• Home
  • Browse
  • Search

OptimImagery

  1. TRAVEL 2012
  2. JULY AND AUGUST, 2012: NM and WA trip

AUGUST, 2012: WA IV: FLIGHT OVER CHELAN AREA

Music on videos by Kevin MacLeod at http://incompetech.com/
Read More
Lift off from Chelan Airport.  Here you see the Columbia River, just below the airport grounds.
1 / 21

Lift off from Chelan Airport. Here you see the Columbia River, just below the airport grounds.

faaflightcolumbia

  • Lift off from Chelan Airport.  Here you see the Columbia River, just below the airport grounds.
  • Dan (the pilot) flies to Alaska and back regularly.  As you can see, Zac makes a great copilot.
  • Chelan Walmart to your lower left as we approach Lake Chelan.
  • South Shore, Lake Chelan.
  • Manson, WA.
  • 25-Mile Creek area on South Shore.
  • From take off to our turn around at 25-Mile Creek.
  • From left to right:  Wapato Lake, Roses Lake, and Dry Lake.  Of course, the huge body of water is Lake Chelan.  Wapato Point extends out into Lake Chelan toward the top of the photo.
  • Now we are over the Columbia River, looking south toward Entiat (on the right side of the river) and Orondo (on the left side).
  • Heading east over Lake Chelan (from 25-Mile Creek) and on to the Columbia River.
  • From above the Columbia, looking west over Lake Chelan.  Chelan River (according to Wikipedia the shortest river in the state of Washington, flowing from the largest natural lake in WA) and apple sheds in the foreground.
  • Orchards along the Columbia.
  • Erratics (more on these later).
  • This video starts over Entiat, where you can see the delta forming at the confluence of the Entiat River and the Columbia.  Across the Columbia from the delta, you can see some submerged structures.  As with most of the Columbia, a dam downstream raised the water to its present level.  These underwater structures were there prior to this.  A little later you will see Chelan airport, then on to the Erratics (more on these in a moment).  You will fade as you approach a large, round orchard.
  • Orchards (and there may be some vineyards, too) along the Columbia River.
  • Round orchard with apple crates stacked near the center.  There was a very recent burn just beyond the orchard.
  • Now for the Erratics.  Erratics are rocks which originated in one locale and were carried by some means to another locale, usually far away from their origin.  These particular erratics tumbled along the bottom of perhaps the hugest river ever to flow on Earth.  Actually, there were several cataclysmic floods spanning the time period betwee 15,000 and 13,000 years ago.  Hundreds of miles upriver an inland lake (now called Lake Missoula) arose when an ice dam blocked the flow.  The water rose and rose, until it over-flowed the ice dam.  Within a short time the flow ripped out the ice dam and sent a deluge down what is now central WA and parts of OR.  While geologists argue some of the details, it is believed that these floods occurred over the 2,000 year period on a cycle of approximately every 55 years.  Some of these flows had more water than now flows in all rivers of the world combined.
  • The gusher was so forceful that it tumbled huge boulders along the bottom similar to how strong winds blow tumbleweeds today.  These things are interesting to walk or drive around.  Most of them are fairly round (from tumbling along the bottom of the river), but they have been in their present locations long enough to have weathered through many seasons of rain, freezing, and drying.  Many of them are now made up of 2 "semi-spheres" due to that subsequent weathering.  Anyway, can you imagine a time when the water may have been more than 100 feet deep (I have read that it was closer to 300 feet deep in many places) and gushing with enough force to roll these rocks along?  Notice the size of the rocks compared to the road.   If you have been among the Erratics and feel that I am exaggerating, please leave a comment, but in my opinion some of these rocks are at least house size.  Amazing force to just tumble them along like that.<br />
<br />
I have never read exactly where these originated.  I think that there may not be any agreement on that.
  • Wells Dam and Lake Pateros (Columbia River).
  • More erratics.
  • No Comments
  • Photo Sharing
  • About SmugMug
  • Browse Photos
  • Prints & Gifts
  • Terms
  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Owner Log In
© 2021 SmugMug, Inc.