Glacial Lake Russell was the largest and longest-lasting proglacial lake in the southern Puget Sound during the Vashon Glaciation, existing from about 16,900 to 15,900 years before present as the Cordilleran Ice Cap retreated. It filled low basins around Eld, Budd, and Henderson inlets and Nisqually Reach, later merging with lakes near Tacoma and Nisqually. At first about 160 feet above sea level, it drained south through the Black Lake outlet system toward the Chehalis River valley, leaving gravel plains, bluffs, and terraces. As ice retreated, the lake expanded, dropped to a lower stage called Lake Hood, and eventually joined a larger body of water through Hood Canal, helping shape the modern southern Sound landscape.