As the Cascades give way to flatlands quite quickly after leaving Leavenworth the terrain becomes high desert with endless views of basalt cliffs. Route 2 heads slightly north at Wenatchee and follows the Columbia River for a bit. The Hwy is in great shape, few trucks or traffic – just what we were hoping for. At Orondo, we stopped at a city park to give Cedar a run around. The park has camping, with electric hook-ups, but for some reason camping was closed (renovations maybe), it sure looked like a nice spot for future considerations on the Cascades Loop. Orondo is where the Cascade loop would go slightly North and then loop back westward along route 20. We head East from here where Hwy 2 meanders along a high desert landscape with basalt cliffs all around.
With no set plans, we get to Coulee City at the tip of Banks Lake, and stop in at the city campground to check it out. It appears to be very popular with boaters and we see lots of families with young kids.
The drive to Grand Coulee is a scenic one along Banks Lake which was formed when the Columbia River was dammed. Interpretive exhibits along the highway explain that during the last ice age, when the Columbia River flowed over the falls, this was the most powerful waterfall on the planet: twice as high as Niagara, and over 3 mi (4.8 km) across.
Along the way we stopped at Steamboat Rock State Park to check it out for a future possible booking as it has great reviews. Right on the water and a great location we will keep this one on our list for sure.
Grand Coulee Dam is an impressive sight to see. The town itself is small, as are all those we’ve passed through the past 2 days. Serving to house workers at the dam probably, it has only the necessities, but the dam site is very well outfitted with a great visitor center, museum, and picnic area. They offer free tours and in summer there is a half hour laser light show projected onto the spillway.
The centerpiece of the massive project of dams and canals that have “reclaimed” the Columbia Basin, the Grand Coulee Dam is one of the civil engineering wonders of the world. Built from 1933 to 1941, at a cost of many millions of dollars and 77 lives, the dam is one of the largest concrete structures in the world: 550 ft high, 500 ft thick at its base, and nearly a mile (1.6 km) across. The combined generating capacity is more than 6,809 megawatts. It is the country’s largest hydroelectric project.
Fun Facts: The dam dwarfs the great pyramids and produces more electricity than a million locomotives.
On the way back we stopped at Jones Bay Rec area on Banks Lake to see if any spots were open, but found none. Back at the Coulee City campground, I reached out again to the Harvest Host, and my request to stay was declined (although their calendar showed availability), I wondered if they offered to host just to get a discount. We decided to stay put at the city camp although not the nicest place. Bits of garbage all over, fire pit littered with paper plates, etc. We were a little ticked off when the kids and adults walked through our space several times, coming very close to Cedar and startling him. Not chancing something bad happening, I had to ask them to walk around in future – where has good camping etiquette gone? Not impressed with this place at all. There are camp hosts on site (hmmm. what do they do besides water the grass?
The next day we drove onward toward Spokane. Thanks to the irrigation from the reclaimed Columbia river projects, the once sparse desert has become fields of wheat for miles and miles, passing through several small towns that served the rail once upon a time and have since been forgotten. Some very old buildings have been nicely re-invented. As I hoped, we get to see a little of the old US.
Near Spokane Hwy 2 merges with an Interstate but we found the route easy to follow and traffic decent. We drove through only a small part of the city as Hwy 2 veers North to Newport before continuing east into Idaho.