Digging near Crater Lake!

[Stephen T.]

Hi all,
I live just east of the Cascade mountains, about 20 miles south of Crater Lake. My wife and I bought this 1/2 acre property with small house about 2 1/2 years ago and I'm finally getting started on a pond and stream system, which I hope to intergrate with my greenhouse. We've been somewhat "roling-stones", so we've moved around Oregon several times. I've built several stream and pond combinations, the first about 1998, each on a very limited budget.

Since this is a pretty cold place in the winter, usually dipping down to -20 or a bit lower, combined with 4160' elevation, we even have freezing nights sometimes in summer. Last year we had a 28 degree night in late July. We did cover things and didn't lose our tomatoes. So, I decided to build a sunken greenhouse and dug a 16'x16'x42" deep hole to put it in. Our property is pretty flat and the spoils had to go somewhere, which gave me the material to get a 3' drop from the upper end of my water feature to the lowest area.

Presently, I just have a 300 gph pump hooked in temporarily for testing purposes. I'll be using a 1300 gph pump soon. It's pretty raw in the picture, I've started a bit of the rock work, but most will probably have to be put off until next spring.

I'm hoping to put the bog in the greenhouse, although this will put it at the lowest point, even with the lower pond, but it won't happen until next year as I'm running out of time, with too many projects to finish before winter. We're hoping to have salad greens all winter, with a bit of additional lighting in the greenhouse. I should mention that there's also a 6'x6' sauna included in the design, which will have a water wall between it and the greenhouse as a thermal flywheel.

Steve

 

[sissy]

Welcome and all I can say is WOW what a neat build .I think you will need bigger than a 1300 gph pump .I bought 2 laguna pumps(2900gph and 2400gph )because of low cost electric use .What kind of fish are you going to have and are you going to use the waste water for plants in your green house .

 

[Priscilla]

WOW! That's quite the set up!!! I'm loving it!

How did you manage all that liner? Do you have separate pieces for the streams and join them at main ponds? How do you join them? Is your main pond a liner? The dirt seems to come right up to the edge.

Freezing in the 'summer' - brrrrrrr!

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our group! How darn neat! Love the source spring, so is that spring water? would love to have that here.

 

[sissy]

Boy did you let yourself open to lots of questions on this build .We really love interesting builds here and you fit that for sure .You may be on puter answering all of this more than you think

 

[Stephen T.]

My, what a lot of questions, although I can't say I'm surprised!

I lucked into a large chunk of EPDM pond liner left over from a much larger project, got it for about 1/3 of new price and cut some pieces off of it for the various parts.

I used Tite Seal Pond Liner Seam Tape Double Sided Adhesive, a pain to use, but it does seem to work ok. I didn't exactly follow the instructions though. First, I coarse sanded the liner, then washed the joint area with hot soapy water, followed by rubbing alcohol. Next, I placed the lower piece on a stout chunk of 2x6 lumber, applied the tape, then worked the upper section over it. Now the fun, I pounded the heck out of the seem area with a 4 pound sledge, hitting every point of the 3" seam multiple times. Almost all seams are laid like shingles with both overlap from above and also humps above them so there's no water pressure at all at the actual seem tape. I probably could have left it out altogether, except for root intrusion.

Sorry to disappoint you, it's not a spring, but a fake! Here, near Crater Lake, all the streams and rivers in the area are sudden, springing into life from hillside to river in a few feet. I just decided to imitate the way they look, having the line from the pump bubble up through the bottom with gravel and sand in underwater fountains, possibly 2 or 3 of varying sizes.

Being a nature photographer and ex model railroader, I love creating scenes. So, making the stream look very natural and native to the area is my goal here. This is a major bird flyway and the stream will also make a great location for bird photography. Actually, yellow-rumped warblers, gold finches, robins and pine siskins found the stream within a day of starting the pump. We even had a frog move in already.

In the past, I've used a lot of Great Stuff to glue rocks and sand in place and it's worked fine. So that's what I'm doing here as well. I've only done a few feet, but so far, so good.

Steve

 

[Nepen]

WOW! i want to see the finish, looks great!

 

[Mmathis]

Welcome, and all I can say is WOW!

 

[Stephen T.]

Oops, missed a few. The ponds had some grass growing around the edges in those areas before I dug. I just peeled/rolled back the turf and then put it over the liner once things were level and ready for it.

As far as fish, I'm not sure yet, likely natives if I can get them. Otherwise, feeder goldfish. I'm only 1/4 mile from Agency lake and there are osprey, bald eagles, great egrets and blue herons flying over all the time. I'm going to be feeding them no matter what I do! It'll make for great photo opportunities though!

As things develop, I'll try to use all native plants if possible, there's a lot of variety here. The Wood River Wetlands is a mile away, a huge bog and National Wildlife Preserve. Although I won't take things from there, the roadside ditches are loaded with native wetland plants that get dug out every year. It should be easy to get whatever I want from the road crews.

With my hose running full bore, I get about 1200 gph, which gives just about the right amount of flow, so the pump should be fine.

 

[Big Lou]

Welcome! Awesome job. Can't wait to see the finished pond.

 

[Stephen T.]

You think you can't wait to see the finished pond! I'm more than ready to see it, but I suspect it will be sometime next spring or summer before it looks even sort of finished. I don't want to do a rush job, but taking my time (when I have time to spare) is ... challenging!

Steve

 

[Big Lou]

I'm sure it I'd Steve. Agree with taking your time. Best to do it right the first time.

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the group Steve! Great to have you here I'm really looking forward to hearing/seeing how your project progresses!

 

[tbendl]

It looks wonderful! Welcome to the group and I also am looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

[sissy]

We have another model railroader on here ,but have not seen him on much .His set up is out side and he lives here in VA .I am only guessing but looking at your pics that you have 4 legged critters also that may be a problem .