“It has always been a happy thought to me that the creek runs on all night, new every minute, whether I wish it or know it or care, as a closed book on a shelf continues to whisper to itself its own inexhaustible tale.” – Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Cole Creek's source is a vernal pool which emanates from volcanic terrain located in Loch Lomond.
It's year-round rate is about 300 gallons per minute.
The ancient landscape from which Cole Creek derives is known to be located in the Clear Lake basin, which is set amongst the Coast Ranges and is a tectonic, volcanic region that has been active for more than a million years.
Geologists have determined that the Clear Lake Basin's two main fault zones are the Clover Valley-Highlands Arm to the northeast, and the Collayomi fault zone, which is situated in the southwest.
Cole Creek is a tributary to our county's gem, Clear Lake, at Clear Lake State Park in Kelseyville.
According to the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the fish that inhabit Cole Creek are rainbow trout, brown bullhead, Sacramento sucker fish, Sacramento sqawfish, California roach and others.
A riparian habitat envelops the creek and plays a part in the lives of an assortment of wildlife species.
An impressive variety of avian life abound around Cole Creek as well.
These gregarious birds are like poetry and music all in one.
In a recent Audubon outing along Cole and Kelsey Creeks at Clear Lake State Park in Kelseyville – led by extremely knowledgeable guide Brad Barnwell and his wife, Kathy – ospreys were sighted, along with grebes, swallow, titmouse, scrubjay, spotted towee, flicker, nuthatch, quail, bulebirds, California towee, bushtit, tree swallow and more.
It's easy to see why the Xa-Ben-Na-Po Pomo Indians, or Big Valley Pomo, once thrived in the region of Cole Creek, below, and nearby Mt. Konocti. It was an idyllic setting replete with food, water, volcanic obsidian for tool-making and an abundance of plant-life for medicine, shelter, homes and boats.
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is an educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.