Early this morning we turned east off of the Columbia River and entered the Snake River where we traversed the Ice Harbor Dam before dawn. After breakfast, I shared my On Assignments with National Geographic presentation with the guests before we jumped in the expedition landing crafts and entered Lower Monument Dam alongside the National Geographic Sea Bird. Once the giant guillotine gates closed behind us, the water rose approximately 100 feet in the lock and within 15 minutes we exited the east side of the dam at 541 feet above sea level. This was our sixth lock and dam since we left Portland and we have two more remaining before we reach our final destination of Clarkston. These locks and dams are amazing engineering feats that have harnessed the power and energy of the mighty Columbia and Snake River.
Shortly after lunch we pulled the ship into the Palouse River to explore the dramatic basalt canyons of this tributary. A short bus ride up along this stark plateau brought us to the edge of a large canyon carved out by the Bretz Floods millions of years ago leaving the iconic 186-foot Palouse Falls. The deciduous plants have changed to yellow and the grass has greened with the season’s early rainfall, exposing an incredible palette of colors on a normally bland landscape. The thunder of the waterfall could be heard all along the basalt cliffs while the colors left us breathless. For the remainder of the afternoon, we toured the lower canyon by expedition landing crafts and kayaks learning about the archeological sites and natural history of this seldom-visited area in Washington. This evening we dipped back into the Snake River and continued our journey eastward towards Clarkston.
