Lake Kapowsin is a lake in Pierce County,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, about halfway between Tacoma on Puget Sound, and

Mount Rainier Mount Rainier (), indigenously known as Tahoma, Tacoma, Tacobet, or təqʷubəʔ, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With a s ...

in the Cascade Mountains. The lake is long and wide, lying in a channel formed by meltwater from the Puget lobe of the

Vashon glacier The Vashon Glaciation, Vashon Stadial or Vashon Stade is a local term for the most recent period of very cold climate in which during its peak, glaciers covered the entire Salish Sea as well as present day Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia and other surro ...

during the Pleistocene glaciation. A small island, Jaybird Island, lies in the northern half of the lake. As indicated by a drowned forest in the lake and other evidence, the Puyallup River was inundated about 550 years ago by a

lahar A lahar (, from jv, ꦮ꧀ꦭꦲꦂ) is a violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. Lahars are extreme ...

from Mount Rainier called the Electron Mudflow. The mudflow partially filled the channel (leading to its shallow, smooth bottom today) and blocked Ohop Creek's outlet, forming present-day Lake Kapowsin. The

Tacoma Rail Tacoma Rail is a publicly owned Class III shortline railroad. It is owned by the city of Tacoma, Washington and operated as a public utility. It is one of three operating divisions of the municipally-owned Tacoma Public Utilities service, but unl ...

shortline runs along the west side of the lake, as does Orville Road connecting

Eatonville Eatonville may refer to: * Eatonville, Florida, United States * Eatonville, Minnesota, United States, an alternative name for the former Dakota village Ḣeyate Otuŋwe * Eatonville, Mississippi, United States * Eatonville, Ontario, a neighbourhood ...

to the south with the town of Kapowsin. The lake contains a number of fish species and is stocked with

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

, rated "excellent" for fishing by

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is a department of the government of the state of Washington, United States of America. The WDFW manages over a million acres of land, the bulk of which is generally open to the public, and mor ...

, as is the yellow perch.

References

Further reading