At the end of the last ice age, huge lakes formed behind dams of ice, eventually breaking through the dams, releasing their water in vast floods. One of the most notable of these was Glacial Lake Missoula, which, when it unleashed its water, flooded a large portion of Washington and Oregon states. The huge volume of water, travelling at up to 60 miles per hour, scoured the countryside, carving out many large valleys and canyons, the Grand Coulee being one.
One of the more notable features left by the floods is Dry Falls in Washington's Grant County. A 3.5-mile wide and 400-foot tall waterfall, it is shown in the photo below. Surrounding Dry Falls is
Dry Falls State Park. As well as a showcase of natural wonder, this is a recreational park, a 3,774-acre camping park with 73,640 feet of freshwater shoreline and 15 miles of hiking trails.
The last few years have been bad ones for the northwest in terms of wildfires. Forest reserves and state parks have experienced their fair share of fires in the past decade and Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park in central Washington is no exception. Following is a short account of a 2017 fire which charred nearly a fifth of the park.
Big chunk of Grant County destination charred after wildfire on Saturday
Shawn Goggins | Jul 17, 2017
A cigarette caused a blaze that burned about 700 acres of Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park near Coulee City on Saturday.
At about 9 p.m., officials with Grant County Fire District 7 say someone smoking a cigarette dropped it in the tall grass in the Camp Delaney area, igniting the blaze.
Firefighters from several jurisdictions controlled the blaze after it grew to about 700 acres. Crews contained the flames at about 3 a.m. Sunday. The fire burned nearly one-fifth of the 4,000-acre park.
Park officials say the person responsible for the fire has not been located.
Grant County fire districts 6 and 13 and the Ephrata and Coulee City fire departments responded.
Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park is located about 10 miles west of Coulee City.
From iFIBER One News