Blue Hills (Washington)

The Blue Hills just west of Bremerton, Washington, also called the Bremerton Hills, Bald Hills, and Wildcat Hills, consist of Gold Mountain, Green Mountain, and several informally named hills. Reaching an elevation of 1761 feet (537 meters), a thousand feet above the glacial till that fills the Puget Lowland, they form a prominent landmark visible around the region. They are formed of uplifted blocks of marine basalts, the steep-walled canyons between the various summits being the fissures between the blocks (particularly prominent at Gold Creek and Union River). In addition to Gold Mountain and Green Mountain (the named members of the Blue Hills) are several other prominent peaks unofficially named according to their elevation (in feet):
* Kitsap Lookout, el. 1,360 feet
* (also known as Peak 1320),
* Peak 1291.
* Peak 730.
For a more complete list of hills see List of mountains and hills of Kitsap County, Washington. The name "Blue Hills" is said to come from the green trees appearing blue at a distance due to atmospheric optics.

Image:BlueHillsWA-BowenVP.jpg, none, 720px, View from Betty Bowen viewpoint ( Queen Anne Hill, Seattle) west-southwest across Puget Sound and Bainbridge Island to the Blue Hills. Prominent summits from left to right are: Kitsap Lookout, Gold Mountain, Green Mountain, and Peak 1291. Behind these peaks of the Olympic Mountains trend to the south. From the right: Mt. Ellinor, Mt. Washington (elevation 6,250'), and Mt. Pershing. Barely overlooking Green Mountain: Lightning Peak and Dry Mountain. In the gap next to Gold Mountain the twin summits of Chapel Peak (~4,000') peek over Prospect Ridge (overlooks Lake Cushman). Visible to the left of Kitsap Lookout are several unnamed peaks in the vicinity of Vance Creek. Mouse-over for labels. Se
Peakfinder.org
for more details.
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poly 90 110 290 94 344 100 408 108 336 126 90 118 Peak 730
poly 108 108 152 90 224 78 264 74 306 80 408 106 Kitsap Lookout
poly 366 94 438 68 540 80 590 98 388 100 Gold Mountain
# Green Mountain has two lobes: merged.
poly 642 94 674 80 726 74 778 86 826 80 850 88 974 90 1008 106 868 106 820 98 Green Mountain
poly 1028 106 1078 94 1094 94 1154 100 1208 116 1054 116 Peak 1291
# Peaks of the Olympics:
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circle 600 88 8 Chapel Peak
circle 620 86 8 Chapel Peak
circle 746 74 8 Dry Mountain
circle 800 72 8 Lightning Peak
circle 936 42 8 Mount Ellinor
circle 994 32 8 Mount Washington
circle 1158 36 8 Mount Pershing
rect 62 154 130 164 Entrance to Blakely Harbor
rect 1090 164 1218 180 Entrance to Eagle Harbor

Geology

The Blue Hills are perched on the north edge of the Seattle uplift, an east-west trending syncline or arch between the Seattle Fault and Tacoma Fault formed by north-south compression of the bedrock. (See Puget Sound faults#Geological setting.)

File:Blue Hills (WA) GM wsp1413.jpg, left, upright=1.8, Geological map of central Kitsap County, Bremerton on the right. Purple is the uplifted bedrock that forms the Blue Hills. Distinct west-east fissure () separates Green and Gold Mountains (north and south, resp.).
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poly 158 116 170 118 174 128 154 138 156 146 140 150 132 136 148 128 #William Symington Lake
poly 348 94 364 102 368 116 380 114 384 120 386 136 376 136 366 140 362 132 334 114 332 106 #Wildcat Lake
poly 380 118 398 106 422 126 414 138 428 152 460 144 476 172 464 174 432 166 406 140 410 128 396 118 384 120 #Wildcat Creek
poly 548 212 560 210 588 238 586 274 578 282 556 282 554 254 544 224 #Kitsap Lake
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poly 366 370 376 372 360 404 332 414 316 444 308 440 324 408 354 394 #Union River Reservoir
poly 308 444 312 446 308 460 318 498 308 498 298 488 292 464 #Union River
poly 370 498 364 488 376 486 386 498 #Twin Lakes
poly 156 420 174 430 184 450 172 470 166 456 152 442 140 448 134 442 146 434 #Mission Lake
poly 118 260 128 264 130 278 138 290 140 304 136 312 132 306 122 292 106 290 116 278 #Lake Tahuya
poly 70 498 58 480 80 472 100 490 #Panther Lake
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poly 136 208 140 302 154 308 168 332 240 328 274 310 300 320 300 330 160 338 #Gold Creek
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poly 346 220 390 212 396 246 370 274 318 312 284 306 294 294 328 266 #Peak 1330
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circle 578 464 26 #Gorst
circle 550 54 26 #Chico

