caves
AKA The Dog Caves. Goose Lake. Story Cascade Caver Sept. 2010 Vol. 49 #4 Page 5-6 with map.
Cave Creek Road System:
See story in Speleograph 380 Page 12.
Dead Horse Cave, Trout Lake
Dead Horse Cave is no ordinary lava tube cave. It is the most complex, mapped, lava tube cave in the U.S.--so complex that the generic term “lava tube” seems inappropriate. A very popular cave, broadly consisting of the River Passage, Lower Cave, and Masochists Maze, the cave has three known entrances: the lower entrance (which floods occasionally), the upper entrance (also known as the Rat Hole), and a dug entrance near the northeast corner of Masochists Maze (repeatedly dug open and later backfilled, present condition unknown).
Well known to locals for decades, as with many other caves in the Trout Lake area, cavers were led to the lower entrance of Dead Horse Cave on Nov.5, 1965, by Lyle Ryan, a Trout Lake resident and employee of SDS Lumber Co. The upper entrance was accidentally found by Don and Maylin Nelson who visited the cave with an Oregon Grotto group on Oct.26, 1969. The opening was confirmed as an entrance by Bob Baker, the first person to enter the cave via this opening.
This cave lies in the path of ground water moving downslope obliquely toward Dead Horse Creek, which it parallels to the north. Water, manifested by pools, broken streams, subterranean fracture springs (and one boiling spring) streams through parts of the cave; then sinks back into the open rock or sediments, and eventually finds its way to the bed of Dead Horse Creek about 400 feet below the cave's lower entrance.
It was four years after learning of the cave's existence before cavers--expecting to map a deserving but small cave--got around to Dead Horse. An Oregon Grotto team began mapping Oct.19, 1969, and was repeatedly amazed by what lay beyond the "small" cave. It just kept on going and going. The lower maze area was not mapped until Oct. 10, 1971. The last major mapping, Mar. 9-10, 1991, logged about 4,500 feet of passage in Masochist Maze (Larson, 2005)
Dynamited Cave, Trout Lake
http://www.oregongrotto.com/gallery/v/washcaves/Dynamited_Cave_Oct_1970.jpg.html
When I was starting my caving, back in the Pleistocene as I recall, there
was a report that the sinkhole where the Dynamited entrance is, held a
strange and wonderful lava tube, one with vertical drops in it. This was
before I started the OG and well before the WVG. Early 60's I was in
contact with Cascade G via Halliday and was an Oregon chapter of his Western
Speleological Survey.
The story was, that kids from Troutlake or Stevenson had gone in there,
roped down a pit and when they dropped off the stretchy rope (there was no
"caving" rope back then, and everything stretched hugely under body wt) it
twanged back, well out of reach. Seems hard to believe, as more than one
had to do it, but who knows. They were trapped. To get out, they piled
up a mound of rocks and one was able to grab the rope and climb out
(probably hand over hand, explaining why they all couldn't do it--much harder than
folks think). That kid went for help and the parents came and got the
rest out. They saw the cave as hazardous, and being loggers, had access to
dynamite. So they mined the entrance and brought it down.
Halliday announced he was getting up an effort to open that legendary
cave, and so I headed up there with a couple of my Reed buddies. Bill had a
comealong and we stressed that out pretty good and managed to pull a few
rocks out of the pile, one time the harness slipped off and the weighted cable
came snapping back with great force, narrowly missing us.
That got us a hole you could squeeze decent sized humans thru and we were
in. Sure enough, the legend was true. Pretty amazing to us, back then.
And the rock pile was there to see.
We once, as we were exiting, met some locals coming in to do the
cave....when we said there were vertical drops, one, carrying a gunnysack showed us
what he had in it....a long rope ladder made of hemp rope, and some
"pitons", which were in fact railroad spikes.
