Lower Lake Wenatchee Area Field Trip—Saturday 6 June 2026
2026-06-06 10:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Lake Wenatchee State Park, 21588 SR 207, Leavenworth, WA, 98826, United States
Quick description: Our focus on this trip will be on alpine glaciation from various sources in the Eastern Cascades near the lower Lake Wenatchee Area. Enroute, we will mix in big picture geology, weather and climate, and human uses in the area. The trip will begin on the beach in the southern portion of Lake Wenatchee State Park.
Detailed schedule and the topics to be covered:

10:00 Stop 1—Lake Wenatchee State Park—Topics: Bedrock geology; weather & climate; Wenatchee River alpine glacier.
11:00 Depart
11:30 Stop 2—Northeast of Fish Lake —Topics: Fish Lake lobe of the Wenatchee River glacier; moraines & erratics; moraine-dammed lakes; Glacier Peak & Mt. St. Helens tephras.
12:15 Depart
12:45 Stop 3—Chiwawa River Valley Overlook—Topics: Chiwawa River alpine glacier; Mad River outlet glaciers; declining contemporary glaciers.
1:45 Depart
2:00 Stop 4—Meadow Creek Valley Overlook—Topics: Meadow Creek/Napeequa glaciers; Dirtyface Mountain cirques; Napeequa River capture by White River; moraine-dammed lakes.
2:45 Depart
3:15 Stop 5—Deep Creek at Morrow Meadow—Topics: Glacial meltwater, faulting, lateral valleys, and ice age lakes.
4:00 Depart for home

Logistics:

This trip is free and open to the public.
You will need a Discover Pass for Stop 1.
After Stop 1, we will drive on a mix of paved and good quality gravel forest roads. A Subaru-type AWD vehicle should do fine on the gravel roads.
I strongly encourage you to consider carpooling; parking will be limited at each of the stops and lengthy strings of automobiles can be unwieldy on narrow forest roads.
We will take short hikes at Stops 2, 3 and 4. By short, I mean 0.25 mi or less at each stop. The hiking terrain at Stops 3 and 4 will be fairly steep. Stops 2 and 4 will involve hiking off trail through recently logged areas.
No restroom or picnic facilities are available along our field trip route after Stop 1. Therefore, you will need to use the great outdoors if you need to go. Plan on eating lunch/snacks on the road or at the stops. There will not be a formal lunch stop.
Dogs and kids are fine to bring as long as they are well-behaved.
Dress for the weather. June weather here can be sunny and hot to rainy, windy & cool.
A pdf of the field guide is already posted on my CWU website at https://www.cwu.edu/academics/geography/_documents/karl-lillquist.php. Scroll down the page to “Field Guides”. You will find it under “Lower Lake Wenatchee Area”. Feel free to download and bring it on the field trip in digital format or print it out.
The Ellensburg Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute will also provide ~40 hard copies of the field guide for the trip. If you want a hard copy, please consider a cash donation to help defray the costs of the field guides (each costs about $15 to print).

Questions?
Email me at lillquis@cwu.edu or leave a phone message at 509 963-1184. Emails are best as I only check that phone a couple of times each week.

Athol Library Lecture: Introduction to the Ice Age Floods and the National Geologic Trail
2026-06-12 13:00 - 14:30 | Athol Library, 30399 3rd St, Athol, ID, 83801
At the end of the last Ice Age an ice dam in northern Idaho created Glacial Lake Missoula stretching 3,000 square miles around Missoula, Montana. The dam burst and released flood waters across Washington, down the Columbia River into Oregon before reaching the Pacific Ocean. The Ice Age Floods forever changed the lives and landscape of the Pacific Northwest.
The Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail is a network of routes, sites, and interpretive centers that follow the pathways of the repeated Ice Age megafloods released from Glacial Lake Missoula between roughly 18,000 and 15,000 years ago. These floods reshaped the Pacific Northwest on a continental scale, carving features such as the Channeled Scablands, Grand Coulee, Dry Falls, Palouse Falls, and the Columbia River Gorge. It spans four states—Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon—and links dozens of geologic landmarks that preserve evidence of these enormous floods.
Presented by Don Chadbourne, geologist and board member of the Ice Age Floods Institute (IAFI), Cheney-Spokane Chapter
No registration required. Call Librarian Ali Spahn with any questions at 208-683-2979.

