Local Attractions

Information: Local Attractions

Steamboat Rock State Park
Steamboat Rock State Park was first used by nomadic Native American tribes and early settlers. This long-established landmark is currently used by the military for aircraft flying training missions. The basalt butte towers 800 feet above Banks Lake. At one time this rocky outcrop was an island on the Columbia River bed.  After hundreds of years of being dammed by ice, the Columbia River returned to its natural course and the enormous rock remained.

Another route worth straying on is the road the winds its way through and up the south side of Northrop canyon. This well-engineered road was once used by stage coaches and freight wagons; it was named after on of the original homesteaders.

Grand Coulee Dam
When you come to Sun Banks Resort you can’t miss the Grand Coulee Dam. This “Eighth Wonder of the World” was completed in 1941. It girdles the Columbia River with 12 million cubic yards of concrete, stacked one mile wide and as tall as a 46-story building, backing up a 150-mile long reservoir, spinning out more kilowatts than any other dam in the United States. Though its size may suggest otherwise, the Grand Coulee Dam is only part of the massive Columbian Basin Project, which includes four other dams, three storage lakes, and 2,300 miles of irrigation canals, travelling through half a million acres of desert. The Grand Coulee Dam has been largely influential in the development of the Pacific Northwest. The social and environmental costs, however, have been so severe that the dam likely could not be built today.