Warner Lakes

 ( Lakes Of Oregon ) 

There are numerous lakes in the Warner Lakes chain. Starting at the south end of the valley, the largest of the Warner Lakes are Pelican Lake, Crump Lake, Hart Lake, Anderson Lake, Swamp Lake, Mugwump Lake, Flagstaff Lake, Upper Campbell Lake, Lower Campbell Lake, Stone Corral Lake, Turpin Lake, and Bluejoint Lake. The valley slopes toward the north. As a result, Crump Lake is elevated higher than Bluejoint Lake.Gottberg, John Anderson, "Pronghorn Paradise", The Bulletin, Bend, Oregon, August 16, 2009.Jackman, E.R. and R.A. Long, The Oregon Desert, Canton Press, Caldwell, Idaho: 1964, p. 361.

The Warner Lakes are fed by Twentymile Creek and Deep Creek at the south end and Honey Creek which flows into Hart Lake. Most of the water from Twentymile Creek flows into Greaser Reservoir or into irrigation canals in the South Warner Valley. As field drainage, some of its water eventually merges with Deep Creek and flow into Pelican Lake.

• Deep Creek flows into Pelican Lake year around, providing much of the lake system's fresh water. From the north end of Pelican Lake there is a well-defined channel in the form of a deep slough that winds its way through the marsh land to Crump Lake.
• Crump Lake is named for Thomas Crump, who settled near the lake in the 1890s. It is the largest of the Warner Lakes, approximately long and wide with a surface area of approximately at normal water level. It is shallow, maintaining its level by overflowing into Hart Lake through a narrow marshy channel. When the flow from Deep Creek is unusually heavy, Crump Lake can overflow, flooding up to of surrounding marsh lands.McArthur, p. 257.
• Hart Lake is named for the heart shaped brand used by the pioneer Wilson and Alexander ranch established near the lake. Hart Lake has the most stable water level within the Warner Lakes chain. It not only gets the overflow from Crump Lake, it also received a steady flow of fresh water from Honey Creek. The north end of Hart Lake reaches a depth of around at a normal water level. The south half of the lake is comparatively shallow, averaging only about in depth.McArthur, p. 449.
• Anderson Lake is just north of Hart Lake. It is named after Thomas A. Anderson, who homesteaded near the lake.McArthur, p. 23. The valley drainage flows next into Swamp Lake and then into Mugwump Lake. The level in Mugwamp Lake can vary dramatically between the wet and dry seasons. This led to it being named after the politically independent and unpredictable .McArthur, p. 682.
• North of Anderson Lake, there are high sand ridges covered with greasewood between the lakes and marsh drainages, some high. These form the shores of Flagstaff Lake, Upper Campbell Lake, Lower Campbell Lake, Turpin Lake, and Stone Corral Lake. The sand ridges generally occur on the lake's north shore. This indicates that the lake may have been dry for long periods, during which time southwesterly winds could have blown silt from the dry lake beds into dunes which in turn became shoreline when the lakes refilled.
• Bluejoint Lake is located at the far north end of Warner Lakes chain. It is named after the bluejoint grass common to the area. Bluejoint Lake covers a large area, but is very shallow. It is a pluvial lake that can be completely dry for extended periods of time.McArthur, p. 94.

In addition to the fresh-water creeks that flow into the Warner Lakes, there are a number of hot springs that drain into them. The hot springs originate in fractures within Miocene and Oligocene basalt layers below the valley floor. Their water temperature can be as hot as . Bacterial mats of green algae are common in the hot springs, the algae environments are segregated by temperature and water chemistry. The hot springs introduce minerals that change the water chemistry of the lakes. From late spring through summer the lakes are concentrated by evaporation. This produces moderate to high alkaline content in some areas of the lakes.Finkelstein, David B., Lisa M. Pratt, et al, "Evaporite mineralogy and microbial diversity from alkaline lakes in Warner Valley, Oregon as analogue for paleolakes on Mars" (PDF), NASA Astrobiology Institute, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 2005.Finkelstein, David B., Simon C. Brassell, and Lisa M. Pratt, "Molecular Characteristics of Microbial Mats from Warner Valley, Oregon" (PDF), Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, and Department of Geological Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 2007.

There is no outlet to the Warner Lakes system, so the water only slides northward while quickly evaporating from the surface of the lakes. The northern lakes are all very shallow, which provides ideal habitats for shore birds. Cranes and other shore birds can often be seen wading far from shore. However, these lakes can dry up during periods of low rainfall.