Ice Age Flood Tour: Portland to Prosser, Grand Coulee and Back

During my recent positions as an Interpretation Park Ranger at Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, I became extremely interested in the Lake Missoula Ice Age Flood(s) that shaped the landscape of Eastern Washington and the Columbia River Gorge between Oregon and Washington. As a part of my position, we were encouraged to conduct research into the flood in order that we might explain or interpret the unique geologic features that are so evident in the park and the surrounding area. I was impressed by the fact that there are relatively few guides to the features of the flood in Washington. Also, what I was seeing seemed to contradict the view of many geologists that there were multiple floods, up to as many as 100. This interpretation also contradicted my view and that of many geologists commonly referred to as creationists. Their view of just one or at most a few floods is also more in keeping with my view as a Christian and belief that God created the heavens and the earth perhaps a few thousand years ago rather than having evolved over millions or billions of years. The National Park Service has begun to develop an Ice Age Flood Tour, consisting of a driving tour of the prominent features. There is little more than a web site describing some of the features and a map of some of the features. Because of that I decided to tour much of the area and put together a tour of the features that I had visited along with maps, photographs, and descriptions of points along the route.