Sunrise revealed a blue sky and puffy white clouds over the beautifully stark cliffs of the Palouse River Canyon. We got an extra early start on the day’s activities, loading our expedition landing crafts at 8 AM. Some folks headed up to Palouse Falls via a short coach ride. Others took an expedition landing craft cruise with us naturalists up the Palouse River. A few people even went paddling around in kayaks. The chilly morning air warmed in the golden sunlight and all of us had wonderful experiences today.
On the expedition landing craft cruises, we saw mule deer wading across the river as well as numerous birds, including a Forster’s Tern, a Golden Eagle, and a Great Egret. The high basalt cliffs of the canyon were impressive and beautiful in the morning light. Even more impressive is the geological story of how cataclysmic Ice Age floods were responsible for carving out the canyon. Palouse Falls—itself a feature left behind by those floods—was gorgeous. Some of us took a short walk to a vantage point over the falls, taking in the awesome scenery.
After lunch, we passed through the lock at Lower Monumental Dam on the Snake River. This was the first lock we experienced during the day time and it was really interesting to go through the process. After two presentations by staff and another lock transit, we had a great recap at cocktail hour, focusing on Palouse Falls and the regional geology. Just before dinner the National Geographic Sea Lion reached the confluence of the Snake and Columbia rivers. We will now remain on the Columbia all the way to the Pacific.