When the first gate was put on the cave, it was just an expanding bar/tube
in the squeeze hole. That didn't last long as the locals apparently
didn't like the idea of applying to Seattle for access. I presume someone
drove their log truck tractor up there, ran a log cable from the road to the
gate, and drove away with the gate....leaving a hole you could then walk
thru.
Stevehttp://www.oregongrotto.com/cavehistory.shtml
Dynamited Cave: 633-50: One of the longest caves in the Trout Lake area with many vertical drops and levels. 12,345 feet. Dynamited Cave was discovered in Spring, 1958, by Reno and Carl Ziegler, loggers with the Broughton Lumber Co. In Oct., 1958, early exploration began when Carl Nielsen, family members and friends entered the cave as far as the 15-ft drop. Sometime between Oct. 18 and Dec. 6, 1958, the most decisive event in this cave's history occurred when--after five local boys were unable to ascend a 40-ft pit they had dropped on a 3/8-inch rope--the entrance was dynamited, ending exploration of the cave until 1961. Dynamite was employed again in late 1972 to destroy one of a series of typically impotent gates, this one some distance inside the cave.
This widely popular cave is the most mapped cave in the Trout Lake area. Only moderately sinuous in plan view, it is highly complex in profile, having widely varying mutiple levels and abrupt drops.
Guler / Trout Lake Ice Cave
#72 Ice Cave Trout Lake « Curious Gorge Blog:
The Trout Lake Ice Cave was known historically as the Guler Ice Cave. There are other caves in the area, but most of them are on private property, such as the “Cheese cave”. The Trout Lake Ice Cave is one-of-a-kind in terms of ice formations. Make a special late-April/early May trip to the Ice cave and you will be blown away!!
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Thursday, September 13, 2012
More fun with Boring Lava & the Catlin Gabel Lava Tube System in West Portland
After hiking up to the “crater” at Bobs Mountain today (and looking for it’s missing apostrophe…), I thought I would look around for some more information about this mountain and the Boring Lava Fields in general. It is surprising how little is really known about them…
Still, after poking around up there today, I am leaning towards the crater being an erosional artifact, maybe a cirque from the Pleistocene and not an actual crater. It seems to me that a crater that size would not have survived on a volcano this old in this region. (See my earlier thoughts on this topic here… http://rubble.blogspot.com/2012/01/trail-report-bobs-mountain-washington.html)
It’s on the north side of the mountain and it reminds me of a smaller, lower, softer version of the cirque that is Larch Mountain’s “crater.”
John Eliot Allen, in his 1975 paper “Volcanoes of the Portland Area, Oregon” (http://www.oregongeology.com/pubs/og/OBv37n09.pdf), writes that Bobs Mountain may be “a relatively recent cinder cone” with a “crater outlined by an arcurate ridge, …lower on one side as the result of breaching by erosion.” This does describe what I saw up there today, though I would suggest the entire shallow depression was caused by erosion and just happens to bear the appearance of a typical, younger cinder cone’s crater.
Remember, even if this is one of the youngest of the Boring cones, we are still talking about a likely age of “50–130 ka,” which still leaves it vulnerable to late Pleistocene glaciation, as is assumed to have created the Larch Mountain crater. Recent, in this case, is not very recent.
Apparently, though, these ages are still vague, with more research needing to be done. Perhaps Bobs is a lot younger than we realize, though this does seem unlikely. But, as Allen writes, “more exact dating of the Boring Lava is urgently needed.” That was in 1975. I am not sure what has been done since.
While Bobs’ crater is on the north side, it may be a little low… In a different article (“Ice-Age glaciers and Lakes South of the Columbia River Gorge” OREGON GEOLOGY, VOLUME 51, NUMBER I, JANUARY 1989 - http://www.oregongeology.com/sub/publications/OG/OGv51n01.pdf), Allen writes that he only assumes that a feature is evidence of glaciation in this area if “the landform is at an elevation above 3,000 ft, it is on an east or northeast slope, and it is one of a group of at least three similar nearby landforms located in similar topographic positions.” Later on he reiterates that glaciers in this region “rarely extended down below 3,000 ft in elevation.”
