Hartman Pond

[AlanLichty]

Hartman Pond is a small lake formed by the runoff of Wahkeena Falls being dammed by the I-84 freeway berm. It drains into Benson Lake which is formed by the runoff of Multnomah Falls and once again the freeway berm. The view is looking downstream towards the west. Ice is visible on the surface of the small lake from a spell of cold temperatures that broke up a few days before I took this shot. It may look like ice out on the Columbia but it isn't. The river used to occasionally freeze before the dams were built and the water flow was more variable but the flow out of the Bonneville dam is pretty regular in the present day. Its rare for this area to stay cold long enough for ice to form like this as the Columbia is only a couple of feet above sea level here and experiences tide flows.

C&C always welcome.

 

[JimFox]

That's a cool view and it shows the dead of winter type of look in the vegetation.

 

[AlanLichty]

That's a cool view and it shows the dead of winter type of look in the vegetation.

Thanks Jim - turn 90º to the left and you are looking straight at Wahkeena Falls. The vegetation is a bit on the sparse side during the winter months. This may be low elevation but when the winds are blowing from the east this time of year this part of the Gorge has some bitter wind chills.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Nice view with the road separating the lake from the gorge.

 

[AlanLichty]

Nice view with the road separating the lake from the gorge.

Thanks Jameel - the wonders of modern engineering; the lake only exists because of the berm they built for the freeway. There are several lakes along I-84 that exist for the same reason - the highway engineers made landforms on top of what was otherwise wetlands along the Columbia.

 

[Beth]

really cool view of the lake. i wondered how interconnected all of these bodies of water were on my first visit to the area a few years ago.

 

[AlanLichty]

really cool view of the lake. i wondered how interconnected all of these bodies of water were on my first visit to the area a few years ago.

Thanks Beth - they certainly used to be all quite interconnected but that was to the Columbia River and not as individual lakes like what you see above. I was surprised to see ice on the water when I pulled into the Benson Recreation Area as it wasn't really all that cold at all that day but it obviously had been the week before.