Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail
Home·Geological sites along the trail

Geological sites along the trail

103 documented stops along the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail, from Glacial Lake Missoula in western Montana to the Pacific Ocean, integrating IAFI scholarship with immersive 360° field capture.

103
documented stops
2,800+
360° scenes
49
priority sites, Phase 1
4
states
Region
Sorted by region
● Fully interpreted
Washington · the showcase

Sun Lakes, Dry Falls & Umatilla Rock

The largest waterfall that ever existed, fully interpreted: narrative, layered 360°, a drone reveal, and a then-and-now reconstruction you can drag.

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Idaho

Bison Range

IDAHO

President Theodore Roosevelt established the Bison Range in 1908 to conserve the American...

Idaho

Bitterroot Valley Glacial Erratics

IDAHO

Scattered across the Bitterroot Valley floor are glacial erratics -- boulders that floated on...

Idaho

Camas Prairie Ripple Marks

IDAHO

The largest current ripple marks on Earth stretch across Camas Prairie in western Montana, with...

Idaho

Eddy Narrows

IDAHO

Every drop of water in Glacial Lake Missoula -- 500 cubic miles of it -- had to funnel through...

Idaho

Erratic in the Bitterroot

IDAHO

An 8-ton glacial erratic that spent 13,000 years on a Bitterroot Valley ranch has been...

Idaho

Glacial Lake Missoula National Natural Landmark

IDAHO

At its peak, Glacial Lake Missoula held 500 cubic miles of water -- as much as Lake Erie and...

Idaho

Little Money Creek Gulch Fill

IDAHO

Along the Flathead River in Montana, side gulches and tributary valleys contain mounds of soil,...

Idaho

Missoula Strand Lines

IDAHO

The hillsides of Mount Sentinel and Mount Jumbo flanking downtown Missoula are striped with...

Idaho

Montana Natural History Center

IDAHO

The Montana Natural History Center in Missoula sits in the heart of what was once Glacial Lake...

Idaho

Rainbow Lake

IDAHO

Rainbow Lake is a 1.5-mile-long lake along Montana Highway 200 that fills a channel scoured by...

Idaho

The Paradise Center

IDAHO

The old Paradise Elementary School in this tiny railroad community at the confluence of the...

Idaho

Thompson Falls State Recreation Area

IDAHO

Thompson Falls State Recreation Area in northwestern Montana occupies a site that lay beneath...

Idaho

Travelers’ Rest State Park

IDAHO

Travelers' Rest State Park near Lolo, Montana, is the only archaeologically verified Lewis and...

Oregon

Crown Point

OREGON

Standing 733 feet above the Columbia River at Crown Point, you are looking at a flood scar of...

Oregon

Erratic Rock State Natural Site

OREGON

Six miles west of McMinnville, Oregon, a 90-ton boulder of banded argillite sits on a gentle...

Oregon

Mount Pisgah

OREGON

Mount Pisgah overlooks the southernmost reach of the Missoula Floods in the Willamette Valley,...

Oregon

Oregon Museum of Science and Industry

OREGON

OMSI sits on the banks of the Willamette River in Portland on ground that was beneath hundreds...

Oregon

Portland Women's Forum State Scenic Viewpoint

OREGON

Portland Women's Forum State Scenic Viewpoint offers one of the most photographed panoramas of...

Oregon

Rocky Butte

OREGON

Rocky Butte in northeast Portland is the eroded core of a Boring Lava Field volcano that became...

Oregon

Tualatin Heritage Center

OREGON

In the quiet Portland suburb of Tualatin, glacial erratics from the Missoula Floods share...

Oregon

Tualatin Ice Age Walking Trail

OREGON

The Tualatin Ice Age Walking Trail is a self-guided tour through the suburban streets of...

Oregon

Tualatin Public Library

OREGON

The Tualatin Public Library, just off Interstate 5 in suburban Oregon, is home to an...

Oregon

University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History

OREGON

Near the southernmost extent of the Missoula Floods in the Willamette Valley, the University of...