Since Bobs is significantly lower than 3,000 feet (2110 feet), I suppose I still have to allow for the possibility that Bobs is like Black Butte, near Sisters in central Oregon, an ancient volcano that appears to be a recent one. However, since the two peaks exist in such different locations, and since Bobs sits in a region that did experience significant erosion from local, alpine glaciers during the Pleistocene, and since it is unlikely that Bobs is less than 15,000 years old, I still have a hard time believing that erosion would not have been the principal cause of this feature…
Again, from Allen, discussing features such as the Larch Mountain cirques, “It is probable that most of [the glacial features on peaks across the Columbia from Bobs] described here were results of the last Vashon or Pinedale glaciation (Crandell , 1965), which culminated 15,000 years ago.”
Allen, 1975, Volcanoes of the Portland Area, Oregon: State of Oregon, Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, The ORE-BIN, v.37, no.9, September 1975
Geology of Washington - Portland Basin:
South of the Puget Lowland and southwest of the southern Cascade mountains, the Portland Basin marks the northern terminus of the Willamette Lowland of Oregon. In Washington, the northern portion of the Portland Basin is characterized by the low topographic relief of western Clark County.
Both upstream and downstream from Vancouver, at the edge of the basin, there are exposures of Columbia River basalt. Within the basin itself, the basalt units lie more than 1,000 feet below the surface. Starting during the Miocene and continuing through the Pliocene, the basin was filled by sediments of the ancestral Columbia River. Named the Troutdale Formation, these deposits can be divided into two general parts: a lower gravel section containing pebbles and cobbles that were derived from the Columbia Basin and the Okanogan Highlands, and an upper section that contains vitric volcanic glass (hyaloclastic) sands. The hyaloclastic sands owe their origin to Cascade Range Simcoe Volcanics flowing into the Columbia River, explosively quenching, and then being redeposited downstream in the Portland Basin as sand. A volcanic breccia subunit of the Troutdale Formation, representing a lahar, has been mapped near Woodland, Washington.
Deposition of the Troutdale Formation was followed by a period of Boring Lava volcanism 2.6 to 1.3 Ma. Centers of extrusive activity have been documented around the margins of the Portland Basin. This volcanism was associated with faulting and structural deformation of the Troutdale Formation and further depression of the Portland Basin.
Lastly, as the glacial Lake Missoula catastrophic floods burst out of the Columbia River Gorge 12,700 to 15,300 years ago, the waters ponded in the Portland Basin. Backwaters caused the deposition of well-sorted sand, clay, and gravel.
NOVA Geoblog: Boring Volcanic Field, Oregon:
Some nice pictures of the different layers… Troutdale Formation, Boring Lava, etc.
Although the character of volcanic activity is typical of many monogenetic volcanic fields, its tectonic setting is not, being located in the forearc of the Cascadia subduction system well trenchward of the volcanic-arc axis. The history and petrology of this anomalous volcanic field have been elucidated by a comprehensive program of geologic mapping, geochemistry, 40Ar/39Ar geochronology, and paleomag-netic studies. Volcanism began at 2.6 Ma with eruption of low-K tholeiite and related lavas in the southern part of the Portland Basin. At 1.6 Ma, following a hiatus of ~0.8 m.y., similar lavas erupted a few kilometers to the north, after which volcanism became widely dispersed, compositionally variable, and more or less continuous, with an average recurrence interval of 15,000 yr. The youngest centers, 50–130 ka, are found in the northern part of the field. Boring centers are generally monogenetic and mafic but a few larger edifices, ranging from basalt to low-SiO2 andesite, were also constructed.
