Omak Lake and Grand Coulee Dam

The next morning I went to use the bathroom and they tried to confront us.  I told them I could not and to talk to Derek.  I would have punched one of them, plus I had to poop really bad so I had to hurry.  The guy walked over to our cabin and talked to Derek.  He said that he though his uncle was renting the cabin next to them and that was his container with fire making stuff inside.  Derek basically said, still you should have asked and not assumed it was yours to take.  He said that he and his friend were sorry and he gave us back the rest of it.  We packed up our stuff and checked out.  We told the lady at the front desk what had happened and she gave us free firewood and a new fire clicker.  I told her I appreciated it and she said that she appreciated us telling her about the incident so next time it will not happen.

We got a hold of Steve and Tammy and they were on their way to Okanogan to get their tire fixed and said that it would be about an hour.  We decided to get the one DeLorme Square that people said would count but we weren't sure based on the map we had.  We went with it.  I found it after about five minutes of searching.

We drove to Okanogan to meet up with Steve and Tammy at Walmart.  We went inside to use the restroom, we got a few snacks and walked around while we waited for the tire to get fixed.  Steve and Tammy were going to follow us to Grand Coulee.  When we left, we saw Brad and his family in the parking lot.  We chatted for a bit.  Steve and Tammy got their car stuff taken care of and we were off to Omak Lake via Omak Lake Road/Columbia River Road.  But first we stopped by the famous Omak Stampede Suicide Race stadium/hill.

Here is more information about the hill and race:

The Suicide Race, also promoted as the World Famous Suicide Race, is a horse race held every year, during the second week of August, in Omak, Washington as a part of the Omak Stampede, a rodeo. Held for more than 70 years, the race is known for the portion of the race where horses and riders run down Suicide Hill, a 62-degree slope that runs for 225 feet (69 m) to the Okanogan River.  Though the race was inspired by Indian endurance races, the actual Omak race was the 1935 brainchild of a local Omak business owner. The race has provoked serious concerns among animal welfare and animals rights groups.

We walked back to our cars and headed to the lake. 

The lake was beautiful.

We went to the famous Erratic Behavior (GCQWV6) and climbed up the insanely steep hill.  It was worth the climb.

It was pretty cool since I have an interest in geology and earth science.  We spent a few minutes taking pictures and examining the rock before we went and got the actual cache, which was about 500 feet from the rock formation.

We drove down to the lake and did some wading.  The water felt soapy because of the minerals that make up the rocks that surround it.

The lake felt so nice on a hot day.  It was really shallow and you had to walk further in a ways to even reach the deep parts.  We walked out to the island and then decided to go and head to Grand Coulee, grabbing the deLorme squares as we went.

We got to the dam and went to the visitor's center to find out when the times were for the dam tour and to find out when the laser show began.  We rushed to where we had to be for the tour because one was starting up soon.  We parked, got rid of all of our things that might pose as a terrorist weapon (pens, pocket knives, etc) and stood in line to get in.  It was a free, first come first served basis.  We went inside the building and listened to the tour guides.  We were loaded up into two vans and taken to the first part of the tour, the inside of the dam.

The tour guide rattled off lots of facts, statistics, history and stories while on our forty five minute tour of inside the dam.  The guy knew his stuff.

We were loaded into the vans again but this time they took us to the other end of town to take us on the outside of the dam tour.  We were literally on top of the Grand Coulee Dam.  The views were amazing.

Some info about the dam:

Grand Coulee Dam is a gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation. It was constructed between 1933 and 1942, originally with two power plants. A third power station was completed in 1974 to increase its energy production. It is the largest electric power-producing facility in the United States and one of the largest concrete structures in the world.  It generates 21 billion kilowatt-hours annually.

They loaded us back into the vans and took us back across town and to our vehicles.  They thanked us for visiting the dam.  Steve, Tammy, Derek and I were starving so we went to the R&A Cafe and had their famous Dam Burgers.  Afterwards we cached the town until we had to go check into our campsite before the laser show began.

We drove up the hill and got onto Hwy 174 to the Grand Coulee RV Park.  He went inside to talk to the man and we got our tent spot on the grass.  We put most of it together in the dark with flashlights.  We got everything set up and by about that time it was time to head back down to the dam for the laser show.  This was my first time with the laser show.  I brought some snacks and a drink with me just in case.

It basically took us on a historical tour of how the Columbia River and the dam came to be and how it has influenced the area with its electricity, the wildlife, the people, the Native Americans etc.  The first ten minutes of the show was all about the Columbia River, speaking in first person..."I am the mighty Columbia, I bring life to all..."

Columbia River you are very conceited, lol.

Laser show information:  http://www.usbr.gov/pn/grandcoulee/gcvc/laser.html

Steve and Tammy went back to their hotel and we went back up the hill to our tent.  I took a quick shower and got ready for bed and then used the internet for a while.

During the night a mouse tried to climb up our tent.  You could hear the scratching and see the silhouette of the mouse slide down the side of the tent.  A little while later, it started sprinkling and we got to see some flashes of lightening.  

Next Adventure:  Electric City, Dry Falls, Soap Lake...