Palouse River
We spent the morning exploring the wild Palouse River, which enters the much larger Snake River on its northern side at a point about 60 miles upstream from the confluence with the Columbia River. The Palouse River is about 220 miles long, with its headwaters in Idaho, and flows westward into Washington. The dramatic and picturesque river valley, as it appears today, was formed relatively quickly (geologically speaking, that is) by a series of great floods of unimaginably huge amounts of rushing water that scoured out the valley during the Pleistocene Epoch. Geologists tell us that these immense deluges of water flowed across the panhandle of Idaho, over the flat country of eastern Washington, and reached the Snake River at its confluence with the Palouse River. Each flood sent water in a reverse flow in the Snake River from this point all the way into southern Idaho!
We dedicated most of our time this morning to cruising up the river, both in kayaks and Zodiacs. It is truly a remarkable region and gives a feel of real wilderness. It is worth noting that the region gave us the name “appaloosa” for a type of Nez Percé Indian horse with light-colored hindquarters covered with dark spots. We didn’t see any horses, but we did see lots of mule deer, as well as a coyote, red-tailed hawks, ospreys, magpies, red-winged blackbirds, and little ballooning spiders. Many of us also made a trip up to Palouse Falls State Park via an off-duty school bus to view one of the most remarkable falls in the state of Washington. The water drops more than 200 feet and creates lots of mist and rainbows as it pours over a wide semicircle of eroded basaltic rock into an enormous plunge pool. Even though its flow is greater during the spring, when melt water adds to its volume, it was still very impressive to us at this time. With the beautiful, sunny conditions we enjoyed all day…the deck barbecue was especially appreciated.
We spent the morning exploring the wild Palouse River, which enters the much larger Snake River on its northern side at a point about 60 miles upstream from the confluence with the Columbia River. The Palouse River is about 220 miles long, with its headwaters in Idaho, and flows westward into Washington. The dramatic and picturesque river valley, as it appears today, was formed relatively quickly (geologically speaking, that is) by a series of great floods of unimaginably huge amounts of rushing water that scoured out the valley during the Pleistocene Epoch. Geologists tell us that these immense deluges of water flowed across the panhandle of Idaho, over the flat country of eastern Washington, and reached the Snake River at its confluence with the Palouse River. Each flood sent water in a reverse flow in the Snake River from this point all the way into southern Idaho!
We dedicated most of our time this morning to cruising up the river, both in kayaks and Zodiacs. It is truly a remarkable region and gives a feel of real wilderness. It is worth noting that the region gave us the name “appaloosa” for a type of Nez Percé Indian horse with light-colored hindquarters covered with dark spots. We didn’t see any horses, but we did see lots of mule deer, as well as a coyote, red-tailed hawks, ospreys, magpies, red-winged blackbirds, and little ballooning spiders. Many of us also made a trip up to Palouse Falls State Park via an off-duty school bus to view one of the most remarkable falls in the state of Washington. The water drops more than 200 feet and creates lots of mist and rainbows as it pours over a wide semicircle of eroded basaltic rock into an enormous plunge pool. Even though its flow is greater during the spring, when melt water adds to its volume, it was still very impressive to us at this time. With the beautiful, sunny conditions we enjoyed all day…the deck barbecue was especially appreciated.
