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
h
ole
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
