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WENATCHEE VALLEY VISITORS GUIDE | SPRING & SUMMER 2022
World photo/Don Seabrook A barn on Badger Mountain is surrounded by wheat.
Trail, a short drive north will earn you a glimpse of numerous erratics (housesized boulders dropped by an Ice Age sheet). Look for an amazing collection of erratics on the eye-popping drive through McNeil Canyon Road towards Chelan. Another feature leftover from the Ice Age is Dry Falls. The largest waterfall known on the earth once cascaded over the sheer basalt cliffs of Dry Falls. These days, the falls themselves are, well, dry. But they still offer plenty of beauty and history to soak in. The 400-foot-high, 3.5-milelong precipice dried up about 15,000 years ago, but in its prime it was 10 times the size of Niagara Falls.
out the nearby interpretive center to learn about cataclysmic flooding and oozing magma.
Other nearby adventures
World photo/Mike Bonnicksen The Tour de Bloom Stage Race goes along the rolling hills east of Waterville.
The Dry Falls were formed during the massive Ice Age floods that coursed through the Columbia Basin. When the Missoula lake's glacial dams crumbled, deep rivers of water
crashed over the scalloped edges of the falls at 65 mph. It was this colossal flood that eventually carved out the Channeled Scablands. Today, visitor’s can stand at the edge of the falls or check
Waterville is a great jumping-off point for exploring the region. Head east on Highway 2 for a view of an historic hillside sentinel — the lovely, gleaming St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. Journey further east and you will arrive at the dramatic Dry Falls State Park. Then turn right and continue south on Highway 17 to take in the beautiful drive along the edge of the Chain Lakes, south to Soap Lake. From there, turn left and head north about 30 miles to Grand Coulee Dam.
