Photo taken at the end of one of the rare clear days in the western Columbia Gorge during mid-March.
This 50-acre lake comprises the delta of a good-sized creek that flows out of the Cascade foothills into the Columbia River. During summer, the dam at the confluence of creek and river is closed, allowing the lake to fill. At the beginning of the rainy season in October, the dam is opened and the lake allowed to drain, leaving a big mudflat with the creek running through it.
As anyone who lives near a stream knows, the water level is extremely responsive to precipitation and snow melt. Over the course of the winter, the terrain within the lake bed changes constantly, depending on the weather. When spring arrives, chum salmon and other endangered fish species run up the flume at the creek mouth to their spawning grounds in the foothills.
What a contemplative photograph. I love the reflection of sky and trees in the water, deepening the beauty there.
Posted by: Joanne | Tuesday, April 07, 2009 at 05:42 AM
Thanks. I keep looking at this photo, and every time, I see something new in it.
Posted by: Kitty | Wednesday, April 08, 2009 at 12:45 AM
In your photo the clouds are more obvious in the reflection than in the actual sky. Beautiful. The streams in our area are full and moving toward the river. We hear the water running when we walk our road.
Posted by: Sharon | Friday, April 10, 2009 at 07:42 AM
Sharon, I'm thinking about your comment, that the reflection is clearer than the actual sky itself. There's a message in that, about life in general. (I do like to use nature as a metaphor for human existence, and that one is a ... well, a "natural". If I weren't just about falling asleep right now, I'd write a blog entry about it.)
Posted by: Kitty | Sunday, April 12, 2009 at 04:48 AM