Welcome to the Glacial Kettles. Enjoy your meeting with the kettles and take care not to bring home to many woodticks!! Expect a steep decent/ascent and about a 3/4 of a mile roundtrip hike.
A kettle hole is formed by blocks of ice that are separated from the main glacier. If conditions are right, the isolated blocks of ice then become partially or wholly buried in outwash. When the ice blocks eventually melt they leave behind holes or depressions that fill with water to become kettle hole lakes.
Also, the general depth of most kettles are less than 10 meters. In most cases kettle holes eventually fill with water, sediment, or vegetation. If the kettle is fed by surface or underground rivers or streams it becomes a lake. If the kettle receives its water from precipitation, the groundwater table, or a combination of the two, it is termed a kettle pond or kettle wetland, if vegetated. Kettle ponds that are not affected by the groundwater table will usually become dry during the warm summer months, deemed ephemeral.
A view from the bottom