Harrison Library Lecture: Introduction to the Ice Age Floods and the National Geologic Trail
2026-06-16 16:30 - 18:00 | Harrison Library, 111 S Coeur d’Alene Avenue, Harrison, ID, 83833
At the end of the last Ice Age an ice dam in northern Idaho created Glacial Lake Missoula stretching 3,000 square miles around Missoula, Montana. The dam burst and released flood waters across Washington, down the Columbia River into Oregon before reaching the Pacific Ocean. The Ice Age Floods forever changed the lives and landscape of the Pacific Northwest.
The Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail is a network of routes, sites, and interpretive centers that follow the pathways of the repeated Ice Age megafloods released from Glacial Lake Missoula between roughly 18,000 and 15,000 years ago. These floods reshaped the Pacific Northwest on a continental scale, carving features such as the Channeled Scablands, Grand Coulee, Dry Falls, Palouse Falls, and the Columbia River Gorge. It spans four states—Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon—and links dozens of geologic landmarks that preserve evidence of these enormous floods.
Presented by Don Chadbourne, geologist and board member of the Ice Age Floods Institute (IAFI), Cheney-Spokane Chapter
No registration required. Call Librarian Ani Matosian with any questions at 208-689-3976.

Post Falls Library Lecture: What Happened when the Dam Burst?
2026-06-24 13:00 - 14:30 | Post Falls Library, 821 N Spokane St, Post Falls, ID, 83854
Geologist Michael Hamilton talks about the geology of the Spokane area which reveals an interesting part of the glacial flood story. When the glacial ice dam failed, the area immediately downstream received deposits of sediments and various landforms that provide clues of what happened when the dam burst. What we see in the flood deposits around Spokane also suggest insights on the sequence and size of the outburst floods.
Presented by Michael Hamilton, geologist and board member of the Ice Age Floods Institute (IAFI), Cheney-Spokane Chapter
No registration required. Call Librarian Grace Lippman with any questions at 208-773-1506.

Spirit Lake Library Lecture: The Ice Age Missoula floods and the Spirit Lake giant current dune field
2026-06-27 13:00 - 14:30 | Spirit Lake Library, 32575 N 5th Ave, Spirit Lake, ID, 83869
Giant Current Dunes or MegaRipple Marks – One of the most important pieces of evidence for catastrophic flooding was the “giant current dunes.” These large-scale bedforms appeared as patterns of parallel ridges and swales on many aerial photographs in the flood channels in the scabland of Washington, but had escaped recognition from the ground because of their size.
Giant Current Dunes are visible west of Clark Fork near Castle Rock; however, the most prominent and visible Giant Current Dunes are located several miles east of Spirit Lake along Hwy 54 where the highway cuts through the dunes showing their undulating profile. The location of many of the telephone poles on the crest of these dunes accentuates these landforms. The dunes form transverse to the current direction, and form cusps that are convex upstream, with arms that point downstream. Furthermore, the size of the cusps appears to decrease in the direction of lower velocity. Internally, the dunes consist of gravel and pebble foresets.
Giant current dunes exhibit an asymmetrical profile with the downstream (lee) slope steeper than the upstream slope. Crests range from 20 to 200m apart and heights range from 1 to 15m (Baker and Nummedal, 1978) and are among the largest measured throughout the Floods area. The Spirit Lake current dunes can also be easily recognized from the air by their characteristic pattern, accentuated by vegetation. This dune field is immediately in the path of the breakout from Lake Pend Oreille, and experienced some of the highest energy flows.
Presented by Dr. Linda McCollum, president of the Ice Age Floods Institute (IAFI), Cheney-Spokane Chapter
No registration required. Call Librarian Nicole Ferris with any questions at 208-623-5353.
PDF Resource Materials

Waitt, R.B. 2016 Megafloods and Clovis cache at Wenatchee, Washington
Baker, V.R. 2023 J Harlen Bretz & the cataclysmic Late Pleistocene mega-flooding origin of the Channeled Scabland
Romano, M. 2015 Reviewing the term uniformitarianism in modern Earth sciences
Baker, V.R. Sept. 1995 Joseph Thomas Pardee and the Spokane Flood Controversy

