Saturday, July 2, 2011

A week ago... (WARNING: Long Picture Post!)

... we went up to the Garrison Dam to see the record setting water levels, and all of the consequential flooding.  On the way there we stopped at the park in Wilton in order to have a picnic! I had my camcorder along, and took a bunch of photos, so I will make my way through the day with photos:

The Wilton Centennial Park:


Had to laugh at this sign:


A nice spot for a picnic!


I liked this lamp post, thought it would make a good picture...


And the trees too! :-)


Another sign on the other side of the pond:


My beautifull sister:



The neat old bridge:



And the water fountian:


After lunch we continued on our way to the dam... Here you can see the Missouri river as we were driving across a bridge:


We finally got to the dam, and after finding a place to park, we walked around for a while and looked at all of the water... Here you can see the spillway structure, and how high the water is:


On the other side of the spillway, you can see all of the water pouring out:




Here you can read a little history of the spillway:


 This year has been increadably wet, and with the above average snowfall in Montana, the water in Garrison Dam is the highest it has ever been. In fact, this is the first time since the dam was built that they have had to let water out of the spillway!  When we were there, they were letting out about 61,000 gallons of water per SECOND!

 Here you can read a little history of the Garrison Dam:


 And a little about the powerhouse:


And a picture of the powerhouse, and a lot of water!


The next couple of pictures are on the full side of the dam, showing the intake for the power plant:




There sure is a lot of water around there! I am glad we aren't anywhere near all of that water...
  Andrew B.

5 comments:

Dawn Bornemann said...

Hi Andrew,
What a great post! You did such a wonderful job of capturing our fun family outing last Sabbath!
Keep up the good work!!!!
Mom

Anonymous said...

Hey Andrew,

Sounds like you and your family had a lot of fun at the park. Great pictures of the dam. Very cool!

Am I reading that sign correctly...."Restricted?! No scuba diving, swimming, or watercafts?!"...and I just rented my scuba gear too...that puts a damper on my whole vacation! :)

Hope you and your family are having a great week.

God Bless,
Josh

Unknown said...

Josh,
Yes, NO SCUBA DIVING! (Within 200 feet of the intake structures...) There is a LOT of water flowing into the intake, and things could easily get caught in the current... It was incredible to stand there and listen to all of the water: It was like a thunderstorm that never quit! I do have a couple videos of the water flowing, not sure if I will get them posted or not...
Andrew B.

The K. Family said...

Thanks for posting this. I've often wanted to see the dam after hearing so much about it this spring.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the comment, K. Family!
Your welcome! It is quite an impressive sight! I do have a couple of video clips of the water flowing, hoping to get those uploaded soon... :-)
Andrew B.