Oregon

Willamette Floodplain National Natural Landmark

OREGON

This National Natural Landmark preserves something the Missoula Floods created by accident: one...

Washington

Astoria Column

WASHINGTON

From the top of the 125-foot Astoria Column on Coxcomb Hill, you look out across the mouth of...

Washington

Badger Mountain

WASHINGTON

During the Ice Age Floods, Badger Mountain near Richland, Washington, was an island poking...

Washington

Beacon Rock State Park

WASHINGTON

The second-largest freestanding monolith in the United States, Beacon Rock towers 848 feet...

Washington

Bonneville Dam Visitor Center

WASHINGTON

Bonneville Dam, completed in 1938 as the first federal dam on the Columbia River, would have...

Washington

Bridgeport State Park

WASHINGTON

During the last ice age, the land at Bridgeport State Park lay buried beneath the advancing and...

Washington

Burlingame Canyon (Private Land)

WASHINGTON

A man-made irrigation ditch near Walla Walla accidentally exposed one of the most...

Washington

Cabinet Gorge Dam

WASHINGTON

Cabinet Gorge Dam on the Clark Fork River sits near the single most consequential location in...

Washington

Cape Disappointment State Park

WASHINGTON

Despite its name, Cape Disappointment State Park is anything but disappointing. This 2,023-acre...

Washington

Chinook Scenic Byway

WASHINGTON

The Chinook Scenic Byway winds through the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and Mount...

Washington

Clark Fork Ice Dam

WASHINGTON

This is where the Ice Age Floods began: the site near Clark Fork, Idaho, where the Purcell...

Washington

Columbia Gorge Discovery Center

WASHINGTON

The Columbia Gorge Discovery Center in The Dalles, Oregon, occupies a 54-acre point of land at...

Washington

Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center

WASHINGTON

Located in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area near Stevenson,...

Washington

Columbia Hills Historical State Park

WASHINGTON

At Horsethief Butte, the raw power of the Missoula Floods is written directly on the rock face...

Washington

Columbia Plateau Trail North End

WASHINGTON

Stretching 130 miles along an abandoned railroad grade, the Columbia Plateau Trail is the...

Washington

Columbia Plateau Trail South End

WASHINGTON

The southern terminus of the Columbia Plateau Trail near Pasco brings travelers to the...

Washington

Corfu Slide

WASHINGTON

The Corfu Slide is one of the largest landslide complexes in Washington state, a massive slump...

Washington

Coyote Canyon Mammoth Dig

WASHINGTON

In the Horse Heaven Hills near Kennewick, Washington, an active paleontological excavation is...

Washington

Daroga State Park

WASHINGTON

Daroga State Park sits on a terrace along the Columbia River that was built and shaped by the...

Washington

Deep Lake Potholes

WASHINGTON

Above the tranquil surface of Deep Lake, massive potholes bored into solid basalt testify to...

Washington

Drumheller Channels

WASHINGTON

The Drumheller Channels are the most spectacular example of 'butte-and-basin' scabland terrain...

Washington

Ephrata Erratic Fan

WASHINGTON

The Ephrata Erratics Fan is one of the most remarkable depositional features of the Missoula...

Washington

Escure Ranch / Towell Falls

WASHINGTON

The 3.2-mile Escure Ranch trail leads to Towell Falls in the heart of the Cheney-Palouse...

Washington

Farragut State Park

WASHINGTON

Farragut State Park marks ground zero for the Missoula Floods -- the exact spot where the ice...

Washington

Fort Spokane Visitor Center

WASHINGTON

Fort Spokane sits above the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia Rivers, a gathering place...

Washington

Frenchman Coulee

WASHINGTON

Frenchman Coulee is one of the most dramatic and accessible flood-carved canyons in the...

Washington

Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park

WASHINGTON

Two geological dramas separated by 15 million years collide at Ginkgo Petrified Forest: an...

