Over the River...

Yesterday Phyllis and Mike and I went up the Skagit River. We had planned to go over to Eastern Washington and get some apples, but all three of us were sore and we got a late start. SO we drove up to Diablo Lake overpass, and turned around, as the light was going fast.


Skagit River Boulders

If you went to Phyllis' place first, you saw this scene already, but it is worth repeating. The picture the River justice at all!! The Boulders in the River Bottom are HUGE!!! If we could stand next to them, we would be like ants crawling over them. The River at this point is diverted through the mountain, and comes out below Gorge Dam. It was the first Dam built on the River. There are three, and each one gets bigger and taller. All to fuel Seattle. The Mountains here are solid rock and to get the dams and the roads through here, they had to blast the rocks away. If you look closely you can see what the water has done to the solid granite. Smoothed it out and made it awesome.



Phyllis

AT this point, There was a major rock slide several years ago, and as you can see, it cut a pretty big swath out of the mountain. Phyllis is the teeny green spot at the foot.


mike

Mike was daring, and went down a trail to the river right in front of a sign that said DANGER, Do NOT go into the River bed, as the water can be released from the dam and flood the riverbed at any time. MEN!! I can just the amount of Gold and silver that is under all the rocks in that river bed.



cabin

This is the type of Cabin us 'Mericans have in our woods. None of those fancy schmancy cabins with heaters and hot tubs. :)

AS we got up to the overlook, we stopped and got out and took pictures down the lake, but mine look just like Phyllis' so go there to see the first lake. There are two huge lakes covering many thousands of square miles of virgin country. Gorge dam is a power house. It diverts the water from the skagit just at DIablo dam, and runs it through the mountain to the Dam at Newhalem. Then Seattle needed more power so they built Diablo Dam, which is higher, and floods the valley, it created a beautiful setting for recreation, and created even more flooded area. Next is Ross Dam, which is even higher, and creates even MORE power for SEATTLE, and this dam flooded clear up into Canada. Ross Lake is beautiful, and the most of it is in the National Park, so whatever Lumber is left, is protected. Seattle is wanting even MORE Power and the Seattle city Light CEO wants to raise Ross Dam another 650 feet. This would flood WAY into Canada, and it would destroy the oldest stand of red cedar left on the planet. It would flood Beaver valley and
take away many of the wilderness protected places. SO far we have been able to fight this monster off, but the power of the people is heavy, and they do want their pools heated, and their mansions lit.



Early Winter Spires

This is what we would have seen had we gone on another 40 miles. This is at Washington Pass, where the snow fall is so heavy that the Hiway closes sometime in November of each year. The highway almost did not get built because of this part. It is steep, high, and very rugged. The snow slides right down the rock face and lands on the switchbacks and blocks them. So every winter the cross state drivers have to drive another 300 miles around, via Snoqualmie Pass to Seattle, or Stevens Pass to Everett.

I will give you more history tomorrow on the highway. There is a book written about the building of this road called GOD'S HIGH TABLE that is well worth the read if you can find it at a library. Great book.