Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park
Place Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail As you enter Sun Lakes-Dry Falls, you may feel like you’re on another planet. The park is surrounded by one of Washington’s most striking and historically significant landscapes. Dry Falls is a geological wonder of North America. Carved by the Ice Age Floods more than 13,000 years ago, the former waterfall was once four times the size of Niagara Falls. Today, the 400 foot-high, 3.5 mile-wide cliff overlooks a big sky and a landscape of deep gorges and dark, reflective lakes. The park is a notable site along the National Ice Age Floods Geologic Trail. Visitors – especially history and geology geeks – will appreciate the Dry Falls Visitor Center, where interpretive displays tell the story of the floods and their effects on Washington’s landscape. Call (509) 632-5214 for seasonal hours and to arrange a tour. The park also offers great recreation. Nothing beats the boat launch and social atmosphere of Park Lake. A shimmering Deep Lake presents a remote paddling and kayaking experience. The lure of Dry Falls Lake entices anglers to cast out for trout. Hiking Trails wind through the scented, sage-dotted hills to table-top cliffs with panoramic views. The park even offers nine-hole and miniature golf for visitors who equate a desert vacation with a good game on the green. The Dry Falls Visitors Center is open for summer operations Monday and Thursday for guided tours. DRY FALLS VISITOR CENTER HOURSMay 1 – Oct. 31 10:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. and 1 p.m. – 3:30 p.m., Friday – Sunday 10:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Monday and Thursday group tours by reservation only 1 – 3:30 p.m. Monday and Thursday open for general admission Closed Tuesday and Wednesday CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR TOUR RESERVATION NOW! Quick Facts Location:35661 HWY 17 North Coulee City, WA 99115 Designation:National Natural Landmark MANAGED BY:Washington State Parks
Steamboat Rock State Park
Place Steamboat Rock State Park Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail Rising 800 feet and spanning 600 acres, Steamboat Rock will impress the most seasoned of travelers. Carved by Ice Age Floods into a dramatic, lake-dotted canyon, Steamboat Rock State Park’s landscape dates back at least 13,000 years. Known as “scabland,” the area appears barren, but it is teeming with shy (and not-so-shy) wildlife, spring flowers and sagebrush. The hike up the columnar basalt butte (a 650-foot vertical gain) is a must for anyone who is able. Atop Steamboat Rock, the trail meanders over flat ground to viewpoints of the Grand Coulee and the craggy peaks of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. Below the rock, the lake reflects big desert skies. Do you prefer water to trail? The park features 320 feet of dock and seven watercraft launches on Banks Lake. Anglers, swimmers, paddlers and water sports fans will find respite on a hot summer day. Mountain bikers and equestrians can take off on the trails of Northrup Canyon, and the Grand Coulee Dam makes an interesting side trip. After a day of discovery, your tent, RV or cabin site will be a welcoming place to watch the evening glow. By the end of your stay, you will not only be impressed, but will likely be so sun-warmed and rested, you won’t want to leave. PARK FEATURES Steamboat Rock State Park is a 5,043-acre camping park with 50,000 feet of freshwater shoreline at the north end of Banks Lake and a columnar, basaltic rock with a surface area of 600 acres. Three campground areas and a large day-use area are protected from winds by tall poplars. Discover Pass: A Discover Pass is required for vehicle access to state parks for day use. For more information about the Discover Pass and exemptions, please visit the Discover Pass web page. Automated pay stations: This park is equipped with automated pay stations for visitors to purchase a one-day or annual Discover Pass and boat launch permit. Quick Facts Location:51052 Highway 155 Electric City, WA 99123
Spokane’s Riverfront Park – Ice Age Floods Playground
Place Spokane’s Riverfront Park – Ice Age Floods Playground Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail Learn about the events that shaped our region’s geography while you play! Enjoy a 3-story slide tower, splash pad and water fall, a log jam climber, and dig for mammoth bones. Also available are basketball courts and a skateboard park. Playground Hours 6am – Dusk Learn about the events that shaped our region’s geography while you play! Enjoy a 3-story Columbian Slide Tower, Glacial Dam Splash Pad, a Log Jam Climber, an Alluvial Deposit Fossil Dig and MORE! The playground covers 40,000 square feet at Riverfront North Bank. Splash Pad Hours 11am – 7pm Special Events Host a birthday, graduation party or other special event at the North Bank shelter located at the Ice Age Floods Playground in Riverfront Park. Fill out this event inquiry form to reserve your date! Quick Facts Location:832 N Howard St, Spokane, WA 99201
Jacqui Hair
Jacqui Hair: IAFI Secretary I am a 4th generation wheat farmer in the Walla Walla, WA area. In addition to farming, I drive a school bus! Earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology from Whitman College sparked my continued education in geology. My love of geology brought me to an Ice Age Floods event. Eventually I served on the board of the Palouse Chapter, where I am now serving as the vice president.
