The benchlands surrounding the Kamloops area have many small lakes and ponds, many of which are alkaline.    These ponds can be described as salt ponds or alkaline ponds or even alkaline soda ponds.   When the salt content creates a PH value of over 10, the water takes on a sulphurous smell.   They are hostile to most fish and plant life, but some life can survive and even flourish in a hypersaline environment.   In the pond, brine shrimp, a few insects, algae, and specialized plants grow.   Pickleweed (saltwort) grows in the shallows.   It is a natural salt recycler.   First Nations people ate the weed, using it to flavor food (it tastes like a pickle).

This pond/lake is in a remote spot on the bench above Kamloops Lake.   From above, or from across the lake, the border of the pond is fringed in soda salts.

The saltwort seeds sprout in the spring and the plants grow through the summer, flower in the late summer, depositing seeds by fall around the edge, and then the plant turns crimson red in the early fall.   In the spring it is inconspicuous.

Saltwort Pond is filled from melting snows and surface drainage in a large bowl-shaped area.   The salts in the soil are leached and carried down to the lowest point and accumulate within the pond.

The route to Saltwort Pond from above is a long downhill from the end of Abbey Road (see the article on April 17th).   An easier route is to take the 4WD track from Cherry Bluffs off Deer Road.    Visit it in the spring before the summer’s heat or in the fall to see the saltwort in its full color.