Portland Hikers • View topic - A Bunch of Boring Volcanoes:
I did know know this about Kelly Butte. This might be next on my list to explore…
Kelly Butte
Where: S.E. 103rd Avenue, off of Division
On Portland Hikers, we explore abandoned trails, but what about an abandoned park? You park at a rusting gate and walk up a paved road to the former Kelly Butte Civil Defense Center, carved into the middle of the hill bunker-style. The Center was built in 1956 to act as command center in case of nuclear attack. It later became the 9-1-1 emergency dispatch center, but in the mid-90s was completely abandoned and vandalized. Now a massive slope of bulldozed dirt covers the entrance. A great horned owl flapped away from the entrance when I visited here last. On top of the Center is a meadow that used to host park amenities like picnic tables. A trail leads around and over the top of the butte through woods of Douglas-fir, hemlock, and vine maple and thickets of hawthorn and snowberry. You can walk west to get views to Portland’s downtown and then continue down towards Powell to the large water tank at the southwest corner of the “park.”
The other find of the evening’s search was the existence of Lava Tubes in Portland. This is one of the things I was curious about. A few weeks ago, standing on a 7000 year old lava flow in central Oregon that ran between two buttes that look like they could have been transported from my neighborhood, I started wondering if there were some buried lava flows and other fun volcanic artifacts in the area. Well, there are a few, including at least one lava tube, the Catlin Gabel Lava Tube System.
According to yet another article by Allen (“The Catlin Gabel Lava Tubes of West Portland, Oregon: Remnants of a Plio-Pleistocene Cave System” http://www.vulcanospeleology.org/sym03/ISV3x06.pdf), the system is the oldest found in Oregon and is probably (just probably) completely caved in…
First, there’s a lava flow running next to (and under) the Sunset Highway? Yep… But it’s buried. “Recent erosion has modified the original surface expression of the lava, and a mantle of Portland Hills Silt as much as 30 feet thick has further masked the surface.”
Apparently the lava tube was discovered during excavations during St. Vincent hospital’s construction. That section was collapsed and filled with rubble. But is the whole thing? Who knows… I couldn’t find any more recent research than Allen’s 1974 paper.
He writes:
Although the cross section (Figure 3) shows segments of the tube still intact, an alternate possibility exists – the entire tube system may have collapsed. In that event, the tubes would consist of channels filled with the debris of the collapsed roofs. According to R. J. Deacon (Shannon and Wilson 1968), the “rubble-filled channels” beneath the hospital site were masked by undisturbed layers of ash and silt. This indicates that the roof of the two tubes at that location may have fallen in before the ash and silt were deposited. If this alternative is valid, it has important engineering implications: those structures such as Catlin Gabel School, that directly overlie the projected course of the tubes, would be in less danger of collapse.
While there are, so far, “no visible openings” to any surviving sections of the tube system, there are five, closed collapse depressions. Usually, this is the way in. However, these caves are so old, I wonder how noticeable they even are today.
Allen describes the locations of these tubes and I was able to locate the first three, I think, in Google Earth.
Along the center of the [lava flow’s] arc, within a distance of 6,000 feet, are five closed depressions.
From east to west, the five depressions are as follows: The first (55 feet deep and 500 feet across) lies just east of Catlin Gabel School; the next two depressions (35 and 45 feet deep, 100 and 200 feet across) lie just west of the school; the fourth (30 feet deep and 400 feet across) is north of the interchange of Highway 217 with the Sunset Highway; and the fifth depression (50 feet deep, 150 feet across) lies just north of Sunset Highway and 1,000 feet east of the Cedar Hills Bloulevard interchange. (See USGS Linnton 7-1/2 minute topographic quadrangle).
I am not sure how accurate the Google Earth elevation data is, but it appears that the first collapse depression is now the Catlin Gabel School’s parking lot.
While all five depressions are visible on the 1961 USGS map…
…only three depressions are visible on the most recent USGS map.
Another bit of exploring I want to take on in the next few days… To go and see what is left of these depressions!
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