There are some places on this earth where nobody goes. Most of our land has human occupation. We have buildings and highways, bridges, and factories that cover a significant portion of our land. We have become accustomed to seeing these features on our landscape everywhere.
Here on the Palouse River however, is a place where no people walk the land. Steep cliffs prevent access from up above and a narrow gorge prohibits travel down below. We can stand at the brink and pluck at the edges of this wild land, but we cannot violate it. What a pleasure to know that at least a few sites like this still exist, much as they did thousands of years ago.
We are traveling on the Sea Lion, in the Wake of Lewis and Clark. We pause where the Palouse River enters the Snake. It was here that their expedition stopped to have lunch and dry out their supplies. Just a little ways upstream is the wild gorge pictured here, but they never saw it, nor have very many others in the two hundred succeeding years. How fortunate are we to have had this experience!
