Kautz Creek

Kautz Creek
River
Kautz Creek in Mount Rainier National Park, photographed in 2006.
Country	United States
State	Washington
National parks	Mount Rainier National Park
Tributaries
- right	Pyramid Creek, Pearl Creek
Source
- location	Kautz Glacier, Mount Rainier
Mouth	Nisqually River
Length	6 mi (10 km)

Kautz Creek is a tributary of the Nisqually River, flowing from the Kautz Glacier, with its watershed in the Mount Rainier National Park of Washington. It drains southwest from Mount Rainier for about 6 miles (9.7 km) before it joins the Nisqually River near Mount Rainier Highway. It is notable for being a severe flooding hazard and that it changes its course often. Also, the 400-foot (120 m) Kautz Creek Falls on the headwaters of the creek was formed by the retreat of the Kautz Glacier in the past 50 years.^[1]

Hydrology

The channel of Kautz Creek is very steep and narrow, because it has eroded through the relatively soft material that the lahars and mudflows have deposited. The creek flows in a trench that is 100 to 200 feet (30 to 61 m) wide and up to 75 feet (23 m) deep, though this course is likely to change with floods.

Lahars

The creek is notorious for its history of severe floods and mudflows. On October 2 and 3, 1947, heavy rains triggered a jökalhaup (glacial lake outburst flood) from the Kautz Glacier- the largest flood after the establishment of the park. 40,000,000 cubic metres (1.4×10⁹ cu ft) of earth were moved, along with boulders nearly 13 feet (4.0 m) in diameter. This flow buried the Nisqually-Longmire Road with 30 feet (9.1 m) of debris, and carved a canyon 300 feet (91 m) deep. This flow, often compared to a lahar, moved for nearly 6 miles (9.7 km). Other large debris flows have occurred in the Kautz Creek watershed in 1961, 1985, and 1986, with small debris flows occurring more frequently.^[2] The creek also jumped its banks in November 2006, destroying parts of the Kautz Creek Trail.

References

1. "Kautz Creek Falls at Waterfalls Northwest". Retrieved 2009-03-09.
2. "USGS Study of Postglacial Lahars from Mount Rainier". Retrieved 2009-03-09.

Coordinates: 46°43′41″N 121°50′50″W / 46.72806°N 121.84722°W