GO PLACES! DO THINGS!

Along the ICE AGE FLOODS
NATIONAL GEOLOGIC TRAIL


The Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail covers some 16,000 square miles (41,440 km2) in present day Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. We have hand picked some of the best of the best places along the Trail and present them here for you enjoy and explore! Check back often, we will be adding new and wonderful destinations for your entire Family to enjoy!

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SOME PLACES TO GO and THINGS TO DO in MONTANA

Travelers’ Rest State Park

Travelers’ Rest State Park Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail Located at an historic and contemporary crossroads, Travelers’ Rest State Park and National Historic Landmark is a place where visitors can say with certainty that they are walking in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark. The Park is at the core of a campsite used by the Corps of Discovery from September 9 – 11, 1805 and again from June 30 – July 3, 1806. In the summer of 2002, archaeologists uncovered evidence of the Corps of Discovery’s visit to the area, including a trench latrine tainted with mercury, fire hearths, and lead used in the repair and manufacture of firearms. The discovery makes Travelers’ Rest the only campsite on the Lewis and Clark Trail with physical evidence of the expedition. For centuries Native Americans also used the area as a campsite and trail junction. Salish, Pend d’Oreille and Nez Perce peoples were among those who traditionally occupied the area. Native American storytellers bring their history, culture and society to life as part of the programming at Travelers’ Rest State Park. The Bitterroot River is the primary body of water in this area, now running about 500 feet below the surface of what was once Glacial Lake Missoula, which extended all the way to the area now indicated by a high water marker at Lake Como.  There are few vestiges of the Lake in this area but information and a display are located at the Visitor Center. Travelers’ Rest is an idyllic spot for strolling the park’s trails, and offers a rich bird habitat, with more than 115 species recorded within the park boundaries. Quick Facts Location:Located 1/2 mile west of Lolo on Hwy 12 Significance:Located at the crossroads of culture, this is the only archaeologicaly verified campsite of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, as well as the traditional homeland of the Selis Qlispe people. Designation:National Historic Landmark 

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Camas Prairie Ripples

Camas Prairie Ripples The Camas Prairie Ripples, located 12 miles north of Perma, Montana, appear as prominent ridges 15 to 50 feet high, 100 to 250 feet wide, and from 300 feet to a half-mile long – the largest ripples on earth. While the form, structure and arrangement of these features are similar to that of ordinary current ripple marks, they are termed giant flood ripples, due to their large size. Most ripples that are formed by rivers today are only inches high and are mostly made up of sand-sized particles. Many of the Camas Prairie ripples are composed of boulder-sized geologic debris, and since the size of ripples is related to the strength of a river’s currents, these ripples were created by currents so powerful they are difficult to comprehend. The best examples of giant flood ripples are found in Camas Prairie. The Camas Prairie Ripples were formed by strong currents associated with as many as 40 to 100 emptyings of Glacial Lake Missoula over 4,000 years beginning some 17,000 years ago. Glacial Lake Missoula was formed by a massive lobe of the Pleistocene Cordilleran ice sheet that blocked the mouth of the Clark Fork River at Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho, a result of successive advances of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet during the Ice Age, when mammoths, saber-toothed cats, and giant ground sloths still roamed the landscape. It was the largest of several lakes impounded by the Cordilleran Ice Sheet in the Northern Rocky Mountains during the Quaternary period. The lake that formed behind the ice dam expanded until it was 3,000 square miles, held 500 cubic miles of water, and was 2,000 feet deep – as big as Lakes Erie and Ontario combined. It occupied the Mission, Jocko and Little Bitterroot valleys, drained by the Flathead River; and the Missoula, Ninemile and Bitterroot valleys, drained by the Clark Fork River. When the ice dam eventually collapsed Glacial Lake Missoula emptied catastrophically to the west on across the Columbia Plateau and down the Columbia River Basin, its waters moving at maximum speeds of 80 miles per hour to the Pacific Ocean. The flood waters ran with the force equal to 60 Amazon Rivers and moved car-sized boulders up to 500 miles, embedded in icebergs from the failed ice dam. It occupied the Mission, Jocko and Little Bitterroot valleys, drained by the Flathead River; and the Missoula, Ninemile and Bitterroot valleys, drained by the Clark Fork River. It is estimated that the catastrophic flood waters of Glacial Lake Missoula, 1,000 feet deep at Eddy Narrows, drained at a peak discharge rate of 10 cubic miles per hour. Approximately 380 cubic miles of water passed through those narrows, during withdrawal. Evidence of this catastrophic withdrawal can be found in scourings, high eddy deposits of flood debris, flood bars of boulders and course gravel, and successions of giant arcuate ripples or ridges of gravel resting on bedrock surfaces. The giant flood ripples at this site are unusual due to their being on the down-current side of notches in a ridge separating two basins that were both subsidiary to the main course of Lake Missoula in the Clark Fork Valley. Flathead Land Trust’s largest conservation easement protects 3,867 acres of the Camas Prairie near Hot Springs. The rolling grasslands of the Camaroot Ranch were first homesteaded in 1910, the year the Flathead Indian Reservation was first open to land acquisition. The Cross family’s ownership began in 1920 when Sid Cross’s grandparents, John and Anna Lauraman, first acquired 160 acres. They and other relatives continued to acquire surrounding land over the next several decades. At one time the ranch totaled almost 6,000 acres. Parts of three homesteads still remain on the property including a 2-story house and old barn that was built in the 1920s where Anna Lauraman grew up. The ranch was used for grazing cows and horses, and raising some crops such as alfalfa and wheat. The Cross family sold the property to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe in 2015. The conservation easement on this unique property preserves open space, agricultural land, and the giant ripples as silent monuments of Montana’s prehistoric and chaotic past. The locale includes a mixture of private, public and landtrust lands throughout the Camas Prairie area.

