Lake Nahwatzel () is a body of freshwater located in Mason County in the U.S. state of

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 o ...

. The lake is fed by three main sources, which include two unnamed creeks and naturally occurring

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

s. The lake empties into the East Fork of the Satsop River via Outlet Creek. Lake Nahwatzel is one of the warmest lakes in western Washington due to the presence of the aforementioned hot springs. Nearby towns include

Shelton Shelton may refer to: Places United Kingdom *Shelton, North Bedfordshire, in the parish of Dean and Shelton, Bedfordshire *Lower Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire *Upper Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bedfor ...

and Matlock. Lake Nahwatzel has a surface area of and a maximum depth of .

Name

The name "Nahwatzel" is an

Anglicization Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by Culture of England, English culture or Culture of the United Kingdom, British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English ...

of the

Twana Twana is the collective name for a group of nine Coast Salish peoples in the northern-mid Puget Sound region, most of whom are extinct or are now subsumed into other groups and organized tribes. The Skokomish are the main surviving group and se ...

name "." The Twana name is said to mean "large lake" and is speculated by anthropologist William W. Elmendorf to be a loanword from a neighboring language, possibly

Chehalis Chehalis may refer to: People * Chehalis people, a Native American people of Washington state **Lower Chehalis language **Upper Chehalis language * Sts'Ailes people (Chehalis people), a First Nation in British Columbia * Chehalis First Nation, Bri ...

Fishing

Lake Nahwatzel is opened to fishing year-round and is considered to be one of the best bass-fishing lakes in western Washington during the summer months. Twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall, the lake 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 ...

. According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, April and May or late September and October are the best months for catching rainbow trout.

Geography

Lake Nahwatzel is located in the foothills of the

Olympic Mountains The Olympic Mountains are a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high – Mount Olympus is the highest at ; however, the easter ...

which are located on the

Olympic Peninsula The Olympic Peninsula is a large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the ...

of Washington State. The location of the lake means that the land is heavily wooded and dotted with many hills and streams.

History

Indigenous settlement

Prior to American settlement, the Vance Creek band of the

historically used Lake Nahwatzel (known in the

Twana language The Twana (təw'ánəxʷ) language, also known as Skokomish from one of the tribes that spoke it, belongs to the Salishan family of Native American languages. It is believed by some elders within the Skokomish community (such as Bruce Subiyay Mi ...

as ) as a hunting ground during the summer months. They would set up camp at a nearby hill, which is named , meaning "halfway." It was a common stop for people traveling between the Twana areas and the

Satsop Satsop is a census-designated place (CDP) in Grays Harbor County, Washington, United States. The population was 675 at the 2010 census, up from 619 at the 2000 census. Geography Satsop is located in southeastern Grays Harbor County on the Sats ...

areas to trade, as there was a trail running from Vance Creek to the

Satsop River The Satsop River is a stream in the U.S. state of Washington. It has three main tributary forks, the East Fork, West Fork, and Middle Fork Satsop Rivers. The main stem Satsop River is formed by the confluence of the West and East Forks. The Middle ...

via Lake Nahwatzel.

2008 floatplane accident

On Thursday, July 24, 2008, a floatplane piloted by Mark Storer and his son Brian Storer experienced engine problems soon after taking off from where they had landed on the lake. The plane rose above the tree line but began to descend soon after, eventually crashing into a nearby field, killing the two men on board. The crash sparked a three-acre fire that was contained by local fire fighters within hours.

Controversy

Recently the Simpson Timber Company and their Green Diamond affiliates have begun readying to sell the undeveloped northern shoreline. The north shore of Lake Nahwatzel is currently forestland, and the sale would see new houses built on the shore over the following years. A petition was sent out in 2013 to try to get the community to purchase the property and keep it natural; however, because of a lack of support the petition in its original form failed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nahwatzel Lakes of Washington (state) Bodies of water of Mason County, Washington