Hayden Library Lecture: Dating Erratic Boulders: How Long Ago Were the Floods?
2026-07-07 13:00 - 13:30 | Hayden Library, 8385 N Government Wy, Hayden Lake, ID, 83835
How do geologists know when the ice age floods actually occurred in the Spokane area? One method is to date the large flood-rafted erratic boulders. We explore the ages of the floods and the methods used to determine their dates and present newly gathered dates from the Spokane region revealing when the floods happened.
Presented by Glenn Cruickshank, vice president of the Ice Age Floods Institute (IAFI), Cheney-Spokane Chapter, and Dr. Jim O’Connor, USGS
No registration required. Call Librarian Kathleen Kennedy with any questions at 208-772-5612 x126.

Rathdrum Library Lecture: Dating Erratic Boulders: How Long Ago Were the Floods?
2026-07-14 15:00 - 16:30 | Rathdrum Library, 16320 ID-41, Rathdrum, ID, 83858
How do geologists know when the ice age floods actually occurred in the Spokane area? One method is to date the large flood-rafted erratic boulders. We explore the ages of the floods and the methods used to determine their dates and present newly gathered dates from the Spokane region revealing when the floods happened.
Presented by Glenn Cruickshank, vice president of the Ice Age Floods Institute (IAFI), Cheney-Spokane Chapter
No registration required. Call Librarian Tiffany Berg with any questions at 208-687-1029.

Spirit Lake Library Lecture II: The Ice Age Missoula floods and the Spirit Lake giant current dune field
2026-07-21 13:00 - 14:30 | Spirit Lake Library, 32575 N 5th Ave, Spirit Lake, ID, 83869
(This will be the same presentation as June 27.) Giant Current Dunes or MegaRipple Marks – One of the most important pieces of evidence for catastrophic flooding was the “giant current dunes.” These large-scale bedforms appeared as patterns of parallel ridges and swales on many aerial photographs in the flood channels in the scabland of Washington, but had escaped recognition from the ground because of their size.
Giant Current Dunes are visible west of Clark Fork near Castle Rock; however, the most prominent and visible Giant Current Dunes are located several miles east of Spirit Lake along Hwy 54 where the highway cuts through the dunes showing their undulating profile. The location of many of the telephone poles on the crest of these dunes accentuates these landforms. The dunes form transverse to the current direction, and form cusps that are convex upstream, with arms that point downstream. Furthermore, the size of the cusps appears to decrease in the direction of lower velocity. Internally, the dunes consist of gravel and pebble foresets.
Giant current dunes exhibit an asymmetrical profile with the downstream (lee) slope steeper than the upstream slope. Crests range from 20 to 200m apart and heights range from 1 to 15m (Baker and Nummedal, 1978) and are among the largest measured throughout the Floods area. The Spirit Lake current dunes can also be easily recognized from the air by their characteristic pattern, accentuated by vegetation. This dune field is immediately in the path of the breakout from Lake Pend Oreille, and experienced some of the highest energy flows.
Presented by Dr. Linda McCollum, president of the Ice Age Floods Institute (IAFI), Cheney-Spokane Chapter
No registration required. Call Librarian Nicole Ferris with any questions at 208-623-5353.
PDF Resource Materials

Waitt, R.B. 2016 Megafloods and Clovis cache at Wenatchee, Washington
Baker, V.R. 2023 J Harlen Bretz & the cataclysmic Late Pleistocene mega-flooding origin of the Channeled Scabland
Romano, M. 2015 Reviewing the term uniformitarianism in modern Earth sciences
Baker, V.R. Sept. 1995 Joseph Thomas Pardee and the Spokane Flood Controversy

