Dry Falls State Park

10,000 to 15,000 years ago there was an Ice Age. Much of the upper sections of Washington, Idaho and Montana were under glaciers. At one point, the Clark Ford River was blocked by a wall of ice in northern Idaho. Glacial Lake Missoula built up behind the ice. Eventually, hundreds of miles were under deep water. When the Ice Dam finally broke, a catastrophic wave of water broke free. An enormous wall of water, traveling over 60 MPH, swept across Montana, Idah, Washington and Oregon. When the waters reached the area where the Grand Coulee Dam is now, a glacier arm to the north prevented the water from following the Columbia Gorge. So the water went south. The Grand Coulee was gouged out of the lava beds below the water. The "Dry Falls" were swamped by the megaflood. The waterfalls may have been 400 feet high and 3.5 miles long. One report suggests the flood may have only lasted a few days before spilling out into the Willemette Valley in Oregon. For now, the falls are dry. However, according to geological record, this happened over a dozen times. The present falls vary from 200 to 400 feet high. - Dry Falls State Park -

Photo album created with Web Album Generator