Muddy River (Washington)
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The Muddy River is a stream, about long, southeast of Mount St. Helens in the U.S. state of
Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...
. The Muddy River flows south–southeast and joins the Lewis River just above the Swift Reservoir. The Lewis River flows west and is a tributary to the
Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...
. The east flank of Mount St. Helens is within the
watershed Watershed may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, an area of land where surface water converges (North American usage) Music * Watershed Music Festival, an annual country ...
of Muddy Creek. During the
1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens In March 1980, a series of volcanic explosions and pyroclastic flows began at Mount St. Helens in Skamania County, Washington, United States. A series of Phreatic eruption, phreatic blasts occurred from the summit and escalated until a major ...
,
lahar A lahar (, from ) is a violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of Pyroclastic rock, pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a valley, river valley. Lahars are o ...
s (volcanically-induced
mud Mud (, or Middle Dutch) is loam, silt or clay mixed with water. Mud is usually formed after rainfall or near water sources. Ancient mud deposits hardened over geological time to form sedimentary rock such as shale or mudstone (generally cal ...
and debris flows) swept through its channel. About of stream channels around the volcano were affected by lahars. The
United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Natio ...
maintains the Muddy River Picnic Site, next to the river and to Forest Road 25 in the
Gifford Pinchot National Forest Gifford Pinchot National Forest is a National Forest located in southern Washington, managed by the United States Forest Service. With an area of , it extends along the western slopes of Cascade Range from Mount Rainier National Park to the C ...
. Trails cross the river on its upper reaches.


Course

Muddy River originates at about the level on the southeast side of Mount St. Helens in the
Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington (state), Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as m ...
. The river source is within Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument and Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
Shoestring Glacier The Shoestring Glacier is a small valley glacier, stretching out from the peak of Mount St. Helens in Skamania county in southwest Washington in the United States. The source of the glacier was an ice and snow field on the summit of the mountain. ...
is to the
right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...
and East Dome is to the
left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * ''Left'' (Helmet album), 2023 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relativ ...
. Flowing southeast down steep slopes, the river curves sharply to the northeast just beyond the level of the volcano. Here the river crosses Forest Road 83 and passes the Ape Canyon Trailhead and the Lava Canyon Interpretive Site, both on the left, before entering Muddy River Gorge.
River mile A river mile is a measure of distance in miles along a river from its river mouth, mouth. River mile numbers begin at zero and increase further upstream. The corresponding metric unit using kilometre, kilometers is the river kilometer. They are an ...
s are marked on the map quadrangles for the lower Muddy River and the Lewis River.
Flowing northeast through the gorge, the stream plunges over three waterfalls before emerging from the narrows and curving sharply again to the southeast. Here Crane Lake is on the left, Smith Creek enters from the left, and Smith Creek Trailhead is on the right. Slightly downstream of the trailhead, the river leaves the national volcanic monument but remains in the national forest. At about the level, Clearwater Creek enters from the left. Turning south, the river descends less rapidly, passing under Forest Road 25 and then receiving Clear Creek from the left about from the
mouth A mouth also referred to as the oral is the body orifice through which many animals ingest food and animal communication#Auditory, vocalize. The body cavity immediately behind the mouth opening, known as the oral cavity (or in Latin), is also t ...
. At the road crossing, Muddy Creek Picnic Site is on the left. Below the confluence with Clear Creek, the river meanders through Cedar Flats, leaves the national forest slightly more than a mile from the mouth, and passes a
United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...
(USGS)
stream gauge A stream gauge, streamgage or stream gauging station is a location used by hydrologists or environmental scientists to monitor and test terrestrial bodies of water. Hydrometric measurements of water level surface elevation (" stage") and/or v ...
, on the left from the mouth. Muddy River enters the Lewis River about from the larger stream's mouth on the Columbia River.


Discharge

The USGS monitors the flow of Muddy River at a station upstream of the confluence with the Lewis River. The average flow of the river during 54
water year A water year (also called ''hydrological year'', ''discharge year'' or ''flow year'') is a term commonly used in hydrology to describe a time period of 12 months for which precipitation totals are measured. Its beginning differs from the calendar y ...
s, including 1984–2011, is . The maximum flow recorded was on February 8, 1996, and the minimum flow was on December 5–7, 1929. The high flow in 1996 was associated with general flooding in the Pacific Northwest during the Willamette Valley Flood of 1996. A flood destroyed an earlier version of the gauge in January 1974. The existing gauge began recording data in October 1983. The mudflow flood related to the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980 occurred outside the period of record for either gauge.


See also

* Lava Canyon Falls *
List of rivers of Washington List of rivers of Washington may refer to: * List of rivers of Washington (state) * List of rivers of Washington, D.C. {{Disambiguation ...
*
Tributaries of the Columbia River Tributaries and sub-tributaries are hierarchically listed in order from the mouth of the Columbia River upstream. Major dams and reservoir lakes are also noted. List of major tributaries The main river and tributaries are (sorted in order from t ...


References


External links


USGS CVO maps, data, and resources related to the Muddy River and the eruption of Mt. St. Helens
{{authority control Rivers of Washington (state) Rivers of Skamania County, Washington Gifford Pinchot National Forest