The Columbia and Snake Rivers
This morning, just as it was getting light, we had our first of many opportunities to watch the Sea Lion go upriver through a lock. The John Day Lock was especially interesting. At 113 feet, it is the highest lift we will go through and has a huge guillotine gate that closes behind the ship once we were secured in the lock.
Once through the lock, the scenery revealed a very different area than the one we left last night. The lush green landscape was gone and in its place were the short brown grasses and scattered agricultural land of eastern Washington and Oregon. We left the Cascade Mountains behind in the night and were now seeing the results of the rain shadow effect. The clouds coming east from the Pacific Ocean drop the majority of their moisture in the cascades, leaving very little moisture to fall on the Eastern half of Oregon and Washington.
Our day was filled with opportunities to learn more about Lewis and Clark from lectures by Junius and Roger, as well as the chance to enjoy the sights and scenery along the way. The area we traveled through today was the same place that Lewis and Clark traveled downstream in October of 1805 and back upstream in the spring of 1806. Other travelers with whom we share the river today are the Chinook Salmon and Steelhead trout, anadromous fish who, as adults, swim from the ocean back to where they were born to spawn and start the next generation of their species. We had a much easier passage upstream through locks then the adult salmon do in their search for a fish ladder as a way around the 8 dams between the ocean and Idaho.
Late in the afternoon, we left the Columbia River and turned on to the Lower Snake River. Given the dryness of the area, we were surprised by an afternoon rain shower. After passing through Ice Harbor Dam, our surprise turned to delight as the sunset broke out of the clouds and created a spectacular double rainbow over the golden landscape.
This morning, just as it was getting light, we had our first of many opportunities to watch the Sea Lion go upriver through a lock. The John Day Lock was especially interesting. At 113 feet, it is the highest lift we will go through and has a huge guillotine gate that closes behind the ship once we were secured in the lock.
Once through the lock, the scenery revealed a very different area than the one we left last night. The lush green landscape was gone and in its place were the short brown grasses and scattered agricultural land of eastern Washington and Oregon. We left the Cascade Mountains behind in the night and were now seeing the results of the rain shadow effect. The clouds coming east from the Pacific Ocean drop the majority of their moisture in the cascades, leaving very little moisture to fall on the Eastern half of Oregon and Washington.
Our day was filled with opportunities to learn more about Lewis and Clark from lectures by Junius and Roger, as well as the chance to enjoy the sights and scenery along the way. The area we traveled through today was the same place that Lewis and Clark traveled downstream in October of 1805 and back upstream in the spring of 1806. Other travelers with whom we share the river today are the Chinook Salmon and Steelhead trout, anadromous fish who, as adults, swim from the ocean back to where they were born to spawn and start the next generation of their species. We had a much easier passage upstream through locks then the adult salmon do in their search for a fish ladder as a way around the 8 dams between the ocean and Idaho.
Late in the afternoon, we left the Columbia River and turned on to the Lower Snake River. Given the dryness of the area, we were surprised by an afternoon rain shower. After passing through Ice Harbor Dam, our surprise turned to delight as the sunset broke out of the clouds and created a spectacular double rainbow over the golden landscape.
