Parker Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam that crosses the Colorado River 155 miles (249 km) downstream of Hoover Dam. Built between 1934 and 1938 by the Bureau of Reclamation,. Seventy-three percent of the dam's structural height of 320 feet is below the original river bed; only about 85 feet of the dam's structural height is visible (its superstructure rises another 62 feet above the roadway across the top of the dam). Making it the deepest dam in the world. The deep excavation was necessary in order to reach the bedrock on which the foundation of the dam was built. Parker Dam has a volume of 380,000 cubic yards of concrete. At its crest, the dam is 856 feet long. Water control is provided by five 50-ft-square gates.
Lake Havasu backs up behind the dam for 45 miles and covers more than 20,400 acres (32 square miles). The reservoir's total capacity is 646,200 acre-feet. The Metropolitan Water District`s W. P. Whitsett Intake Pumping Plant for the Colorado River Aqueduct is located on the shore of Lake Havasu about two miles upstream from the dam. The aqueduct begins at the intake pumping plant and extends 242 miles to its terminus at Lake Mathews near Riverside, California. The power plant has four Francis turbines with a combined capacity of 120 MW. Each turbine weighs 60,000 pounds (27,000 kg). The head is 72 feet (21.9 m). It produces electricity at 97 percent efficiency. Half of the electricity the plant produces is used by the Metropolitan Water District to pump water along the Colorado River Aqueduct, and the rest is sold to utilities in California, Arizona and Nevada. The generation of power is limited by a requirement to keep the water level of Lake Havasu between 440 and 450 feet (134.1 and 137.2 meters) for proper operation of pumping plants for the Central Arizona Project and the Colorado River Aqueduct.
The dam can be accessed from both the Arizona and California sides, but the following warnings need to be in your plans to visit:
Parker dam is closed from 11:00 PM to 5:00 AM (MST)
No trucks, trailers, or RVs can cross Parker Dam
No pedestrians allowed on the bridge
Pictures are welcome, but not of the Turbine weight or the bronze plaque
To prove your visit, send an eMail answering both questions.
1. What is the weight of the display turbine?
2. What is the date on the bronze plaque at GZ?
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.