...lies enough water to cover the entire state of North Dakota with 6 inches of water. That doesn't sound like much until you realize the state covers 70,704 square miles. All five Great Lakes together cover 94,000 square miles. The gates, or doors, in the spillway of Garrison Dam in North Dakota, hold back the waters of 178-mile-long Lake Sakakawea, named after the Shoshone woman who guided Lewis and Clark from the Knife River Indian villages, in north-central North Dakota, to the Pacific coast and back, in 1805 and 1806. The spillway is only a small part of the 5th largest earthen dam in the world, at 2-1/2 miles long and 210 feet high. Each gate is 40 feet wide and 29 feet high and opened only in the event of the lake level threatening to "overtop" the dam and causing a catastrophic dam failure. The gates in this photo are not actually seen, but are set behind (to the right of) each of those metal platforms between the concrete pilasters. Restricted access limited how I could shoot the gates, but I really prefer this angle, with all those receding identical shapes. The foliage growing in the rainwater is an indicator of how long it's been since the gates were opened. These are giant doors that serve a purpose much different than human passage. They maintain flood control, provide water recreation and world-class fishing (walleye and salmon), and assist with the production of hydro-electric power. And since these are doors, this is my entry in the current contest.