Sunday, May 3, 2015

WE ESCAPED

We escaped for the day. No agenda, just hopped in the car and drove!! We went to Palouse Falls and on down to Walla Walla. Back roads all the way. No map, no GPS. It was a beautiful day for a road trip!
Palouse Falls is a gorgeous fall. Cow Creek, which runs through the ranch, runs into the Palouse River, over the falls and onto the Snake River. Looking at the landscape that surrounds the falls, you wouldn't think there's any water for MILES. You have to drive down a dirt road to the falls. And yes, it is a state run. The falls are about 35 miles south of us.
Here's a little tidbit from Wikipedia.

The falls are 198 ft in height. The canyon at the falls is 377 feet deep, exposing a large cross-section of the Columbia River Basalt Group. 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 during the Pleistocene epoch
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The ancestral Palouse river flowed through the currently dry Washtucna Coulee to the Columbia River. The Palouse Falls and surrounding canyons 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.
The area is characterized by interconnected and hanging flood-created coulees, cataracts, plunge pools, kolk created potholes, rock benches, buttes and pinnacles typical of scablands. Palouse Falls State Park is located at the falls, protecting this part of the uniquely scenic area.




                                            Looking down stream.


Coming into Walla Walla. Those are the Blue Mountains we can see from home!! No snow on them either. Sad.       

                                       
 
We stopped at Fort Walla Walla museum and wandered around. I spotted this little guy watching us!


Back to riding and sorting pairs tomorrow. Its suppose to be 80*!!! Then branding on Tuesday.

Thanks for stopping by.

13 comments:

  1. What a lovely area to live close to. Amazing formations.

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  2. Glad you could get away, and so glad you showed us the falls. That is such strange country to surround the falls. How I would love to see that area...such beautiful views!

    I hope this day goes well for you...

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  3. What a great getaway! Beautiful falls. Nothing like the power of water!

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  4. One of our son's college roommates is from Walla Walla. He has shown us photos. Beautiful country!

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  5. What a beautiful area to escape to for a day. You have a great background on the geological history of the area.

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  6. Oh! WOW! That place is beautiful! Your heat should come our way soon, I'm ready for it!

    Linda
    http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

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  7. Impressive waterfalls, and beautiful scenery. There's a photoblogger who recently started up a blog from Walla Walla.

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  8. Oh it is nice to get away and boy when you do it you do it well. Gorgeous places. LOVE LOVE it. Back to work:) Hug B

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  9. I loved seeing more from your part of the world! I'm glad you briefly escaped. The Blue Mountains and the valleys are absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for sharing!

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  10. First I'm bummed you didn't contact me to let me know you were in Walla Walla (my home town) It would have been fun to meet you. Maybe next time. Those mountains are indeed very blue and did have some snow a couple of weeks ago but we've had a mild winter so yep, no snow now. I love Palouse Falls, haven't been in a while but you got some great shots of it.

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  11. Glad you got away. We liked the Falls and surrounding area too.
    M

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  12. I hope my comment when through...

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  13. I guess not... I mentioned, thanking you for visiting my blog. Interesting that I will be traveling to the Palouse next Sunday for a week of photography. I've been spending a week more or less at a time once or twice a year since 2008. I love it around there. I recently bought a book called, 'Washington's Channeled Scablands Guide,' by John Soennichsen, a very interesting guide to that region of our state. I will be traveling to Mattawa then east to Connell, then up Washtucna Coulee on my way to Colfax. I have a co-op for Pacific NW Bloggers, I'd love if you'd join! Just click the tab on the top menu of my blog. I've subscribed to your RSS feed, so I can visit you often.

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Thanks for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the ranch.