Owhi lake Dam - Washington #6 for DamTour 2012

~ Owhi Lake Dam ~ Washington ~ 358 mi from PDX - 268 mi Sea-Tac.

Owhi Lake Dam is located 7.5 miles east of Nespelem, Washington on the Colville Indian Reservation, and is our special twist dam for this state.You will find this dam on Owhi Lake Rd off from Cache Creek Road. While many of you riders have passed through this reservation on Hwy 21 and even taken the Keller Ferry, I'll bet most didn't know about Owhi Lake Dam. While the dam isn't much to talk about, and all you'll see is brush and lake (unless you do down the dirt road to the dam itself - not required), the ride is something to talk about. I have wanted to preview this dam for a couple of years now, and finally got the chance last year. This ride is what inspired me to add the special twist dams in Washington and Oregon for 2012.

Here is the deal... whether you chose to go east to west or the other way around, I think you will enjoy this ride. The two extra required photos that must be sent in with your dam photo if you are going for the "all" twenty trophy, are at Gifford-Inchelium Ferry (see sign photo at right) off from Hwy 25, and the historical Chief Joseph rest stop outside of Nespelem (see photo at right). The ferry is 25 miles south of Kettle Falls, and the rest stop is 17 miles north of the Grand Coulee Dam on Hwy 155. The road you will follow is County Road 2, which has the names of Twin Lakes Road, Bridge Creek Road and Cache Creek Road along the way. You will also be on Hwy 21 for a short jog. The terrain of this ride changes from high desert to beautiful heavily treed mountains, and you will climb over 4100 feet in elevation on this route. Twisty, and steep in some places but the roads are good with very little traffic. I included two photos of the far reaching vista near the top of this pass at the right because it was so impressive, but these are not the required photo spots.

We enjoyed the ride on Hwy 25 from Kettle Falls to the ferry as well, with beautiful views of he Columbia River, but I hear it gets even better heading north on Hwy 25 to Northport (see link 'While Near By - Hwy 25') and hope to try this the next time I am in the area.

** Note Update: During low water on the Columbia, the Gifford Ferry may not run. I am sure you can figure out a work around... but you might also check and look for County Road 3 if open and paved as an option, that parallels Hwy 25 but on the reservation side(west of river) and we can accept a photo from that side of the ferry if necessary. The short section of 3 that we rode on was paved, but we did not ride north to Hwy 20 from there.

GPS: 48.22085°N - 118.88957°W or 48° 13' 15.06 " N - 118° 53' 22.45 " W

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