Grand Coulee Dam Region

Yesterday (Sunday) we decided to take a day trip to the Grand Coulee Dam area. The dam is an impoundment of the Columbia River that was built for the purpose of generating electricty and supplying irrigation to the Columbia Basin.  The area is very unique in that there is a very large ancient river bed nearby called the Grand Coulee. Archeologists believe this riverbed was formed millions of years ago by floods, glaciers and uprising of the earth's crust. Prior to the dam's construction, the riverbed was dry but since planning the dam in the early 1900's, thought was given to flooding the ancient riverbed to supply irrigation to the Columbia Valley. There were disagreements on how best to accomplish this feat, but after all was said and done, a decision was made to pump water out of the newly formed Franklin Roosevelt reservoir to flood the Grand Coulee and provide a route for water to reach the Columbia Valley. There are many huge pumps that pump  water out of the reservoir  into the Grand Coulee that feed many lakes, canals, and water distribution networks that gave new life into this entire region. Quite a feat indeed!

Tomorrow (Tuesday)  we're back on the road en route to the Seattle area. Our destination is the Tall Chief RV Resort in Fall City, Wa, which is about 25 miles east of Seattle. We plan to explore the area from here before moving further south later in the week. The weather forecast for the next several days looks good except for a chance of rain tomorrow, so hopefully we can dodge the normally wet Seattle weather.

Scenic lake in midst of the  Grand Coulee.

The Grand Coulee is barren and rocky but is still very picturesque.

This picture clearly illustrates the ancient walls.

Area known as Steamboat Rock

Upper side of dam.

Reservoir formed by the Grand Coulee Dam with a shoreline of over 600 miles that extends well into Canada.

Had to get a Chevrolet shot in here somewhere!

Lower side of dam. The dam has three power generating stations. The newer concrete part of the dam on the left is the newer of the three, built in the 70's. The volume of water flowing through the dam is over 900 Billion gallons per day!

Massive transmission towers

The Visitors Center

Plaque on front of Visitor's Center

Love Flag Shots!

North side of spillway below dam

Little community of Grand Coulee

Intake pipes going to massive pumps that pump water into the Grand Coulee

Area known as Dry Falls. This was at one time the world's largest waterfall. The cliff above the lake was the waterfall.

Al & Pat at the Dry Falls overlook.