Ice Age Floods Fest 2026 - July 25th, 10AM-3PM, Sun Lakes Dry Falls Amphitheater
2026-07-25 10:00 - 15:00 | Sun Lakes State Park, Deep Lake Parking Lot (47.58848153536495, -119.34090712166719), WA, United States
Sun Lakes Dry Falls State Park
The Ice Age Floods Fest is happening Saturday July 25th , 2026 – 10 AM – 3 PM
Even though the Dry Falls Visitor Center is under construction/renovations, the event has been moved for this year to the Amphitheater, Sun Lakes Dry Falls State Park. It will be a nice casual gathering of “ologist” types, who enjoy sharing their knowledge, history, and expertise. Cold drinks and snacks will be available!
Dale Lehman, Ice Age Floods Institute – Puget Lobe Chapter President, and an EXCELLENT Earth Science teacher is leading a hike at the Umatilla Rock trailhead to Green Lake. The hike is an easy 3 miles that will highlight the amazing features of Ice Age Flood geology, geomorphology, and Shrub Steppe ecosystems.
There will be booths manned by IAFI and local agencies, maybe a stream table as well as information related to the floods story. Each participant will have their own picnic table, folding table, and canopy. We are setting up on the lawn directly behind the Mobile Office in the Amphitheater parking lot.
For more information contact Ranger David McWalter (david.mcwalter@parks.wa.gov) at 509-634-9993

Lake Lewis Chapter Lecture: Wallula Gap with Bob Carson
2026-09-01 18:30 - 20:00 | The Reach Museum, 1943 Columbia Park Trl , WA, Richland, WA, 99352, United States
The Lake Lewis Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute will host a chapter meeting and guest lecture with Bob Carson on September 1st, 2026. This presentation will continue the 2026 lecture theme as we explore flood stories along the path from ancient Lake Missoula to the Pacific Ocean. This lecture will feature discussions on our own local feature – Wallula Gap!
This event will be hosted at the REACH Museum in Richland, Washington and is free to the public. No registration required. This event will also be broadcast live. This event will be updated with instructions for joining online.
Chapter Meeting: 6:30 – 7:00 PM (PST)
Guest Lecture w/ Bob Carson: 7:00 – 8:00 PM (PST)
Questions may be emailed to lakelewis@iafi.org

The Missoula Floods and Other Geological Happenings in the Columbia River Gorge
2026-11-03 18:30 - 20:00 | The Reach Museum, 1943 Columbia Park Trl , WA, Richland, WA, 99352, United States
The Lake Lewis Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute will host a chapter meeting and guest lecture with Jim O’Connor, U.S. Geological Survey – Portland, Oregon on November 3rd, 2026. This presentation will round out the 2026 lecture theme as we explore flood stories along the path from ancient Lake Missoula to the Pacific Ocean.
Starting with J Harlen Bretz and Ira Williams in 1915, geologists have been on the trail of the Missoula floods in the Columbia River Gorge. This work continues, addressing lingering and new questions, such as how many, how big, when, from where, and what did they do? Jim will summarize the current state of understanding, as well as other Columbia River Gorge stories being worked on by the USGS mapping group.

This event will be hosted at the REACH Museum in Richland, Washington and is free to the public. No registration required. This event will also be broadcast live. This event will be updated with instructions for joining online.
Chapter Meeting: 6:30 – 7:00 PM (PST)
Guest Lecture w/ Jim O’Connor: 7:00 – 8:00 PM (PST)
Questions may be emailed to lakelewis@iafi.org

POSTPONED Until August 2027: Bretz Was Right: A Pre‑Birthday Floods‑Fest
2027-08-28 10:00 - 14:00
Update on 5/21/26: Sorry, but due to a heavy summer schedule we’ve had to postpone this event until next year to give us more time to plan.
Our Cheney-Spokane chapter is planning a special late‑summer gathering on Saturday, August 28, 2027 in honor of J Harlen Bretz, whose birthday falls just a few days later (September 2). Bretz’s groundbreaking work on the Ice Age floods reshaped the scientific understanding of the Northwest—and we think that deserves a celebration.
We’re still shaping the details, but expect a relaxed, community‑friendly event that highlights the Bretz legacy and the remarkable landscapes he helped the world understand. More information will be posted as plans develop.

He mapped the scablands bold and bright,
Said “Floods did this!” with all his might.
For thirty years they told him “No”…
’Til evidence began to flow.
So join us as we celebrate
The man who made the floods make sense —
A pre‑birthday bash for J Harlen Bretz,
Who proved the skeptics wrong (immense!).
