The Rocky Reach Dam and Visitor Center closes for the 2012 season today at 4 p.m.

 

Visitor Center staff guided more than 50,000 people including 500 tour groups through the Visitor Center and the dam during the eight-month 2012 season. Guests came from places as far as Nepal, England, Iceland, Australia and India, as well as Texas, New Hampshire and British Columbia.

 

A record fish run helped draw visitors this year, as each day in July, more than 20,000 adult sockeye salmon made their way past the dam on the way upstream to spawn, offering a non-stop display through the Visitor Center’s fish viewing windows.

Following Wednesday’s closure, staff will work through the winter to make sure the Visitor Center is ready to reopen for the 2013 season at 9 a.m. on March 1, offering free powerhouse tours, exhibits in the Museum of the Columbia, art displays and fish viewing.

 

To reserve a Rocky Reach park shelter for the 2013 season, call (509) 663-7522 after Jan. 2, 2013. Reservations for holding a wedding on the grounds in 2013 can be made at any time by calling the same number.

 

Rocky Reach Visitor Center is located 7 miles north of Wenatchee on Highway 97A.