Wallowa Lake in Late Winter: Finding Beauty in the Present Moment
Few visitors brave winter snows to drive over the passes from Pendleton or LaGrande or Milton Freewater, Oregon, to visit Wallowa Lake even in March. Visit and your only company may be a pair of…. …unfriendly Mallards who prefer privacy. At the north end of the lake you can find a dock. Walk out along the dock and contemplate the winter sun peaking through the clouds over the glacial moraine damning the lake. Sit still and be quiet. Let the beauty of the place and the moment fill you. Fifteen thousand years ago this land was ice. Glaciers covered the Wallowa Mountains. Eon after eon, snow fell and became ice. Eon after eon, ice ground the granite to silt. As the ice flowed slowly downhill, it carried the silt to the edge of the flow and built the moraines. When the ice melted, the moraines damned the melt water to form Wallowa Lake. Now in late winter, the lake is ice free. On this still day the w...