Monday, June 24, 2013 (Lynx Creek RV Park, Hudson's Hope, BC)

It was a beautiful morning, with just a bit of a high cloud covering, as we set out on the half hour drive to the W.A.C. Bennett Dam. This created Williston Lake the largest reservoir in the province. As you approach the dam, there is a security check point...they record all vehicles coming and going from the facility...

We arrived shortly after 11:00...in plenty of time for the 11:30 tour of the dam.  This is the Visitors Centre...


 
 
In preparation for the tour, we had to put on safety vests.  I also had to stow my purse in a locker...we were only allowed to take our cameras on the tour into the dam...

At 11:30 our tour group boarded the bus that would take us down to the dam. Steve took some pictures on the way...the two tunnels you see in this picture are the old bypasses that were used to divert the water while the dam was being built, of course, they are now blocked off...

The spillway...

After a fairly steep decline down, we cross the Peace River, just before we arrive at the bottom of the dam.  There are Bald Eagles...very cool!  Apparently they wait for any dazed and dead fish that manage to make it through the dam...easy pickings for them...




Then we enter into the tunnel...


We disembark from the bus and Erica (our tour leader) provides us all with safety helmets and takes us through some long corridors...

...to an elevator that takes us further down into the dam...

We are 180 meters/590 feet beneath the surface of the reservoir...

 
400 Ton Rotor...
 




 

We look like a couple of tacky tourists...

Throughout the tour, there are all sorts of interpretive displays about the dam...

More long corridors...

...to another section of the dam...


Tailrace tunnel...drains water from turbines and empties into Dinosaur Lake...


Then it was time to head back to the bus...it had been a very interesting tour...







A very long tunnel through the dam...

On our way back up to the Visitors Centre, we see a deer...

Back at the Visitors Centre, we decided to grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the sunshine and beautiful view from the picnic tables...

Before leaving we took a look at the other displays surrounding the Visitors Centre...






 



After a tour of the dam, we took a drive across it...


This is a spot in the dam where a pothole was discovered...it ended up being the start of a hole in the dam and was repaired.  They are still not letting traffic drive over it yet...

We drove to a viewpoint on the other side of the dam...

Too bad there was a high chain-link fence, with no peak holes for picture taking.  They were doing some repair work along the bank...



Then it was back across the dam...this is a close-up view of the spillway...


That is the road we drove down in the bus for our tour...the tunnel we drove into is down at the bottom left...

 Beautiful views...

After our tour and drive over the dam, it was time to head home...this is a picture of the campground...

Time for some relaxation at the end of the day...Steve trampled down some grass so that we would have a view of the river...

After dinner, we had a visit with our neighbours, Darrell and Diane, who just happen to be from Sidney, BC.  They were on their way back south after a trip to Alaska...it's always good to get some tips from people who have already been north.

Tomorrow we will be continuing our trip north...




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