Columbia River
On this first morning of our cruise we awake to find ourselves in the eastern gorge of the Columbia River. The cliffs are stark and bare in the morning sun, the river runs bright and cold. Few trees exist here where there is hardly any rainfall. Bunchgrasses, lichens, a few dwarfed shrubs, and other than this, there is only dark basalt rock. Harsh? Barren? Isolated? Yes, all these things, but also beautiful in its own way.
The land so denuded, is able to tell the story of its formation in a way that a green verdant forested land could never do. The lava flowed so many millions of years ago, crystallizing into columns. The huge cataclysmic floods at the end of the ice age did its job of eroding the walls away. More than ten thousand years of freezing and thawing have softened its contours a bit. Deer, mountain sheep, primitive people, and later, herds of cattle have left their mark on the land in the form of dimly visible trails. White stains on some of the rocks signify the presence of hawks and ravens. And in the midst of it all we stand in wonder that we can travel along the river while it tells us its story.
For some of us this is the first time we have seen the Columbia River country. Others have traveled it for much of their lives, but we share this same sense that we have encountered something very special.
On this first morning of our cruise we awake to find ourselves in the eastern gorge of the Columbia River. The cliffs are stark and bare in the morning sun, the river runs bright and cold. Few trees exist here where there is hardly any rainfall. Bunchgrasses, lichens, a few dwarfed shrubs, and other than this, there is only dark basalt rock. Harsh? Barren? Isolated? Yes, all these things, but also beautiful in its own way.
The land so denuded, is able to tell the story of its formation in a way that a green verdant forested land could never do. The lava flowed so many millions of years ago, crystallizing into columns. The huge cataclysmic floods at the end of the ice age did its job of eroding the walls away. More than ten thousand years of freezing and thawing have softened its contours a bit. Deer, mountain sheep, primitive people, and later, herds of cattle have left their mark on the land in the form of dimly visible trails. White stains on some of the rocks signify the presence of hawks and ravens. And in the midst of it all we stand in wonder that we can travel along the river while it tells us its story.
For some of us this is the first time we have seen the Columbia River country. Others have traveled it for much of their lives, but we share this same sense that we have encountered something very special.