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The Paradise Center

The Paradise Center Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail Paradise Center, formerly the Paradise Elementary School, is a community, visitors, and arts center in the old railroad community of the same name.  Just below the confluence of the muddy Clark Fork and beautiful blue Flathead Rivers, 70 miles northwest of Missoula, the area was repeatedly inundated by Glacial Lake Missoula, leaving many visible features in the area such as gulch fills, kolks, and lake bottom sediment bluffs. It is on the route between the Camas Prairie Ripples and Eddy Narrows.   Inside the school is a unique interactive 3-D topographical or relief map of the entire area covered by Glacial Lake Missoula and an extensive display of information about the Lake as well as other topics of interest to the area.  Outside on the grounds is a playground and an outdoor walking loop with a dozen or so displays of interest such as the former railroad roundhouse.  A model railroad set-up is also found inside the center. This area can easily be reached directly from the St. Regis exit from I-90 by following the Clark Fork River where flood waters turned sharply to the north, carving out the narrow valley along scenic route 135 to the junction with MT-200. Scour marks and displaced boulders are visible from the road, and it is especially lovely when the larch trees turn bright yellow in the fall. This route also takes you past the historic Quinn’s Hot Springs Resort.  ANNOUNCEMENT: The Paradise Center hours are seasonal, generally Wednesday thru Saturday, 11am-3pm in the summer. Check the website at paradisecentermt.org or call 406-826-0500 Quick Facts Location:2 School House Hill Road Paradise, MT 59856 MANAGED BY:The Paradise Center

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SOME PLACES TO GO and THINGS TO DO in IDAHO

Lake Pend Oreille

Lake Pend Oreille Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail  The Purcell Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet repeatedly formed a 2000′ tall ice dam in this area, which backed up Glacial Lake Missoula and eventually burst catastrophically, releasing Ice Age Floods as often as about every ~10-60 years. Lake Pend Oreille is the largest lake in Idaho. The lake level is 2062 ft above sea level, with the surrounding terrain as high as 6002 ft. With a maximum depth of 1150 ft, this lake is the 5th deepest in the US. The location of the lake is probably related to an old river valley controlled by faults. The Lake Pend Oreille basin was carved by the repeated advances of Pleistocene ice and scoured by Ice Age Floods. With the waning of flood waters, the basin was filled with glacial out-wash and flood deposits. The lake is dammed at the south end by thick glacial and flood deposits that mark the beginning of the “Outburst Deposits”Quick Facts MANAGED BY:US Forest Service

