The Sea Bird traveled east throughout the night and following morning just ahead of a low weather front. She pulled into the Umitilla marina just after lunch, where we would disembark for our first walk in the Channeled Scablands. The air was filled with humidity, the sun, occasionally poking through, warming us as we wandered in the McNary Wildlife Refuge. The soft light brought out the bright yellow flowers of rabbit brush in full bloom. This small shrub is a native species to this unusual botanical environment. Rabbit brush got its common name from the settlers who traveled through this area just after Lewis and Clark. These settlers were part of the horse economies, the people who moved into the west with their herds of horses, sheep and cattle, looking for land to build new homes and ranches. They knew that rabbit brush was not fit fodder for horses and would only be fit for rabbits, hence the common name, "rabbit brush." The scientific name Chrysothamnus nauseosus refers to the awful smell a bouquet of these flowers will produce if collected and kept in an enclosed area!
We continued our walk along the Columbia River, fall colors showing themselves in the tall cotton wood trees, the big sage brush, the elder berry and the continued splashes of bright yellow of rabbit brush nestled in the Columbia River basalt. A soft, subtle change of season was all around us.