Nick Zentner
Nick Zentner: Ellensburg Chapter President Nick is a geology professor at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington, but he is better known internationally for his online videos covering the geology of the Pacific Northwest and his Nick on the Rocks series. Starting in the mid-2000s, he began giving public lectures about local geology topics, such as one on the Columbia River Basalt Group. These led to the production of a series of shorts he made called Two Minute Geology. He then produced the Nick on the Rocks series that aired on KCTS-TV in Seattle. During the COVID-19 pandemic Nick created live streaming lectures on various geology topics in a series called Nick From Home, focused on trying to provide an educational environment for children who might be out of school and viewers from around the world. For all of Nick’s outreach efforts, please visit his website: nickzentner.com. Nick hails from Wisconsin, but during a 1983 trip to the Pacific Northwest on break from college he was inspired to study geology, earning his Bachelor of Science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1986 and Master of Science from Idaho State University in 1989. From 1989 to 1992 Nick taught geology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, then took on his current position teaching geology at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. He teaches a popular “GEOL 101 – Geology of Washington” course every Fall and Winter Quarter – and his course is open and free to townspeople! In 2015, Nick received the prestigious James Shea Award, a national award recognizing exceptional delivery of Earth Science content to the general public. Past Shea Award recipients include John McPhee, Jack Horner, Robert Ballard, and Stephen Jay Gould. Nick’s wife, Liz, teaches science at Ellensburg High School, and they have three boys – Max (29), Sam (27), and Jack (25).
Consuelo Larrabee
As a child, riding on the old pre-1-90 road from Spokane to Seattle through such flat & uninteresting country was so boring…until I learned how that land was formed! Wow! “Flat & Boring” no more! I am a member of the Wenatchee Erratics and the Cheney-Spokane chapters, and a member-at-large of the IAFI Board. I co-authored the content for the information panels in the Riverfront Park Ice Age Floods Playground in Spokane. And I proselytize the Floods story everywhere I go! I found great satisfaction and stimulation in my career teaching deaf children. I particularly like puppies, baseball and bright, sunny days, and I advocate passionately for animal rights, human rights, and the arts.
Brent Cunderla
Brent Cunderla: Technical Committee Member While I was in Portland, Oregon, I began my career as a geologist with the Department of the Interior (USDI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM). In 1988 BLM transferred me to the Wenatchee Field Office as the Area Geologist where I stayed until retiring in 2015. Being located in Wenatchee allowed close proximity to explore features of the late Pleistocene glacial geology, particularly the Ice Age Floods features, especially the Channeled Scabland of eastern Washington. I worked with the National Park Service and Ice Age Floods Institute on the designation of the “Ice Age Floods-National Geologic Trail” which was authorized as a NPS unit in March 2009. I continue to give numerous talks and lead field trips to educate the public emphasizing the Geology of the Columbia Basin, Ice Age Floods, Channeled Scabland, and glacial geology of the Waterville Plateau.
The IAFI Store – In Brief
The IAFI Store is primarily an online business, offering informative maps, books, DVDs and pamphlets featuring numerous local features related to the Ice Age Floods, as well as art prints by Oregon artist, Stev Ominski, branded baseball caps, tee-shirts and decals. The store accepts checks, cash, credit card or PayPal payments. The store is run by a volunteer overseen by two board members. We learn about new offerings from publishers, authors, and member suggestions. Those suggestions are reviewed and approved before being added to the store inventory, as part of our attempts to offer a more complete and accurate story of this fascinating piece of geological history. More than ninety percent of sales are online through our website, while the remainder are done by phone, email, or on-site sales at IAFI meetings and field trips, as well as festivals and conferences. The store provides profits from its yearly sales to the Institute to help further its educational and outreach goals. Several chapters run a “Store in a Box” for a share of the profits from sales of a limited amount of merchandise provided by the store. We do not normally handle international sales due to the prohibitive cost and paperwork of international shipping. Patty Hurd, the volunteer who runs the store, says, “The job is usually enjoyable, and I have had the opportunity to meet some new friends, re-establish links with some old ones, and even help one or two international visitors get more personalized and in-depth information from members in the areas they wanted to explore in our country. All in all, it has been a blessing.”
Dinosaur Invades The UN
It is undoubtedly surreal and somewhat amusing to watch a celebrity-voiced CGI dinosaur talk about climate change. There is also something unusually enthralling and unexpectedly poignant about the idea of an extinct species warning about our own demise. Don’t know if “Enjoy!” is appropriate, but the video is definitely entertaining, and possibly motivating as well.
IAFI Board Begins Strategic Plan Update
Strategy has many definitions, but generally involves setting strategic goals, determining actions to achieve the goals, and mobilizing resources to execute the actions. Strategy can be planned or can be observed as a pattern of activity as the organization adapts to its environment or competes. A strategic plan defines an organization’s priorities, directions and resource allocations to guide its decision making, and it’s useful for guiding and informing an organization’s teams and other, as well as for documenting progress. The last time IAFI updated its strategic plan was in 2011, so the board of directors a initiated a thorough review at their recent Sept meeting. While the basic priority areas remain unchanged (Membership Services, Education and Outreach, Trail Advocacy, Finance and Administration), many of the previous goals and strategies have been met or are outdated. Teams were assigned to review and develop new goals and strategies for each of the priority areas. The whole board will then prioritize, choose, and allocate resources for the goals IAFI will focus on for the next few years. Expect to hear more about this process in coming months.