Snake River

We spent a brisk autumn morning exploring the Palouse River by Zodiac. Although there were gray skies above, we saw red blazes of sumac on the hillsides and the bright gold of poplars and willows at river's edge. Several of us even saw mule deer jogging up to the ridge line and then the silhouette of a young buck against the sky. Just before lunch, we raised our anchor and returned to the Snake River to continue downstream. We transited the lock at Lower Monumental Dam in the mid-afternoon, and arrived at our final Snake River dam just before sunset. From our floating perch in the top of the Ice Harbor lock chamber we could see the lower reaches of the Snake lit by the setting sun. The tower is one of two that house the counter-weights for the 600-ton guillotine gate at the downstream end of the lock.