Idaho and Utah
A few years ago (14,500 years ago, more or less) what is now the Great Salt Lake was about 20,000 square miles in area and a few hundred feet deep. Scientists now call it Lake Bonneville. At its north end, where these pictures were taken, stood a natural dam, holding back the waters.
One day, the dam burst. Water poured forth in a torrent, down the Snake River, into the Columbia River, through my back yard in Vancouver, Washington, and on to the Pacific Ocean, scouring the valleys and flooding the land.
With a name like Red Rock Pass, and the story I just told you, you'd think Red Rock Pass would be a spectacular place to visit. At least that's what I thought. But it wasn't. If it weren't for research I'd already done, I wouldn't have known it was any place special.
Photos and text
©D.L. Mark 2002
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