I witnessed this back in 02 0r 04. very bizarre to say the least. since the kalama's source bubbles up from a aquifer. this is very hard to explain.

http://tdn.com/news/the-kalama-river-is-...eec5c7b055.html

Slide, my ass. Weird.

Here's my theory. Lava tubes with water crossing under the earth.

OR

A giant cow, lactating.

This year the snow pack did not protect the glaciers.
The Deschutes River, my summertime haunt, is blown out right now as I type because of the exposed and bleeding White River glacier.
The Hood River is a flowing mudhole.
It's been a most unusual, turbid October.

Maybe there is some glacial outwash seeping into the Kalama system ?

Things should change in a few weeks with the colder fall nights coming into play.

what's interesting is a white kalama is a precursor to mt. st. Helens activity.

the klick has been a muddy mess. the white river trib on the Deschutes is truly white. as mentioned the hood river blown too. October is not a time for extreme temps. rain has been rare. so maybe something geological down deep is causing all of this bizarre activity.

Probably no connection, but in the fall of 1979 the North Toutle seemed to be filling up with sand. I could wade many drifts when normally too deep. An old timer in the area said that " something is going on in the mountain". He was right. Something was going on in the mountain.

Grab some 6' leaders and fish it Pukallup style while it lasts!

I believe the volcanic ash is working downstream.

So perhaps the glaciers on St. Helens have melted to a point where layers of ash and debris from the eruption are now exposed and melting into the river? That would make a lot more sense than anything else I can come up with.

I was on the Kalama River on Sunday morning (10/18). It looked normal. No evidence of any white sediments. The water was low, but that was expected, given the lack of rain. There was not even any deposition on the bottom/rocks from the white coloration. So I find it odd.

My sense is that it was not a slide or surface water run-off. A slide or heavy runoff would have produced brown sediment. White sediment indicates glacial flour, which means it came from Mt. St. Helens. Not sure what might have done it.

In the past, whenever the Kalama River turns white, there is volcanic activity on the mountain. But that has also corresponded with earthquake activity on the mountain. But, as far as I can tell, the mountain has been quiet. So I have no better ideas than anyone else....

BTW, I caught one small coho (5-6lbs) on the Kalama Rv Sunday morning. I was using eggs under a float. There were very few fish in the river. The weir is taking everything. Nothing gets through. WDFW is passing all coho and steelhead, but that means they're handling all coho and steelhead. Getting either of those fish to bite is difficult under the best of circumstances but after being handled, it becomes almost impossible.

And, most disappointing, is that another angler told me the weir was going to be in the river until the end of October. They originally said it would be out by October 15. So this is really frustrating. WDFW has really killed this river.

The last time the dimwits running the kalama left the weir in that long. we got a serious rain and washed that thing out.

yes the white water leaves zero clue it was even there.

Actually, it washed out in Sept 2013, at the peak of the tule run. We got the remains of a Pacific typhoon that lashed us with high winds and heavy rain for several days. The remains of the weir were found 1/2 mile downstream. So they built a new one. Which is what we have now......

It's bad enough for it to be there for August and September, but leaving in thru October is unacceptable. The tule run is long gone. No reason for it to still be there except to play with their new toy. We need another typhoon......