Washington

Glacial Dam at Green Monarch Ridge View Point

WASHINGTON

This viewpoint along Idaho State Route 200, about one mile west of Hope, Idaho, offers a direct...

Washington

Grand Coulee

WASHINGTON

Fifty miles long, up to 900 feet deep, and as much as five miles wide, the Grand Coulee is the...

Washington

Grand Coulee Dam Visitors Center

WASHINGTON

The largest hydroelectric facility in the United States sits almost exactly where the Okanogan...

Washington

Green Monarch Ridge

WASHINGTON

Green Monarch Ridge near Clark Fork, Idaho, marks one of the key locations where the...

Washington

Hat Rock State Park

WASHINGTON

Lewis and Clark saw Hat Rock in 1805 and noted its striking resemblance to a man's hat -- a...

Washington

Hells Gate State Recreation Area

WASHINGTON

Hells Gate State Recreation Area near Lewiston, Idaho, marks the farthest point upstream that...

Washington

Hole in the Ground Canyon

WASHINGTON

Hole in the Ground Canyon between Bonnie Lake and Rock Lake is a textbook example of a cataract...

Washington

Lacamas Lake

WASHINGTON

Lacamas Lake near Camas, Washington, was bored into the landscape by kolks -- spinning...

Washington

Lake Pend Oreille

WASHINGTON

Lake Pend Oreille is the largest lake in Idaho -- 43 miles long, over 1,150 feet deep, and...

Washington

Lenore Lake Caves

WASHINGTON

Tucked into the basalt walls of the lower Grand Coulee, the Lake Lenore Caves were literally...

Washington

Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center

WASHINGTON

Perched on a cliff 200 feet above the pounding Pacific surf at Cape Disappointment, the Lewis...

Washington

Lincoln Rock State Park

WASHINGTON

Named for a basalt formation said to resemble Abraham Lincoln's profile, Lincoln Rock State...

Washington

Lyons Ferry State Park

WASHINGTON

Where the Palouse River meets the Snake River, Lyons Ferry State Park occupies one of the most...

Washington

Maryhill State Park

WASHINGTON

The broad bench on which Maryhill State Park sits was carved by the Missoula Floods as they...

Washington

McBones – Ice Age Floods Mammoth Dig

WASHINGTON

The McBones dig site near Kennewick, Washington, is where the Ice Age Floods meet the Ice Age...

Washington

Mount Spokane State Park

WASHINGTON

From the summit of Mount Spokane, at 5,883 feet the highest point in Spokane County, you look...

Washington

Multnomah Falls Visitor Center

WASHINGTON

Oregon's tallest waterfall at 620 feet exists in large part because the Ice Age Floods...

Washington

Museum of North Idaho

WASHINGTON

The Museum of North Idaho in Coeur d'Alene occupies a spot that would have been one of the...

Washington

Must See Floods Features in Northern Idaho

WASHINGTON

Northern Idaho is where the Ice Age Floods were born, and this collection of features scattered...

Washington

Palouse Falls State Park

WASHINGTON

Washington's official state waterfall plunges 198 feet into a churning basalt bowl that has...

Washington

Palouse River / Snake River Confluence

WASHINGTON

This quiet confluence of two rivers hides one of the most startling discoveries in geological...

Washington

Postmortem on the southern Cordilleran Ice Sheet

WASHINGTON

This site commemorates the research of Dr. Ralph Haugerud and other scientists investigating...

Washington

Potholes Coulee

WASHINGTON

Massive columns of basalt up to 100 feet tall stand like ruined pillars of an ancient temple...

Washington

Potholes State Park

WASHINGTON

The potholes that give this reservoir its name are not gentle depressions but violent...

Washington

Puget Sound Area has a Glacial Story to Tell

WASHINGTON

Although the Seattle region was not hit by the Missoula Floods that carved the scablands to the...

Washington

Riverside State Park

WASHINGTON

The giant basalt boulders scattered through the Spokane River at Riverside State Park's famous...

