Dry Falls

A collection of photos and video of Dry Falls near Coulee City, Washington.

The lookout platform by the visitor's center is supported by a natural basalt pillar

In this view, the town of Coulee City, about four miles away, can be seen above the rim.

Dry Falls hasn't changed much in the last 50 years.

Umatilla Rock Blade

Before the Ice Age megafloods from Glacial Lake Missoula, Umatilla Rock was part of a broad, continuous upland plateau of basalt. The megafloods carved out two parallel canyons as receding cataracts gouged out over 300 ft of basalt rock on either side of the blade. Here, looking into the direction of the floods, water going over Dry Falls and Umatilla Rock would have been as deep as these cliffs are high (300-400 ft). The present scene has changed little since the last Missoula flood, 14,000 years ago.

Umatilla Rock Blade, in the foreground, extends for over a mile
 past the lip of the 3.5-mile-wide Dry Falls complex (in distance).

This narrow basalt formation  known as Umatilla Rock runs down
 the middle of the coulee for over a mile, dividing it nearly in half.

Dry Falls - iconic feature of Ice Age Missoula floods.

YouTube Video by Bruce Bjornstad

Dry Falls was a senior sneak stop for the Almira High School Class of 1930

My mother, Margaret Irene Seaton, was a member of the Almira High School Class of 1930, as was
Martha Lucile Haskin, who became the wife of Hu Blonk, a reporter for the Wenatchee World for many years, covering the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, and writing many stories of the people and development of the area.

Links

Dry Falls Caretaker - Charles T. Giezentanner
A blog post by Tom Foster, Pasco WA USA, in HUGEfloods.com

At PBS.org, Mystery of the MEGAFLOOD provides links to much more information.

The Cheney-Spokane Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute (IAFI) includes pictures and information on the Big Bend and Grand Coulee area.