rooster tail spewing this weekend..

[sandm]

so we have 3 reservoirs that make up our main lakes that we boat on all summers long. they are very dependent on snow runoff to fill up. if we have a banner water year, they fill up too quickly and they need to siphon off excess water into the river system, which eventually runs to oregon and out the columbia to the ocean.. well, wasn't looking good this year, but all the moisture we have had in april and may have prompted excessive runoff, so the opened up the "rooster tail". there's a small hydro plant at the base of the natural earth/rock dam just outside of Boise. when the reservoir is full, they open up this chute, bypassing the turbines and bleed off excess water to keep it from overflowing.. it is running 16hrs/day for the next few days..
you can see the outline of the rock dam in the canyon. it's 300ft deep and 300ft across at the bottom, 50ft at the top. the rocks are all volcanic and have "keep our forests green" painted in them. been there for 40 years..
real cool to see, and one of those things that most locals take for granted and don't go see anymore... made the trip today(whopping 6 miles from my house) and enjoyed the sites...







this is after passing the generator station and winding up the road to the top of the dam. our boat launches are across the dam on the other side..

[WaterBullDawg1980]

Thats a cool shot. My lake feels so simple now.

[Sled491]

Very cool, our dam is 3 4x4's stuffed under the bridge