Wet enough for you?

Eastern Washington’s very wet winter and spring this year has resulted in the refilling of Pacific Lake. The upper section of the lake has now risen high enough that the water has begun to spill over into the lower section. The upper section shown in the left-hand photo above is where the Odessa Lions Club members built a boat launch and viewing platform in the early 1960s, visible in the right center of the picture next to the large bluff overlooking the water. This end of the lake was also called Allington Bay. The right-hand photo above shows the area where water from the upper section has begun flowing into the lower section that extends to the Lakeview Ranch Recreation Area overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.

We heard from Marsh Roberts, former Odessa resident and former owner of Odessa Drug, via email this week some memories of those former times when the lake was filled with water year round. His comments follow:

“Odessa families and friends had many a fun time at Pacific Lake boating, picnicing and fishing in the summer before it got really warm. It looks like Pacific Lake will fill up, and Delzer Falls will be putting water into Delzer Lake and on down to where the Napiers used to live at the confluence of Crab Creek and Lake Creek. Jakey Reihs, Freddie Stehr and I would make bets on when the water would reach Wederspahn Lake just above Pacific Lake. In the spring we would drive out there a couple of times a week to check it out.

Joyce and I have walked from Bonney’s Lake all the way to Coffee Pot and also come in from Coffee Pot and walked to the south end of Deer Lake a number of times. It was fun looking for nests of geese and ducks along the way from Bonney’s Lake to Tavares Lake to Brown’s Lake to Deer Lake and then Coffee Pot Lake. I can remember all of our children and myself getting back in under Delzer Falls and getting soaked from the spray.

Mel Schauerman and I found a red-tailed hawk nest on the west side of Bob’s Lake (which is west of Pacific Lake toward Crab Creek) on a ledge about 200 feet above Bob’s Lake. I would hold his legs and then he would hold mine, and we would stretch over the edge and take pictures of the nest below from the cliff above. There were three young hawks in the nest, and in the heat of the summer it really smelled, as the adults were feeding their young all kinds of rodents and small animals. It will be fun to see Pacific Lake full [again].”

If we are indeed once more entering a less dry period, the area’s lakes and creeks could again become a draw for more visitors to take advantage of fishing, water skiing, hiking and so on.

For those of us in middle-age and older, the filling of the nearby chain of lakes brings back wonderful memories from our youth. We hope the wet years hang around for a while, helping to recharge the Odessa acquifer as well. It has been way too dry for way too long.