Washington

Rowena Crest

WASHINGTON

Nearly 700 feet above the Columbia River, Rowena Crest is a scenic overlook that doubles as a...

Washington

Sacajawea State Park

WASHINGTON

At the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers near Pasco, Sacajawea State Park occupies a...

Washington

Scooteney Park/Othello Channels

WASHINGTON

When the Missoula Floods slammed into the eastern flank of the Saddle Mountains, they split...

Washington

Sentinel Gap

WASHINGTON

Sentinel Gap is where the Columbia River punches through the Saddle Mountains in a dramatic...

Washington

Sims Corner Eskers and Kames

WASHINGTON

The Waterville Plateau near Sims Corner is an open-air museum of glacial landforms, preserving...

Washington

Spokane River Centennial Trail

WASHINGTON

The Spokane River Centennial Trail traces a corridor that experienced some of the most violent...

Washington

Spring Creek Hatchery State Park

WASHINGTON

At Spring Creek Hatchery in the Columbia Gorge, the Missoula Floods reached an estimated 900...

Washington

Steamboat Rock State Park

WASHINGTON

Rising 800 feet above the waters of Banks Lake like the prow of a colossal ship, Steamboat Rock...

Washington

Steptoe Butte State Park

WASHINGTON

Rising 3,612 feet above the rolling wheat fields of the Palouse, Steptoe Butte is a quartzite...

Washington

Summer Falls State Park

WASHINGTON

Summer Falls is a living waterfall born from the Ice Age Floods, cascading over basalt ledges...

Washington

Sylvan Lake

WASHINGTON

Sylvan Lake in eastern Washington is an outdoor classroom for Ice Age Floods evidence, hosting...

Washington

Tamastslikt Cultural Institute

WASHINGTON

The Tamastslikt Cultural Institute near Pendleton, Oregon, stands just east of the farthest...

Washington

The Bretz Journals and Google Earth

WASHINGTON

Before J Harlen Bretz had satellites or drones, he had a notebook and a pair of boots. The...

Washington

The Great Gravel Bar of Moses Coulee National Natural Landmark

WASHINGTON

At the time of one of the earliest Missoula Flood releases, the Okanogan Lobe of the...

Washington

The REACH Hanford Reach Interpretive Center

WASHINGTON

The REACH Museum in Richland, Washington, sits on land that would have been beneath hundreds of...

Washington

Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge

WASHINGTON

Tucked into the scablands near Cheney, Washington, Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge is a...

Washington

Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge

WASHINGTON

The Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge stretches along a section of the Columbia River that was...

Washington

View of Priest Rapids Bar

WASHINGTON

The Priest Rapids Bar is one of the most massive Ice Age Floods gravel bars in existence -- a...

Washington

Wallula Gap

WASHINGTON

Every drop of floodwater from the largest deluge in North American history had to squeeze...

Washington

Wanapum Vista Pullout / Frenchman Gap

WASHINGTON

The Wanapum Vista Pullout offers sweeping views of Frenchman Gap -- a water gap carved through...

Washington

Wenatchee Confluence State Park

WASHINGTON

Where the Wenatchee River meets the Columbia, Wenatchee Confluence State Park preserves a...

Washington

Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center

WASHINGTON

The Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center preserves the history, arts, and sciences of...

Washington

West Bar Ripple Marks

WASHINGTON

Imagine ocean waves frozen in gravel and stone, each one taller than a two-story building. The...

Washington

White Bluffs / Hanford Reach

WASHINGTON

The White Bluffs tower up to 560 feet above the Columbia River like chalk cliffs transplanted...

Washington

Withrow Moraine

WASHINGTON

A crescent-shaped ridge of glacial debris stretching across the Waterville Plateau marks the...

Washington

Yakima Sportsman State Park

WASHINGTON

This quiet oasis of wetlands and shady campgrounds in the arid Yakima Valley sits at what was...

103 of 103 360° capture via Terrain360 · drone & photogrammetry through the 2026 field campaign