Palouse Falls
The Sea Bird dropped anchor early this morning where the Palouse River enters the Snake. We have been traveling "In the Wake of Lewis and Clark" and know that nearly two hundred years ago, on October 13, 1805 the Corps of Discovery passed this point in five dugout canoes, on their way to the Pacific Ocean.They named this river for their hunter-interpreter George Drouillard, whom they called Drewyer.
We have taken time to go a few miles upriver so that we can experience the dramatic scenes of the waterfall which this river has made. We have done this in the comfort of a motor coach, and stand at the edge of the cliff marveling at the forces which carved it. But we know that nearby, down in the bottom of the canyon, there is a place we cannot go. Falcons, ravens, osprey, and river otters are at home there.Occasional marmots, deer, bobcats, and coyotes go there too. We cannot. The sheer cliff walls and difficult scrambling over talus slopes prevents us.
I think about this and realize that I am very glad that there are still places where people cannot go. We need some wild places left where the seasons can come and go without our disturbance. This remote canyon is one of them, and I am thankful for that.
The Sea Bird dropped anchor early this morning where the Palouse River enters the Snake. We have been traveling "In the Wake of Lewis and Clark" and know that nearly two hundred years ago, on October 13, 1805 the Corps of Discovery passed this point in five dugout canoes, on their way to the Pacific Ocean.They named this river for their hunter-interpreter George Drouillard, whom they called Drewyer.
We have taken time to go a few miles upriver so that we can experience the dramatic scenes of the waterfall which this river has made. We have done this in the comfort of a motor coach, and stand at the edge of the cliff marveling at the forces which carved it. But we know that nearby, down in the bottom of the canyon, there is a place we cannot go. Falcons, ravens, osprey, and river otters are at home there.Occasional marmots, deer, bobcats, and coyotes go there too. We cannot. The sheer cliff walls and difficult scrambling over talus slopes prevents us.
I think about this and realize that I am very glad that there are still places where people cannot go. We need some wild places left where the seasons can come and go without our disturbance. This remote canyon is one of them, and I am thankful for that.
