Time in Lake Chelan

I feel sad when I know that our trip is coming to a close. For over a month, we have had one adventure after another, seen new places, learned new information, met new people. Every so often, as we are having breakfast outside at the picnic table in the glorious sunshine, I ask Michael the same question: So... what would we be doing in Bellevue today, do you think? And his standard response with a smile is always: Definitely not this!
I can understand why folks decide to become full-timers and never worry about having a home to have to return to. And I can certainly see the appeal of going on down the road to see what is around that next corner. 
Many of our Alpine friends are already on their way to winter in Arizona or California. Others are preparing to follow soon. Perhaps in time we will be able to do the same.
But not quite yet...
Meanwhile, we have enjoyed the last of our few days left, here in Lake Chelan. We've been here several times before and always enjoy returning. The Lakeshore RV Park and Marina is a pretty and spacious public park, with a beach, large picnic grounds, tennis courts, mini-golf and of course the RV park with amenities. It's within walking distance of the quaint downtown, a pretty river trail and a river gorge trail to the dam. There are other hiking trails in the area too but we would need a car to get to them. A tow car is in the works so we will have one eventually. 

Here is what we have been up to around town and at home in Alpine - 

beach at Dan Morse Park, which is part of the RV complex, looking south 
to the hills that were burned in the summer fires

along the Chelan River trail, where you can see the burned hills and the houses
that were awfully close to the flames

view north and towards the town from one of the bridges

the Chelan Dam, part of a hydro electric system

view into the gorge where we went hiking

the summer fires came right down into the gorge from the hills above

it must have been very scary for these folks who live on the fringe of the trail - 
they were the lucky ones

look closely and you will see some of the wildlife along the trail

Yuck! these creatures are however part of the landscape and there is a warning
about poisonous snakes along the trail even though this one seemed harmless
enough and didn't bother with us

along the trail with more burned sections

view down the gorge towards the dam

the tenacity of nature... new growth after the fires

greenery rising out of the ashes

what a surprise to be walking the trail alone when who should come right
behind us but my neighbor and walking buddy Heather from Bellevue! 

the fence along the trail down into the gorge was burned in places

Back at home in Alpine, I had time to do some quilting, working hard at sewing up the scrappy strips of flannel from my never-ending stashes which seem to generate more scraps for more scrappy quilts.

Michael did some "quilting" of his own too.  I am the photographer and he the videographer. With our new desk set-up, he has been able to do some digitizing (which I refer to as his "quilting") and has uploaded the movie from the Ellensburg Rodeo to You-Tube: https://youtu.be/ivrSdQ5myow 
We each work at our hobbies side by side in perfect harmony;)

And so we have arrived at the last day of our trip.  Tomorrow we head home to Bellevue, the last 175 miles of our 1,360-mile adventure.

Alpine will be back in storage for a couple of months before we head out again. 
As for our next adventure... at the moment we have made reservations for the SoCal rally in Lake Havasu in early February. To get there, we may well have to make a stop at our favorite beach in California first. Or if it works out with schedules and other obligations, we may be able to make it to the Desert Rat and Indio rallies in January. The choices are many. I will keep you posted.
And before I sign out for a while, next week will be our Alpine's first birthday. We bought our Alpine on October 16th and she has taken us on almost 10,000 miles of adventures since then. It's been a fun year of Alpine adventures and we look forward to more of them.
Love our Alpine!

Lake Chelan, our final stop

From Beebe Bridge Park the drive to Lake Chelan was literally across the river and over the hill. It was the shortest and fastest trip we have yet made to the next destination.
We are now at Lakeshore RV Park and Marina in Lake Chelan for the next few days and will most likely head back home to Bellevue on Sunday.
It sprinkled through much of the night and into late morning as we set up at the RV park. Later in the day the sprinkles ended but the skies remained gray. We went for a walk before dinner. It is quite warm even though it is overcast. The mist that hung over the lake lifted and we were able to see the blackened hills to the south where the fires burned this summer. It's sad to see the charred hills and hopefully in time new growth will cover up the devastation. Several home owners lost everything when their homes burned to the ground.
The park is quiet at this time of year with a few RV-ers scattered throughout, the last of the travelers, the lingerers like us. We look forward to long walks and there is a certain quilt shop in town that I am quite sure that I will be peeking into.

And on we go, to Beebe Bridge Park

From the Interpretive Center at Dry Falls, we drove along Route 2 west bound. The road took us across the top of the plateau and miles of farmland. It was a surprise to see the fields on top of the dry scrubby terrain we had just come from.
The image below shows the scablands and the fields very well, and it also shows the purple Route 2 that we drove:

Here are the photos that I took while driving along:
Leaving the scarred coulee to connect with Route 2, you can see the canyons from up above.

Within a couple of miles, farmlands appeared. Many had erratics scattered in the fields, the tell-tale sign of the floods that swept these boulders hundreds of miles with the rushing torrents.

the large boulder is an erratic that was deposited here during one of many torrential
ancient floods across this area

mile after mile of fields with more erratics scattered throughout...they must
be a challenge to plow around and are too large to be moved

 In the far distance, the foothills of the Cascade range appeared.

But first, we crossed Moses Coulee, descending to the floor of the carved out canyon and then back up again to more farmlands.

the gigantic rift in the earth ahead of us

driving through the coulee

basalt columns clinging on

climbing back out of Moses Coulee

evidence of lava layerings and tilt

more farmland on the other side of the coulee

mountains in the distance

The final ten miles from the quaint town of Waterville to the junction of route 97 along the Columbia River was spectacular.  Here we found ourselves winding down a 7% grade, weaving our way through mountain folds, dropping 2,100 feet in a mere 7 miles, straight down. I was glad that the road hugged a mountain slope to my right on the way down.

it was hard to click as we twisted and turned but here you can see the
steep downgrade

first view of the Columbia River at the base of this road

the runaway truck ramp is a safety feature in case brakes fail... though I did
wonder what would happen if one of those trucks was behind us coming down
this two-lane highway....

