In Search of Disappearing Lake

The Adventurer, Vernon Wade

Vernon was born in the Pacific Northwest and still lives in the shadow of Mt. Hood, near the small town where he grew up. Vernon has spent decades wandering the hills, hunting mushrooms, camping and riding motorcycles into the remotest nooks and crannies to be found in the region.

Every winter South Prairie floods, forming a chain of connected lakes or impoundments covering many acres. For a brief, miraculous moment there exists the Pacific Northwest equivalent of a bayou. You can kayak between towering cottonwoods and grotesque lava sculptures, drifting across cold, shallow, perfectly clear water. Disappearing Lake is only accessible after the snow melts off the road and it drains mysteriously just a few weeks later, sinking into the caverns and rivers underneath The Big Lava Bed, resurfacing miles downstream to flow into Lava Creek. Every year my friends and I make several trips up the road into the Gifford Pinchot National Forest only to be stopped by deep snow drifts across the road, until one day, the road is clear and I make it all the way to South Prairie. This year the date we finally made it through was May 6th, 2025.