Carbon River

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Carbon River
The Carbon River near the city of Carbonado. View upstream from the Fairfax Bridge.

The Carbon River near the city of Carbonado . View upstream from the Fairfax Bridge .

Data
location Pierce County , Washington , USA
River system Puyallup River
Drain over Puyallup River  → Puget Sound
Source on Mount Rainier Carbon Glacier
46 ° 56 ′ 38 ″  N , 121 ° 47 ′ 24 ″  W.
Source height 1090  m
Mouth at Orting Puyallup River Coordinates: 47 ° 7 '50 "  N , 122 ° 13' 58"  W 47 ° 7 '50 "  N , 122 ° 13' 58"  W.
Mouth height 34  m
Height difference 1056 m
Bottom slope 22 ‰
length 48 km
Catchment area 204 km²
Drain at Fairfax gauge, Washington NNQ
MNQ
MHQ
 1 m³ / s
12 m³ / s
340 m³ / s
Left tributaries Voight Creek
Right tributaries South Prairie Creek
Small towns Orting

The Carbon River is a river in Pierce County , Washington . It flows about 48 kilometers from its source , the carbon glacier on Mount Rainier , to its confluence with the Puyallup River at Orting .

Charles Wilkes named the river the "Upthascap River", but after the discovery of coal deposits along its banks in 1876 it was renamed the "Carbon River".

course

The source of the Carbon River is the Carbon Glacier on the north side of Mount Rainier in the Cascade Range . The upper reaches of the river are in Mount Rainier National Park . The tributaries in the upper reaches include Cataract Creek and Spukwush Creek. The Carbon River quickly enters a wide glacial valley where it deposits thick layers of glacial sediments. This leads to the meandering and intertwined appearance of the river.

After passing Mother Mountain to the west and Chenuis Mountain to the east, Ipsut Creek meets the Carbon River and the river reaches the Ipsut Creek National Park Campground. Up until 2006, this was where Mount Rainier National Park was accessed via the Carbon River Road, before a flood eroded the road. Below Ipsut Creek, Chenuis Creek flows from the north and Green Creek from the south. Shortly after these junctions, the river leaves Mount Rainier National Park. The Carbon Ridge and its high peak, Old Baldy Mountain, are to the north. Tolmie Creek, which flows down from Tolmie Peak , joins the Carbon River from the south.

After flowing generally to the northwest, the Carbon River turns more west until Evans Creek flows into it just before the small settlement of Fairfax . Between Fairfax and Carbonado , the Carbon River squeezes through a narrow gorge with Gleason Hill in the east and Wingate Hill in the west.

After passing Carbonado and taking in Lily Creek, the river valley widens again and the Carbon River becomes a wide meandering river again. It turns west and flows through an increasingly widening floodplain to the small town of Crocker, where the river meets one of its main tributaries, South Prairie Creek. Shortly below Crocker, another main tributary flows, the Voight Creek.

Below Crocker, the Carbon River flows to the northwest and flows into the Puyallup River. The town of Orting is located at this estuary in the floodplain between the two rivers.

The single lane bridge on Washington State Route 165, about two miles south of Carbonado on the way to Mt. Rainier.
The 150 m long Fairfax Bridge was the tallest bridge in Washington when it was built in 1921.

geology

Shaped by glacial meltwater, the Carbon River contains a huge load of sediments such as mud or gravel. After emerging from the Carbon Glacier, the Carbon River flows through a wide glacier- shaped valley, where massive deposits in the river bed create dand and gravel banks, so that the river becomes a complex interwoven river , mends itself and is prone to flooding . The river from time to time relocates drainage channels and creates new ones in its valley. The Carbon River flows through a narrow gorge between Fairfax and Carbonado (immediately) before entering another wide flood-prone valley near Crocker and Orting.

nature

In the Carbon River Valley, the annual rainfall is between 1,778 and 2,286 mm, which leads to the occurrence of temperate rainforests .

Natural dangers

Flood

In some places, the 2006 flood of the Carbon River tore away large parts of the Carbon River Road.

Floods occur from time to time in the upper Carbon River Valley. A flood of the century led to the creation of new drainage channels in 2006, during which part of the Carbon River Road was eroded. The road forms the main entrance to the northwestern part of Mount Rainier National Park. Parts of the road basically became the river's new canal, while other parts were washed away.

Access to the Carbon River Road has been closed to motorized traffic since 2008. This results in up to 18 km detours for hikes that previously started at Ipsut Creek Campground. Ipsut Creek Campground is permanently closed to camping vehicles; a camping permit is required for the overnight stay. Floods and / or flood conditions continue to pose a threat to users and can occur with almost no warning.

Lahars

As with other rivers that have their source on Mount Rainier glaciers, there is a risk of lahars in the Carbon River Valley .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Google Earth altitude calculation for GNIS coordinates.
  2. ^ A b Puyallup and White River Basins , Water Resource Data, Washington, 2005, USGS .
  3. ↑ James W. Phillips: Washington State Place Names . University of Washington Press, 1971, ISBN 0-295-95158-3 .
  4. ^ Washington Road & Recreation Atlas . Benchmark Maps, 2000. And [1] .
  5. ^ WSDOT - Historic Bridges . Retrieved May 8, 2009.
  6. ↑ Carbon and Mowich , Mount Rainier National Park, National Park Service.
  7. ↑ Volcanic Hazards in Mount Rainier. National Park Service , accessed June 27, 2020 .

Web links

Commons : Carbon River  - collection of images, videos and audio files