As we turned north on route 97, there was yet another dramatic change in scenery.  We were surrounded by velvety, dry and brown mountains, yet hugging this narrow corridor along which the Columbia flowed, we entered a strip of never-ending orchards and vineyards, planted in every available spot of land. It was a sea of green tree and vine tops. Many of the trees were laden with red apples, waiting to be harvested. 

tree tops for as far as the eye could see

packing crates waiting to be filled

a narrow corridor of orchards and vineyards between the river and the foothills

red apples waiting to be harvested

The mighty Columbia River, as ancient as the turbulent geology surrounding it, meandered lazily along with us. As soon as we saw the rust colored bridge, we were at our next destination, Beebe Bridge Park just a few miles before Chelan. 

We had heard so many rave reviews about this park that we decided to see what the fuss was all about. Run by the Chelan Country public utility district, this park is a gem right on the banks of the Columbia River. It has boat ramps, a playground, tennis courts, large fields, and also an RV section with water and electricity. And if you are 62 and older, during the current off-season, it is $15 per night. 
Here we are all set up and ready to relax.... you be the judge about whether this is the gem that is spoken about among us retiree RV-ers, but we plan to spend at least a couple of nights here.

In just 75 miles, we traveled an entire spectrum of landscapes, from scarred and charred dry and barren ancient coulees and dry falls, through miles of rich farmland, and through steep mountain slopes down to the river gorge thick with orchards and vineyards. 

The tale of the world’s largest dry falls

a panoramic view of the skeleton of Dry Falls that remains thousands of years later

We visited the Dry Falls Visitor Center where we watched a short video and learned even more from the informative displays.

Here is a synopsis of what I know:

20 million years ago the landscape here in Central Washington was somewhat different. There were mountains, valleys, streams and lakes, and vegetation and trees flourished in the moist, temperate climate.

Then about 17 million years ago, and lasting for about 11 million years, the Pacific Northwest was subjected to some of the earth’s largest basaltic lava flows that engulfed about 63,000 square miles. Eventually, the multiple lava flows accumulated to as much as two miles thick. The Columbia River was forced into its present course by the northwesterly advancing lava.  The lava cooled and cracked, forming the familiar hexagonal basaltic columns.

The next phase included the warping of the plateau by tremendous forces deep beneath the earth’s surface, which caused the uplift of the mountainous region in the north and caused the plateau to tilt slightly to the south.

Fast-forward to one million years ago, with the cooling of the climate and the beginning of the Ice Age. A vast ice sheet moved into Washington, Idaho and Montana. Near the Canadian border, the ice sheet was up to one mile thick. The fringes of the ice sheet dammed rivers, created lakes, and at times the Columbia River was forced to find a new path, flowing through what is today the Grand Coulee.

A portion of northwest Montana was covered by glacial Lake Missoula, which played an important role in the formation of Dry Falls. The lake was held back by an ice dam, and contained as much water as all three present-day Great Lakes combined.  The climate experienced many cycles of warming and cooling, causing the ice sheet to recede and advance.  As many as 80 times the lake broke through the ice dam with the receding of the glaciers, and unleashed tremendous volumes of water that rushed across northern Idaho and into Eastern Washington at speeds of up to 65 mph. Catastrophic floods raced across the plateau numerous times, ripping out the cracked basaltic rock, etching the coulees and ravines that now characterize this region and are known as the Channeled Scablands.  Huge whirlpools sucked basalt from below, forming deep potholes.

Two major waterfalls formed along the course of the floods. The larger of the two formed at the upper coulee, roaring over an 800-foot cliff. The tremendous erosion that resulted plucked pieces of basalt from the precipice causing the falls to retreat 20 miles and self-destruct by cutting through the Columbia River valley near what is now the Grand Coulee Dam.  The second waterfall was formed on the sloped monocline near Soap Lake, and erosion caused it to retreat to the current position at Dry Falls near Coulee City.

map showing the location of Soap Lake and Sun Lakes Dry Falls in
the Lower Grand Coulee, with Banks Lake above, part of the Grand
Coulee  - more information found here:
http://hugefloods.com/Grand-Coulee-Ice-Age.pdf

All that remains of the falls today is the skeleton that we see, dry as its name implies. Even today, the skeleton of this great waterfall in geologic history is impressive to view. It is 3.5 miles wide, with a drop of more than 400 feet.  Niagara Falls by comparison is one mile wide and drops 165 feet.

view from the Visitor Center looking down to the lake that remains below 

Once the climate warmed, the ice slowly melted and the glacier retreated north. The Columbia River returned to its original channel around the edge of the lava plateau.

Today, the ridge of Dry Falls and the numerous coulees and lakes we see across the plateau are reminders of the raging torrents that once scoured this area.

Sun Lakes Resort is situated near the base of Dry Falls, and we have hiked the trails that lead you to the lake below the precipice where we have stood and gazed up at this geological wonder towering 400 feet above us

views down the coulee  - Sun Lakes Resort is beyond the lake you see

a terrific aerial view I snagged from the Internet - you can see the 3.5 mile
skeletal ridge that remains of the falls

Here are a few links for further information about this geologic phenomenon suggested by the very helpful park ranger at the Interpretive Center:

http://hugefloods.com/Scablands.html

http://www.iafi.org/floods.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c4LZy7Qp0U