This morning we headed to the dam to take the tour. It turns out the tour is free. Unfortunately we got about what we paid for. Oddly you drive to the other side of the dam to board the tour shuttle bus. The shuttle bus then brings you back to the opposite side of the dam. The tour took us into the west pump room where lake water is pumped over the mountain to Blake Lake for irrigation. These pumps are enormous and look much like the hydroelectric generators we’ve seen in the other dams. We came right back out of the dam and then to an overlook. Tour over. Normally the tour would drive you out onto the dam but today work prevented that.
After the dam tour we ate at R&A cafe, a small local place in Mason City very near the dam. We ordered a french dip and the food was excellent, the service was good and friendly, and the meal was super inexpensive. A very pleasant surprise in a very small town.
After lunch we drove the length of Banks Lake. The lake is beautiful. We stopped at the Steamboat Rock State Park. The park was a camping location we had considered. It would have been very nice but a pretty long drive into the dam. Once we returned we followed Hwy 174 past our RV park to the dam overlook. The overlook really gave a great view of the dam.