- Tours - Ice Age Flood Tours | Visit Wenatchee Valley Washington Visitors Bureau

Ice Age Flood Tours

Canyons, Buttes, Erratics, Boulder Fields and Gravel Bars: Discover the Remnants from Ice Age Floods

Imagine a raging flood so powerful that towering waves studded with glacial icebergs toss giant boulders downstream like pebbles, and the landscape is irreversibly altered as eroded soil is carried more than 500 miles to the ocean.

It might sound like a scene from a Hollywood movie - but it's real. And it happened in the Wenatchee Valley between 13,000 and 18,000 years ago, as water from glacial Lake Missoula raged across the landscape at 65 miles-per-hour when the ice dam blocking its path gave way to pressure, releasing the violent deluge.

With the self-guided, drivable Ice Age Floods Geological Trail* map, visitors can see and experience first-hand the remnants from the flood and how it shaped the Wenatchee Valley and central Washington landscape. The two drivable trails, one a 30-mile loop around the Wenatchee Valley that lies within the other, a 164-mile loop around central Washington, start with the Ice Age Floods Geological Trail map, a colorful illustrated map showing each of the 40 sightseeing stops along the trail routes.

Ice Age Trail maps are available at the Wenatchee Valley Visitors Bureau, 5 S. Wenatchee Avenue Suite 100, Wenatchee, WA 98801 509-663-3723 or click here to request a map online.

Additional information about the Ice Age Floods is available at www.iceagefloodsinstitute.org