Journey to the Palouse

We decided to take a three day journey into the Palouse beginning Sunday, August 5. The Palouse is the most serene and pastoral of the many wonders of Washington State. It actually encompasses south eastern Washington, north central Idaho and northeast Oregon. The Palouse is characterized by gentle rolling hills. It is a major agricultural area, primarily producing wheat and legumes.

The Palouse holds the largest concentration

of wheat per acre in the world.

Thirty percent of the world's lentils

are grown in the Palouse. 

Pullman, Washington, is home to Washington State University.

Just across the state line lies the University of Idaho in Moscow.

The Connor Museum, located in WSU's Science Hall,

exhibits fish, amphibians, reptiles, a dinosaur skeleton,

and several hundred mounted birds and mammals.

The Old Spiral Highway, connecting Lewiston, ID,

to the Palouse was built over 100 years ago.

It is one of Idaho's premier motorcycle drives.

From this viewpoint Lewiston and the junction of the

Clearwater River and Snake River are observed.

The Nez Perce National Historic Park is composed

of 38 historic sites.

The main visitor center is in Spalding, just east of

Lewiston, Idaho.

The Nez Perce have inhabited the Clearwater River

Valley for thousands of years.

The Nez Perce are know for their fine horses.

The museum contains artifacts and exhibits of

their history and everyday life. 

Lunch along the Clearwater River.

The Dworshak Dam was completed in 1973.

This is the highest straight axis concrete dam in

North America at a height of 717 feet

and 3/4 of a mile long.

Dworshak Reservoir

The 65 foot tall Codger Pole in Colfax, Washington, is the

tallest chainsaw carved structure in the world.

It was built to commemorate a football game between the rival

high schools of Colfax and St. John.

 The football game was first played in 1938 and replayed

in 1988 by those still around after 50 years.

Hence the name "Codger" Pole.

The final stop on our tour was in the town

of Rosalia, Washington. This renovated

Texaco Gas station was originally built in 1923.

The Pulaski Tunnel Trail

On Monday, July 2, we drove 75 miles east to Wallace, Idaho. From there we hiked The Pulaski Tunnel Trail along Placer Creek. This historic trail, just west of the Montana border, is four miles round trip with an elevation gain of 800 feet. There are many interpretive signs along the path explaining the events of August 20 & 21, 1910.

 

In the summer of 1910, drought, sparks from trains, and lightning touched off wildfires in the West. These fires ultimately scorched three million acres of forest and darkened skies as far away as Boston. Most of the devastation occurred in two days in August that became known as "The Big Burn". Gale force winds of up to 80 MPH whipped small fires into a violent inferno.

 

Ed Pulaski, a fire fighter for the U.S. Forest Service, led 45 fellow firefighters down a draw to safety inside an abandoned mine tunnel until the fire passed.

This special tool, "Pulaski", 

was named in honor of its inventor,

Ed Pulaski. It is still in use today.

There were six bridges and numerous

boardwalks as we followed Placer Creek.

 

We had unseasonably cool weather, great

day for a moderately strenuous hike.

The trail ends at this mine tunnel where

Ed Pulaski and the 45 men

took shelter as the fire roared

around them dropping ash and huge trees.

Eastern Washington Tri-Cities Loop Tour

Sunday morning, June 10, we set out on a three day trip to the Tri-Cities area (Richland, Pasco and Kennewick), about 200 miles southwest of Farragut. This area is very interesting both geologically and historically. The area where the ancient floods from the Glacial Lake Missoula swept to the Pacific is generally known as the Palouse.

 

PALOUSE FALLS STATE PARK

These falls and the canyon downstream are an important feature of the channeled scablands created by the great Missoula floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and across the Columbia River Plateau. The falls were created when the Missoula floods overtopped the south valley wall of the ancestral Palouse River, diverting it to the current course to the Snake River by erosion of a new channel.

Palouse Falls at 980 feet tall is the

State Falls of Washington.

The canyon downstream of the Palouse Falls.

Yellow Bellied Marmots inhabit the

rim of the Canyon

 

THE MANHATTAN PROJECT NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK

This was formally the Hanford Engineer Works. It was built to create large quantities of plutonium at the 600 square mile site along the Columbia River in southeastern Washington. This is now a National Historic Park. Our tour included a 50 mile bus ride and an extensive guided tour of the B Reactor. The plutonium produced by this reactor was used to fuel the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945.

B Reactor Building

One of our two tour guides.

B Reactor was active 1944-1968.

The Reactor is composed of

2004 aluminum tubes into which

the uranium slugs are inserted

from which the plutonium is created.

Close up of some of the tubes.

The reactor was water-cooled, with cooling water pumped

from the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River

through the aluminum tubes around the

uranium slugs at the rate of 75,000 gallons per minute.

 

COUNTRY MERCANTILE IN PASCO, WASHINGTON

Family owned mercantile, selling homemade preserves, candy, spices, baked goods, and home grown produce.