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Farragut State Park

Farragut State Park Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail Farragut State Park is located at the “breakout” of Glacial Lake Missoula floods, where the ice dam in the Clark Fork valley and the 20-mile-long tongue of ice occupying the Lake Pend Oreille basin failed. From there, a torrent of water and ice burst from the south end of the lake. Farragut State Park is located at the “breakout” of Glacial Lake Missoula floods. Failure of the ice dam in the Clark Fork valley fractured and broke apart the 20-mile-long tongue of ice occupying the Lake Pend Oreille basin, and a torrent of water and ice burst from the south end of the lake. That churning slurry of flood waters, ice, boulders and other debris erupted from the south end of Lake Pend Oreille, flowing 2000 ft deep across Farragut State Park. Nearly all of the water escaping from Glacial Lake Missoula passed through this area. Discharge estimates range from 14 to 21 million cubic meters per second! Vic Baker’s definition of a megaflood is one which has a discharge of at least 1mil cubic m/s, so we are possibly looking at ground zero for the worst Pleistocene flood in the world. Farragut State Park includes many geologic features left by glaciation and megafoods.Hoodoo channel, an abandoned outlet of Lake Pend Oreille provided a pathway for late-glacial meltwater and for the last outbursts from Glacial Lake Missoula. The channel is marked with a number of closed depressions, probably the result of melting icebergs. One of the largest of these features have been proposed, including kettles, potholes, and sub-glacial meltwater. Some of that debris was deposited to form the Rathdrum Prairie Outburst Plain, an extensive, heterogeneous mix of flood deposits. Farragut State Park offers unique scenery, history and an abundance of recreational opportunities. Quick Facts Location:13550 E. Hwy 54 Athol, ID 83801 

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Green Monarch Ridge

Green Monarch Ridge Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN! The Green Monarch Ridge viewpoint, just south of the Hope Fault, is positioned along the edge of the Purcell Trench Ice Lobe. Here it was responsible for damming the mouth of the Clark Fork drainage basin. This damming effect resulted in the formation of Glacial Lake Missoula, the source of the waters for much of  the PNW Pleistocene Ice Age Floods. The Purcell Trench Ice Lobe originated in Canada and flowed south into Idaho, guided by the structural control of the Purcell Trench. Following the path of least resistance into the basin now occupied by Lake Pend Oreille, it was impeded by the Green Monarch Ridge, located approximately 10 miles south of this viewpoint. Grinding and scraping, the Purcell Trench Ice Lobe backed up behind the Green Monarch Ridge, eventually building an ice plug up to 4,000 feet thick, and scouring out the deepest parts of Lake Pend Oreille. The Purcell Trench Ice Lobe divided into four sub-lobes: one went approximately west (US Highway 2), two went south (US Highway 95 and Lake Pend Oreille) and one went east (SR 200). All four sub-lobes contributed to blocking the Clark Fork drainageQuick Facts MANAGED BY:US Forest Service – Idaho Panhandle National Forest

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SOME PLACES TO GO and THINGS TO DO in WASHINGTON

White Bluffs at Hanford Reach

Appearing much different than the nearly ubiquitous Columbia River basalt cliffs and boulders of central Washington, the White Bluffs area features a series of 50-170 m tall buff-colored bluffs and badlands underlain by those basalts. These are outcropping layers of the Ringold Formation comprising most

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Lyons Ferry State Park

Lyons Ferry State Park Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail If eastern Washington calls to you, Lyons Ferry State Park is sure to enthrall. Tree-shaded green lawns gracefully slope to the cooling waters of the Snake and Palouse rivers. The hills of the Palouse, on

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Journey Through Time: Explore Drumheller Channels

Nestled in the heart of Washington state, the Drumheller Channels offer a unique glimpse into earth’s history, carved by the immense power of Ice Age Floods. This National Natural Landmark is a must-visit for anyone seeking breathtaking landscapes, remarkable geological formations, and a chance to

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SOME PLACES TO GO and THINGS TO DO in OREGON

Museum of Natural History, University of Oregon

Museum of Natural and Cultural History, University of Oregon The museum offers a variety of seasonal and year-round programs for science and culture enthusiasts of every age. Delve into Oregon’s story, from the archaeology of the First Americans to the dynamic cultures of today’s Tribes.

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Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum

Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail, Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail, Oregon National Historic Trail The Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum is located on a 54-acre point of land adjacent to the Columbia River and is the

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Hat Rock State Park

Hat Rock State Park Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail, Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail Hat Rock is an erosion remnant warn way by floods from glaciers which melted over ten thousand years ago. Lewis and Clark saw this monument on their expedition and

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