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VINCE PATTON: 
All over the Cascades,

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life pours forth 
from dry mountainsides.

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Hidden holes can be the source 
of great rivers

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as water rushes, bubbles, or 
seeps from underground storage.

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But at Lost Lake on 
Santiam Pass,

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one hole is much bigger 
than usual

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and seems to work in reverse.

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It swallows the lake,

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a drain into a subterranean 
volcanic labyrinth.

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WOMAN: I've never seen one 
like this.

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It's pretty intriguing. 
[ gasps ]

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This bizarre drain fascinates 
Terry McDermott.

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She has visited 
the hole in the lake

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three times in one year

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during trips over the pass 
to Bend.

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Earlier in the summer, 
she saw a lot more water

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vanishing into the ground.

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Three weeks ago, the water 
was still all the way around it,

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and it was still 
a lot coming in.

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At the time, you could only see 
water rushing in.

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You couldn't see a bottom.

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I was blown away. 
I was scared.

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Because at first the water 
was high,

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and there was so much rushing 
over the edge,

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you couldn't see the bottom.

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And I was afraid to get 
too close.

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Would I -- like, 
would the rocks crumble

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and I'd fall in or something?

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This little nondescript lake 
has become very popular

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all of a sudden.

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It's cool. It's beautiful.

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People from all over 
want to see

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the bathtub of Santiam Pass 
for themselves.

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It's awesome. I mean, it's 
something I've never before.

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All this attention because 
a video by the Bend Bulletin

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went viral early in the summer.

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MAN: 
It spread like wildfire,

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both nationally and 
internationally.

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Visitor levels definitely 
increased.

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As District Ranger Terry Baker 
can attest,

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nothing's better for tourism 
than a good mystery.

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To have a lake that basically 
disappears

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over the course of the summer

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is something that's 
not too common,

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so a chance to come out 
and witness that in action

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is something that people, 
I think, look forward to seeing.

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Terry is concerned 
that people might try

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to explore down inside.

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The level of stability of 
the hole or how deep it may go

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if you were to break through 
a certain area

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or if it were to shift on you

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is something we're really not 
aware of.

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So we definitely want people 
to be cautious.

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So what's really going on here?

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Is this a portal into 
a larger lava tube

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just waiting to be explored?

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MAN: 
What I see is a sinkhole.

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It may or may not be connected 
to a lava tube.

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Retired geologist Dave Kretzing 
doesn't think so.

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I can't say for certain that 
that kind of plumbing

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doesn't exist at depth, 
but to me, this actual orifice

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doesn't look like the entrance 
into a lava tube.

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Dave is certain of one thing:

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there are still plenty of gaps

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in the layers of rock 
under our feet.

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I know this doesn't look like 
a lot of water,

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but if this thing were not 
porous,

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that amount of water would fill 
this hole in just a few minutes

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if it were not continuing 
to seep on down through.

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This entire region is the 
product of ancient volcanoes.

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Eruptions happened 
over and over again

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in the last 12,000 years.

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You've got layers and layers 
of interbedded ash

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and glacial gravels 
and lava,

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and it forms a stack 
very much resembling

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sort of a geologic lasagna.

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The lava left behind 
is anything but smooth.

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The lava flows are just 
chock full of not only spaces

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between the boulders, but cracks 
and crevices in the boulders.

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And as a consequence, where 
water butts up against them,

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it rapidly soaks into them 
and pours through

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all those nooks and crannies.

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Rivers now lie underground, 
buried by previous eruptions.

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When a river is buried by 
volcanic activity,

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that existing pre-eruption 
topography still exists.

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The landscape isn't destroyed; 
it's buried.

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The more recent lavas 
that formed these flows

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are probably perhaps several 
hundred to a thousand feet deep.

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Lost Lake's six-foot-wide drain 
feeds an underground river.

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But Dave believes it's flowing 
in extremely slow motion.

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Scientists tracked radioisotopes 
in the water

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that showed it may take 
three to seven years

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for water to travel from 
Lost Lake to Clear Lake.

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And it probably doesn't 
end there.

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Clear Lake feeds 
the McKenzie River,

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but some of its water may go 
underground again,

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down to Carmen Reservoir,

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and from there 
to Tamolitch Pool.

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All over the Cascades, 
lakes miles apart

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can still be connected, 
even without a river

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flowing aboveground 
where we can see it.

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Clear Lake, on McKenzie Pass, 
serves as the perfect example.

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We know that springs feed 
Clear Lake.

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It's a good bet that 
some of that spring water

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comes from the drain holes 
in Lost Lake.

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And that in turn launches 
the modern-day McKenzie River.

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Clear Lake is famous 
for its clarity

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and for an ancient 
old-growth forest

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that stands under 
its crystal waters.

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Icy spring water feeds 
this lake all year long,

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perfectly preserving 
the eerie ghost forest.

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It's like your very own 
time machine.

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The water is so cold 
and so pure

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that there just isn't a lot 
of nutrients available

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and for biological activity,

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which would cause wood 
to decompose.

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But anywhere where they're 
below the water,

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they're literally preserved.

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They're actually still wood.

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The spring water spent years 
being filtered underground.

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It emerges so clear, you can 
dive under 60 feet of water

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and not only see boats overhead,

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but the tops of 200-foot-tall 
trees on the banks of the lake.

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The water then feeds a river

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and more springs 
down the valley.

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There's a lot going on here that 
most people don't know about.

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The lakes and the waterfalls 
here in the McKenzie River

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are just inextricably bound 
with the activities

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of the volcanic vents 
and the lava eruptions.

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If Clear Lake also absorbs 
some water to send underground,

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divers have yet to report 
any large holes like Lost Lake.

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Sometimes folks think 
the Lost Lake hole

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is a problem.

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Dave says back when he worked 
for the U.S. Forest Service,

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one of his colleagues found 
someone trying to clog it up.

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We found an elderly gentleman 
out here

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with his two young grandsons 
frantically shoveling silt

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and material in to clog it up 
to save the fish.

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It wasn't really the right thing 
to be doing,

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but their hearts were in 
the right place.

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There's also been a rumor 
about another hole.

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There's been a lot of talk

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about whether there's 
a second hole or not,

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and it's certainly possible, 
given the geology we have here.

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Dave's never seen another hole,

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but we came back in the fall 
of this big drought year

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and found not just one 
but two more.

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Hole number two appears deeper 
and wider than the first.

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About 15 yards away,

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hole three may be little more 
than a small depression

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with grass growing inside,

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yet it, too, appears to drain 
into the lava.

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There's snakes. 
Look at them. See them?

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There's a big one and 
a littler one over there.

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At the first hole, Terry 
McDermott discovered something

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she never expected: 
as water recedes,

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it turns out there's a whole 
ecosystem down there.

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His colors are beautiful.

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There's like a creek going out 
that way,

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and if you look from -- 
oh, there's a toad!

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I guess the toads are too big 
for the snakes to eat.

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It's totally cool.

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[ fly buzzes ]

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While Lost Lake hardly looks

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anything like a lake 
in the fall,

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come spring, snow will melt, 
springs will refill it,

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and the holes will be 
covered up with water...

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for a while.

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The cycle continues.

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The wonders of nature.

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How many times have I come 
and walked along the edge,

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you know, different times and 
looked for animals and critters

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and birds and things 
and never noticed it?