(on the south) is composed mainly of marine basalt flows and related volcaniclastic rocks (such as breccias and sedimentary interbeds) of the Crescent Formation, part of the Siletzia terrane that formed around 50 million years ago (early Eocene). is formed of slightly older formations of gabbro and pegmatite, intruded by dikes of basalt and diabase. Most of the dikes are oriented north-northeast (NNE), suggesting they formed at a time of east-southeast–west-northwest (ESE-WNW) extension. This is parallel to the Olympic–Wallowa Lineament (OWL), a major regional feature that passes just north of Bremerton which some believe shows strike-slip (horizontal) motion, but a connection with the OWL is yet to be shown.
Sharp downwarping of these formations has created numerous faults, including the dip-slip (vertical movement) Gold Creek fault that separates the two mountains. Strands of the Seattle Fault, which east of here trend nearly due west-east, appear to turn to the southwest in the vicinity of Green Mountain.

Mining

Popular lore says Gold Mountain was so named on account of the presence of gold. However, state geological documents make no mention of any gold or gold mining in Kitsap County.

On Green Mountain, an old and much photographed adit near the headwaters of Tin Mine Creek is probably from the Chico "tin mine" the creek is named after. In 1895 it was reported that ore of three to five percent tin had been found in this vicinity, and the ''Cook Kitchen Mining Company'' had been incorporated with $2,000,000 of capital to develop the claim. An optimistic report in 1897 mentioned four shafts, one eighty-five feet deep, and there was report at the end of 1898 of a new shaft. However, in the 1897 report the means of reducing the ore were only "proposed"; there are no indications that any ore was produced or shipped. Neither the site nor the company is mentioned in reports at the turn of the century on mines and mineral resources in the state. A report in 1918 said that there had been "no subsequent developments to indicate the authenticity of this deposit", and that a careful examination in 1906 failed to show any tin.

The only other known metalliferous mining claim in all of Kitsap county – the "Elmer Nelson Property" – is on the south flank of Green Mountain, just above Gold Creek. Very little is known about this claim except its reported location and that development appears to have been limited to a surface trench. Cobalt is reported as the primary mineral of interest, with no mention of gold, silver, or any other mineral.

Hydrology

The hills contain the headwaters of the Union River and Tahuya River, draining into Hood Canal south and southwest respectively. A number of creeks also rise in the hills, draining directly north into Hood Canal (e.g. Big Beef Creek, "the largest and most productive salmon stream on the northeast shore of
Hood Canal"), northeast into Dyes Inlet (Lost Creek/Wildcat Creek/Chico Creek, "the most productive salmon stream in Kitsap County, producing as many salmon as all other streams combined") and east into Sinclair Inlet (Heins Creek/Gorst Creek).

Municipal water supply

The hills have long been identified as an important watershed for Bremerton and the surrounding area,
as the Kitsap Peninsula has no major lakes or rivers, no access to mountain reservoirs fed by snowmelt, and the groundwater is limited in quantity and quality.

Moist Pacific air reaches the Blue Hills through a gap in the coastal ranges called Chehalis Gap. The Union River, which rises in the hills, was impounded in a deep valley on the eastern flank of Gold Mountain by Casad Dam, completed in 1957. The dam creates the Union River Reservoir supplying over half of Bremerton's annual requirements. 95% of the watershed's land was purchased by Bremerton in the 1920s, and is entirely within the Blue Hills.

Recreation

A number of developed and undeveloped areas for recreation exist in and near the Blue Hills. The largest that is open to the public is Green Mountain State Forest, a multi-use, over state forest containing Green Mountain itself and owned by Washington State Department of Natural Resources. The state forest allows camping, off-road vehicles, horseback riding, and hiking. The Bremerton watershed contains the eastern half of Gold Mountain with an associated restricted protective buffer, and is somewhat larger than the state forest. Entry to the watershed by the general public is restricted, but Gold Mountain Golf Course was built on city watershed property on the south side of the hills. Together the watershed and Green Mountain State Forest represent over half of Kitsap County's open space.

The Mountaineers maintain an outdoor theatre, Kitsap Forest Theater, in their Rhododendron Preserve on the north side of the hills.

There is one former shooting range, Camp Wesley Harris, owned by the U.S. Navy, and the private Kitsap Rifle & Revolver Club.

Other facilities include county and city parks, as listed below.

;City of Bremerton
*Gold Mountain Golf Course
*Newberry Hill Heritage Park
*Otto Jarstad Park
*Pendergast Regional Park
;Kitsap County
*Wildcat Lake Park
*Central Kitsap Greenways
*Navy Yard City Open Space

References

Notes

Sources

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Further reading

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{{Washington State hills and ridges

Hills of Washington (state)
Landforms of Kitsap County, Washington