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Central Washington State trip

Tell us where you are traveling to, what you might see. Tell us where you went, what you saw.
Make arrangements to meet up with members in your travels. Be sure to post lots of pictures too!
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Hatchdog
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Central Washington State trip

Post by Hatchdog » Sun May 09, 2021 10:42 am

My wife and I just returned from a five night trip to the Grand Coulee area. Over the years there have been many ice ages creating massive frozen areas extending as far south as the northern states of Washington, Idaho, Montana and probably more. These glacial ice sheets would from time to time melt causing great floods over western Montana, Northern Idaho and Eastern and Central Washington eventually making it’s way to the Pacific Ocean via the Columbia River drainage. These sudden and catastrophic floods scoured the lands leaving behind some pretty incredible landscapes called the Channeled Scablands. The last flood was around 15,000 years ago.

We toured the upper and lower Grand Coulees and the boulder fields beyond where the coulees emptied the massive flows of water and rock. The area’s are too massive to share with pictures but I’ll post a few. Just understand what you’re seeing on these tiny pics here on HRF don’t do any justice whatsoever to the reality of the area.

One particular place of note is called Dry Falls. At it’s peak and when active these falls were 3.5 miles wide with a drop of more than 400 ft. By comparison , Niagara Falls are one mile wide and drop 165 ft. I’m going to post a picture from the overlook and another from the bottom of the former falls. There is road access to the base of the falls where there remains a lake that is fishable. What you will see in the pictures is just 2/3 rds. Of the actual falls as there is a great arm of basalt rock that didn’t wash away which divided about a third of the falls.

Sorry I can’t post better pictures, as good as phone cameras are today they’re just no match for the massiveness of the area.

We camped at Steamboat Rock State Park which is located in the upper coulee. The upper and lower coulees (divided by Dry Falls) is where the bulk of the flood waters flowed. After the floods receded these two coulees became dry other than many lakes left behind. Many years ago the federal Bureau of Reclamation created an irrigation system to supply water to what’s called the Columbia Basin. This is a large agricultural area that is located in a formerly very dry area. Now it is lush with crops. So the Bureau installed huge pumps and pumped water from Lake Roosevelt (the reservoir behind Grand Coulee Dam) into the upper coulee and created a lake (reservoir) called Banks Lake. Steamboat Rock remained in place during the great floods and out camp was just below it. The rock is in Banks lake and a peninsula of land leads to it and the campgrounds. Banks lake is 27 + miles long and is maintained as a recreation area for fishing, boating, camping etc. Steamboat Rock rises 800 + feet above the lake and the top is over 600 acres.

Steamboat Rock and our camp.
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This is the upper coulee and Banks Lake.


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Dry Falls from above, note the observation platform, pretty cool. This is the near 2/3 rds of the falls with the remaining third behind that huge jut of rock.


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This is the lower coulee looking southwest. This coulee has several developed lakes called the Chain Lakes. There is a state park and many resorts for recreation. This coulee extends for probably 12-15 miles before opening up into flatland.
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This pic shows the boulder fields which are located at the south end of the lower coulee. The flood waters first were spread out 15 plus miles wide and as the water receded it became contained by the coulees. At the end of the lower coulee all the rock that was scoured out of the land was deposited over a large area called the Ephrata Fan. It’s hard to tell from the pic but these boulders are sized from the size of a loaf of bread to the size of a car. They go for miles and miles, both in width and length. Please ignore the first pic, I would try to delete it but I know I’ll just screw up my whole post. :lol:


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Last edited by Hatchdog on Sun May 09, 2021 11:39 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Sir Henry
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Re: Central Washington State trip

Post by Sir Henry » Sun May 09, 2021 11:14 am

That area is my old stomping ground. I can remember when you could drive across the dam.
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Hatchdog
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Re: Central Washington State trip

Post by Hatchdog » Sun May 09, 2021 11:25 am

Sir Henry wrote:
Sun May 09, 2021 11:14 am
That area is my old stomping ground. I can remember when you could drive across the dam.
We tried to tour the dam but it’s still closed due to Covid. :roll:

I remember as a kid touring the dam and being able to go inside and see the turbines. I remember it being nice and cool inside the dam. I’m sure that tour no longer is available so I’m glad I have that memory.
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BigAl52
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Re: Central Washington State trip

Post by BigAl52 » Sun May 09, 2021 12:54 pm

Nice shots Hatch. Been to Soap lake and SunLakes State park a time or two but not the that area. I have only seen the big dam from a distance.
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John E Davies
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Re: Central Washington State trip

Post by John E Davies » Sun May 09, 2021 1:32 pm

Nice trip report, Here is the Columbia Basin Project:

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Recreation was a secondary benefit. It is a cool place, but blistering hot in summer.

John Davies
Spokane WA
Last edited by John E Davies on Sun May 09, 2021 2:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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dave77
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Re: Central Washington State trip

Post by dave77 » Sun May 09, 2021 1:39 pm

Sir Henry wrote:
Sun May 09, 2021 11:14 am
That area is my old stomping ground. I can remember when you could drive across the dam.
I'm just a few miles from Rocky Reach Dam on the Columbia. Back in the '70's there were areas where you could go 24/7. I remember going there late at night and being able to go into the fish ladder viewing room.
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JEBar
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Re: Central Washington State trip

Post by JEBar » Sun May 09, 2021 2:59 pm

beautiful .... simply beautiful .... that area is on our We Hope To Visit list, sure hope we make it
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Re: Central Washington State trip

Post by dave77 » Mon May 10, 2021 1:11 am

JEBar wrote:
Sun May 09, 2021 2:59 pm
beautiful .... simply beautiful .... that area is on our We Hope To Visit list, sure hope we make it
If you make it that far you really should do the North Cascade Hwy. I keep meaning to but have still not made it even though I live fairly close. Some really beautiful scenery.

https://www.google.com/search?q=north+c ... 85&bih=520
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Re: Central Washington State trip

Post by JEBar » Mon May 10, 2021 7:53 am

years ago we took a 10,000+ mile trip around the country .... we took "The 5" all the way from LA to Washington and spent some time around Leavenworth .... the look of the area around there is very much like that of the Smoky Mountains in western NC .... don't know that we will ever make it out there again but it sure would be nice to do so
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John E Davies
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Re: Central Washington State trip

Post by John E Davies » Mon May 10, 2021 9:54 am

My future bride and I took a similar shorter loop from TN in 1978, looking for a place to relocate to. We loved the Western states, and the further north we got the better it looked. There is some truly stunning scenery near and past the Canada border. We moved to Puget Sound in 1982, we just missed the St Helens eruption, which my sister witnessed, having moved to Portland OR just two years before us. After forty years we are still together in WA though we fled the high cost and population explosion there and moved across the state to a cheaper, more laid back lifestyle... though ironically COVID and other forces have driven West Coast folks to relocate to this area, and home prices have shot though the roof here and in nearby Coeur d’Alene ID (the biggest annual increase in the country).

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.krem. ... 20ba206582

Sorry guys, come visit us here, but it sure would be a lousy time to move.

John Davies
Spokane WA
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