Dry Falls — United States

About this spectacle

Dry Falls is a colossal ancient waterfall in the channeled scablands of central Washington state — a geological relic of the cataclysmic Missoula Floods that reshaped the Pacific Northwest at the end of the last Ice Age. Today the basalt cliffs stand silent and dry, but the sheer scale of the formation stuns visitors: the curved rim stretches far wider than Niagara Falls ever dreamed. From the interpretive overlook, visitors peer down into a bowl of blue lakes nestled in the plunge pools carved by ancient torrents. The pale brown and rust-red basalt columns, the hawk-dotted sky, and the vast quiet of the Columbia Basin create an otherworldly, almost lunar atmosphere. It is a place where geology speaks loudly and the absence of water becomes its own spectacle — what once was here can be felt viscerally in the scale of what remains.

When to go

Jan — Dec, peak Sep — Jun

Getting there

Nearest airport: GEG. Nearest city: Spokane.

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