We were so surprised at the lack of vehicles and people on our little road trip to our neighboring county. We took this drive on Thursday June 12th, 2025. After our breakfast and shopping in Metaline Falls we continued North on Highway 31.
It didn’t take us long to get to our next stop. We took a left turn off of Highway 31 onto National Development Road 3165, also called East Side Road. Crescent Lake was a good marker for the road and guaranteed you couldn’t miss it.
It was a short drive to the parking area for Boundary Dam Vista House. Again we were pleasantly surprised with the nice restroom facilities and parking and well maintained trail to an overlook.
There was an indoor viewing house with windows all around and some great information posted. We were surprised to learn that Seattle City Light owns and operates the dam that is 390 miles from the city of Seattle. What surprised us even more is the fact that the electrical current leaves Boundary Powerhouse crosses Washington State and reaches Seattle IN LESS THAN A SECOND!
We took some photos of the dam from the Vista House before we walked the 750 steps to an outdoor overlook.
Looking north towards Canada.
This was another sign inside the Vista House. I’m glad we planned and left the house instead of just wishing on this day. One more display caught our eye. It was hard to photo with the glare but I took it anyway.
Great information and nice historical tribute.
Looking south…
We exited the Vista House that we had all to ourselves and started our 750 foot walk to the outdoor overlook.
Looking South on the Pend Oreille River.
Looking North to Canada.
Back up the 750 Feet to the parking lot. We enjoyed a few wildflowers.
We were inspired to take this trip because of the next photos our son sent when he had to work out in this area for several hours. His photos were taken in May with different cloud cover.
I’m saving our next stop for another post.
Thanks for coming along.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 
Thanks for taking us along on your trip!!
Lisa, my pleasure. 🙂
…all is beautiful in God’s country!
Tom, Creation sings!
Beautiful scenery the dam photos are great! Take care, have a great day!
Eileen, thank you!
What a beautiful day you had, how nice to enjoy the incredible beauty of that dam, and to witness the harnished power of water!!
Marilyn, it was a good day. Thanks for your visit.
That is a fascinating fact about the power of that dam/water! Less than a second?!
Oh such beautiful scenery . . . the man-made and the God-created! The topography on your side of the country is quite different from that in the East. Our son and his family just returned from a trip to Olympic National Park and North Cascades National Park and the photos they sent us were breathtaking!
Oh that’s nice that your kids visited those two parks.
We were blown away about learning about the speed of that current!!
Thank you for your visit.
These pictures would make some beautiful postcards!
Thank you, Monica.
Another beautiful sojourn!
Mary, Thank you!
What a beautiful area! I can understand why you wanted to visit, especially after seeing Dan’s pictures.
Dianna, thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment. 🙂
what an amazing place. I couldn’t believe how quickly it took to get power to Seattle. B x
Barbara, that was the amazing fact of the year for us. 🙂
This damn looked very rustic and natural–almost like a large boulder. I hope the governmnet sell off of many aches of public lands don’t affect beautiful places like this. I know Colorado is worried about that possibility.
Wow those views are fantastic!!!
This is a fascinating sight. Thank you for all the great photos.
Beautiful✨