Palouse River, Washington
Uncooperative weather systems did not damper Sea Bird guests’ enthusiasm for exploring the Palouse River mouth – largely the backwater of nearby Lower Monumental Dam. Zodiacs were out early for scenic trips narrated by naturalists and to ferry guests to the shore for narrated Palouse Falls visits.
Zodiac tours cruised along the leaking remains of Marmes Man Shelter, site of decades-old archeological digs, and among tule bushes, basalt walls, and alongside cliffside swallows nests created from nearby mud banks. Slight wave action added a note of adventure to the meanderings. Overhanging basalt shapes (cooled examples of million-year-old lava flows) offered a dramatic background.
Visitors to Palouse Falls saw a remnant of the last Pleistocene Ice Age formed by Great Floods, often called the Bretz Floods. This phenomenon was named for geologist J. Harland Bretz who first described the so-called Channeled Scablands. The overview from atop the hills was a stark reminder of nature’s power – miles of basalt formations surrounded by rolling Palouse Hills, home to some of the world’s most productive wheat ranches.
Daylight lockage downhill through Lower Monumental Dam afforded Sea Bird guests the experience of dropping 100 feet within the “bathtub”, instead of rising to the top while coming upriver. Lower Monumental Dam and her sister Snake River dams are imposing human landmarks surrounded by lush orchards and vineyards. In fact, Washington State boasts more grape-growing than any state except California, and is world-famous for its apples and stone fruit.
During an afternoon presentation the historian summed up the Lewis & Clark adventure and reviewed what happened to its key participants and how the 1805-1806 trek changed the Pacific Northwest and to some extent the United States. An after dinner video described construction of the historic Columbia Gorge Highway, which was conceived and shaped by entrepreneur Sam Hill.
Uncooperative weather systems did not damper Sea Bird guests’ enthusiasm for exploring the Palouse River mouth – largely the backwater of nearby Lower Monumental Dam. Zodiacs were out early for scenic trips narrated by naturalists and to ferry guests to the shore for narrated Palouse Falls visits.
Zodiac tours cruised along the leaking remains of Marmes Man Shelter, site of decades-old archeological digs, and among tule bushes, basalt walls, and alongside cliffside swallows nests created from nearby mud banks. Slight wave action added a note of adventure to the meanderings. Overhanging basalt shapes (cooled examples of million-year-old lava flows) offered a dramatic background.
Visitors to Palouse Falls saw a remnant of the last Pleistocene Ice Age formed by Great Floods, often called the Bretz Floods. This phenomenon was named for geologist J. Harland Bretz who first described the so-called Channeled Scablands. The overview from atop the hills was a stark reminder of nature’s power – miles of basalt formations surrounded by rolling Palouse Hills, home to some of the world’s most productive wheat ranches.
Daylight lockage downhill through Lower Monumental Dam afforded Sea Bird guests the experience of dropping 100 feet within the “bathtub”, instead of rising to the top while coming upriver. Lower Monumental Dam and her sister Snake River dams are imposing human landmarks surrounded by lush orchards and vineyards. In fact, Washington State boasts more grape-growing than any state except California, and is world-famous for its apples and stone fruit.
During an afternoon presentation the historian summed up the Lewis & Clark adventure and reviewed what happened to its key participants and how the 1805-1806 trek changed the Pacific Northwest and to some extent the United States. An after dinner video described construction of the historic Columbia Gorge Highway, which was conceived and shaped by entrepreneur Sam Hill.
