The arctic front that was covering all of the northern part of the United States was still in full force this Sunday morning. With temperatures hovering around twenty-five degrees we had decided to make a special expedition to Palouse falls. The Sea Bird was anchored at the confluence of the Snake and the Palouse Rivers. Arrangements had been made for transportation for our entire group to travel approximately thirty minutes to a very unusual geologic formation called Palouse falls. The plunge pool into which the falls descends is a remnant of the glacial floods that shaped this area 12,000 years ago.
Nearly our entire group made the short but chilly Zodiac ride to a nearby beach and then transferred to luxury motor coaches looking somewhat like bright yellow school busses. The busses traveled through the frozen and golden hills of the Palouse region making their way along this distant and seemingly remote road that led to a spectacular waterfall. Water from the Palouse River tumbled nearly two hundred feet to a small pool before continuing the short distance of eight miles to it’s confluence with the Snake River.
Upon arrival we walked to the overlook, and were greeted by a magical scene of sculpted frozen water and a waterfall pouring through the middle! During the previous nine days the air temperatures had been well below freezing. As Palouse falls continued it’s flow of water, slowly and beautifully the water began to freeze in small waves at the sides and base of the waterfall. Most of the walls around Palouse falls had not been touched by sunshine due to the horizontal path of the sun at this time of year. As day after day of freezing temperatures passed the sculpture had grown, like a natural crystal garden, shaped by the continual flow of water and mist passing over the rim at the top of the Palouse falls.
After many photos were taken, some of us wandered up and around the top of the falls. We found many of the shrubs common to the channeled scablands....albeit, frozen in their respective dormant stage common at this time of year. Like golden sculptures in their own right, seed pods, with some leaf, and stem moving slightly in the breeze, all adding to the early winter scene we encountered on our short walk. Continuing on our walk we looked over the basalt cliffs down to the narrow passage where the Palouse River moves towards the edge of the falls and found an ice dam with water flowing underneath!
In the still air, and crisply brittle light we took a moment to watch the shadows shift and move over this strange but subtly beautiful land, like an early winter fairy tale....then, slowly returned to our waiting coaches and some much needed hot chocolate!
