Driving over North Cascades Highway - August 5

Yesterday I drove over North Cascades Highway on my way to Coulee Dam, WA.  It was a beautiful day for the drive, and being a Thursday, the traffic was mostly light.  


Here is a bridge I call the see through bridge. Because it's built completely of metal grid, and you can see right through it.

The view is quite amazing when you walk out on it.  You have to try not to get vertigo.  When I rode my bike up here in early June, we decided to walk the bikes across.   There was a lot more water in the creek in June.

But there is still water flowing, and it is really beautiful.

I didn't take any more pictures while I drove over the two passes.  But in Bridgeport, I got out to look a the Chief Joseph Dam.  You may be able to tell that I am now well into the desert in Eastern Washington - quite a change from the west.

So you think that's a big dam?   Well, stand by, we haven't got to "big" yet.

There are a series of dam's on the Columbia River, Chief Joseph is one of them, but the biggest is Grand Coulee Dam.  I approached the dam from the north, coming down a hill overlooking the dam, Roosevelt Lake behind it, and the town of Coulee Dam - very literally below the dam.  I had not imagined this at all.

Now that's a big dam!  You can clearly see the lake behind the dam.  To the lower right of the dam you can see the rooftops of the town.   You can see more of the town in this picture.

You can really see the town in this one.  If you download the picture and look at it in a larger format, it will be more clear how that town is sitting below all that water.

This is a closer view, from a pullout next to the road that leads down into the town.  

For many years, the Grand Coulee Dam was the largest concrete structure in the world.  I think that title now goes to the new Three Gorges Dam in China.  But I am no dam expert!  If you want to read more about the dam, go to the Grand Coulee Dam Bureau of Reclamation site.  

Every night in the summer, there is a laser light show on the face of the dam.  Here is a picture I got of the third power plant at twilight just before the laser light show.

I only just have enough light to photograph.  The laser show doesn't start until it's completely dark, and the problem is the camera needs a longer than usual exposure - but the laser light images are fleeting.   What they do is they actually release water over the face of the dam - enough to provide a white cascade, not enough to cause a splash effect at the bottom.  So it creates this large white screen, and also the sound of a rushing river.  Then they begin the laser show.  Here are a couple of pictures that came out fairly good, although you can't tell they are against the dam.

Again, you will be able to see more if you download them and look at a larger image.   If you do a Google search on Grand Coulee Dam Laser Light show, you will be able to find good images.