Quite the Operation

Our lunch for the day was splitting one of these apples.

 

LENORE CAVES STATE PARK

The Lenore Caves were formed by the plucking of basalt from the walls of the coulees by the rush of melt waters and are geologically different from most caverns. They were later used as shelters by prehistoric man.

Lake Lenore

The Lenore Caves are a series of

overhangs along the cliffs at the lake

accessed by a hiking trail.

Spring flowers lined the trail.

 

DRY FALLS STATE PARK

Dry Falls is 3.5-mile-long ancient waterfall created when ancient Glacial Lake Missoula burst its ice dam. It is estimated that the falls were five times the width of Niagara, with ten times the flow of all the current rivers in the world combined. 

Dry Falls Lake, accessible by a moderately rough

gravel road, sits at the foot of Dry Falls.

View point from the Visitors Center at the Rim.

The Dry Falls are located about 25 miles south of

Grand Coulee Dam

A Week at Banff National Park Canada

One of the benefits of arriving in early May, we had some extra time to travel to Banff, Alberta. Leaving our rig at the "Museum at the Brig" in Farragut State Park, we traveled into Canada east over the Continental Divide to Canmore, Alberta, a small town 20 miles south of Banff. We reserved a time share condo for a week starting Saturday, May 12.

Elkhorn at Falcon Crest, Canmore, Alberta

We had a Studio with a full kitchen and a deck equipped with a gas grill.

Two hot tubs were located around the complex.

This one had a beautiful view of the Canadian Rockies.

On Sunday we found Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church,

located just two miles from our Condo.  

 

Since it was Mother's Day, we thought a little trip north to

Lake Louise would be special.
 

The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Lodge
 

Delicious Mother's Day Lunch at the

Fairview Dining Room in the Chateau

overlooking Lake Louise.
 

After our lunch we took a one and half mile hike to Silverton Falls.

The trail head was at Castle Junction along the Bow Valley Parkway.
 

Silverton Falls
 

Mount Rundle and the Vermilion Lakes just

outside of the town of Banff
 

Monday we drove north on the Icefields Parkway which

 begins in Lake Louise ending in the town of Jasper.

This is about a 300 mile very scenic

round trip excursion with frequent pull-outs

and short hikes along the way.
 

Hector Lake
 

The Icefields Parkway follows along

the North Saskatchewan River
 

Climbing the switchbacks toward the Columbia Icefield
 

The Columbia Icefield extended over

the road in the last century.
 

The Columbia Icefield Visitor Center is just across the street.
 

After taking the two mile hike to Sunwapta Falls,

we decided to turn around and drive back to our Canmore Condo.
 

View of Sunwapta River heading south.
 

Tangle Falls easily viewed from the Icefields Parkway.
 

On Tuesday we drove to Lake Minnewanka outside

of the town of Banff.
 

The Red Chairs are often placed at

scenic overlooks in Canadian National Parks.

This one is overlooking Lake Minnewanka along the Stewart Canyon Hike.
 

Stewart Canyon Hike

After our morning hike we took the Banff Gondola to the summit of Sulphur Mountain. While purchasing our $64 (CND) tickets to the top, the cashier asked if we would like to include lunch at the top for $5 (CND) extra. What a deal. We enjoyed prime rib with rice, roasted potatoes, vegetables, and a drink in the mountain top restaurant.
 

Going Up

 

The Gondola took us up over 2,000 feet

to an elevation of 6700 feet.

 

The stunning view from the top.

 

Lake Minniwanka and the town of Banff below

 

A beautiful scene with the Red Chairs

 

A mountain boardwalk takes us to Sanson Peak, the highest

point on Sulphur Mountain.

 

This weather observatory was operated from

1903 until the mid-1930's.

 

Six mountain ranges are visible from this

state of the art Interpretive Centre which has

two restaurants a movie theater and exhibits.

 

Going Down

 

Big Horn Sheep

 

Wednesday we decided to take the four mile Johnston Canyon Hike

to see both the lower and the upper falls.

 

Johnston Lower Falls are

running strong with all the snow melt.

 

Much of the hike is on catwalks that

are bolted to the canyon walls.

 

Johnston Upper Falls

Lower Lookout

 

Johnston Upper Falls

Upper Lookout

 

 

Its a long way down!

 

Enjoying a glass of Guinness draught in

the St. James Irish Pub in Banff.

 

Friday we drove to Calgary, about 65 miles southeast, for the day.

Our visit to the Lougheed House gave us some of the history

of the area. Built by one of Calgary's most influential families in 1891.

 

Many hand painted stained glass windows were

commission by the Lougheeds.

 

Driving home from Calgary, we saw a large herd of

big horn sheep as we entered Banff National Park.

 

We don't golf anymore, but they

sure have some beautiful courses.

 

We had a lovely trip to the Canadian Rockies. The weather

was beautiful and there were very few tourists in mid-May.