Thick ground fog beset National Geographic Sea Bird as she approached the Ice Harbor Dam and Lock complex this morning on the Snake River in southeast Washington state. Through the haze, the outlines of low lying gravel bars left behind by cataclysmic glacial floods passed like ghosts. That soon gave way to basaltic cliffs that had been scoured out thousands of years ago by those same floods.
By mid-morning, the sun had broken through and the fog dissipated to reveal the magnificent landscape of the Palouse country. On approach to the Lower Monumental Dam, we got the word from the lockmaster that we could launch our fleet of expedition landing craft in order to take guests into and up in the huge lock chamber. The guillotine gate closed behind us as we entered the lock. We rafted up, secured to a floating bollard, and waiting for the turbulent waters to start filling the bathtub in which our inflatable fleet floated along with our mother ship. Within twelve minutes we had risen almost one hundred vertical feet with no effort; thanks to the laws of physics. And at no cost, thanks to the Army Corps of Engineers. The upstream gate opened and we were on our way once again.
Back aboard our ship of exploration, we continued on to the Palouse River. The afternoon’s operations included visits to the great Palouse Falls that tower nearly two hundred feet above the carved out plunge pool and canyon bottom. The free flowing Palouse flows southward nearly five miles towards our ship and the confluence with the Snake River.
Others in our party took to expedition landing craft or kayaks to explore the river with sighting of flora and fauna abounding. Animal sightings included deer, porcupines, hawks, magpie, coots, cormorants, ducks, and ring billed gulls. Russian olives trees, big leaf sagebrush, rabbit brush, teasel, sumac dotted the talus slopes; while cattails and tule grasses lined the waterways and marshy areas. A pair of beaver lodges was found. Lichens, mosses, and evidence of cliff swallow nests were also found on basalt cliffs that lined a watery channel.
The warmth of the sunny afternoon started to give way to the coolness of evening as we returned to our ship safely anchored in the estuary. Pre-dinner cocktails and evening Recap allowed all of us to exchange stories of our experiences from this magnificent day. Lewis and Clark would have approved!
