Palouse River
The Sea Lion left its Clarkston dock at 11:30 p.m. last night, having reached the eastward terminus of our voyage. A beautiful 48 degree morning found us lowering anchor a short distance up the Palouse River from its confluence with the Snake.
Our journey back down the Snake retraces the route of The Corps of Discovery in October of 1805. Having barely survived the challenging crossing of the Bitterroot Mountains, and having profited greatly from the friendship, hospitality, and information of the Nez Perce people, the party was making good time, finally traveling with the current, and their five dugout canoes would soon reach the mighty Columbia River.
The starving times of the Bitterroot crossing caused food to be much on their minds. The Nez Perce diet of camas roots and dried salmon, eaten to excess by the hungry explorers, had caused severe intestinal distress. Dogs, purchased from the Nez Perce, were the new meal of choice (they were to eat 190 over the next few months!) although Clark, the sole exception, professed to dislike such a repast. Salmon were now so abundant that Clark deemed the numbers to be “incrediable to Say,” but a diet of canines was much preferred.
Ten days hence the mettle of the explorers would be severely tested by a 55 mile stretch of river which successively brought Celilo Falls, the “short and long narrows” (later named The Dalles) and The Cascades. Sometime tonight, the Sea Lion will pass far above these former barriers of high falls and treacherous rapids, now rendered tranquil by multiple dams, but in 1805 and 1806 they posed major challenges for the Lewis and Clark party.
Passengers on The Sea Lion had the opportunity yesterday for a day long retracing of the Lewis and Clark routes on and near the Clearwater River, as well as their multiple, and most beneficial, interactions with the Nez Perce people (September and October, 1805; late April to mid-June, 1806). Today, however, there was time for learning of a different sort.
After our usual sumptuous breakfast we divided into two groups: one journeyed up The Palouse River, via the Sea Lion’s fleet of Zodiacs, for a close look at the beautiful geography, flora, fauna, and fascinating geology of the Palouse Canyon. A hundred fold series of massive floods, called The Bretz Floods by geologists, stripped away all but the basalt stone core of the valley, creating a magnificent and beautiful canyon.
The other half of our party bussed several miles up the Canyon to Palouse Falls, a gorge of great majesty and beauty. An hour of leisurely walking provided multiple perspectives on this noble spot.
After “trading places” we returned for a barbecue lunch on the aft deck, culminating with a “make your own sundae” opportunity which none of us needed, but all partook of!
A leisurely afternoon will take back down the Snake, soon to reunite with the mighty Columbia, a point reached with great excitement by Lewis and Clark on October 16, 1805. Tomorrow morning we will spend several hours in Hood River, Oregon, and then will, like our intrepid explorers, “proceed on,” reaching our own version of Clark’s “Ocian in View! O! the Joy!” (November 7, 1805) the day after tomorrow.
Indeed, what a thrill it is to be retracing this historic route, and all the beauty encompassed by it, almost 200 years after The Corps of Discovery passed this way.
The Sea Lion left its Clarkston dock at 11:30 p.m. last night, having reached the eastward terminus of our voyage. A beautiful 48 degree morning found us lowering anchor a short distance up the Palouse River from its confluence with the Snake.
Our journey back down the Snake retraces the route of The Corps of Discovery in October of 1805. Having barely survived the challenging crossing of the Bitterroot Mountains, and having profited greatly from the friendship, hospitality, and information of the Nez Perce people, the party was making good time, finally traveling with the current, and their five dugout canoes would soon reach the mighty Columbia River.
The starving times of the Bitterroot crossing caused food to be much on their minds. The Nez Perce diet of camas roots and dried salmon, eaten to excess by the hungry explorers, had caused severe intestinal distress. Dogs, purchased from the Nez Perce, were the new meal of choice (they were to eat 190 over the next few months!) although Clark, the sole exception, professed to dislike such a repast. Salmon were now so abundant that Clark deemed the numbers to be “incrediable to Say,” but a diet of canines was much preferred.
Ten days hence the mettle of the explorers would be severely tested by a 55 mile stretch of river which successively brought Celilo Falls, the “short and long narrows” (later named The Dalles) and The Cascades. Sometime tonight, the Sea Lion will pass far above these former barriers of high falls and treacherous rapids, now rendered tranquil by multiple dams, but in 1805 and 1806 they posed major challenges for the Lewis and Clark party.
Passengers on The Sea Lion had the opportunity yesterday for a day long retracing of the Lewis and Clark routes on and near the Clearwater River, as well as their multiple, and most beneficial, interactions with the Nez Perce people (September and October, 1805; late April to mid-June, 1806). Today, however, there was time for learning of a different sort.
After our usual sumptuous breakfast we divided into two groups: one journeyed up The Palouse River, via the Sea Lion’s fleet of Zodiacs, for a close look at the beautiful geography, flora, fauna, and fascinating geology of the Palouse Canyon. A hundred fold series of massive floods, called The Bretz Floods by geologists, stripped away all but the basalt stone core of the valley, creating a magnificent and beautiful canyon.
The other half of our party bussed several miles up the Canyon to Palouse Falls, a gorge of great majesty and beauty. An hour of leisurely walking provided multiple perspectives on this noble spot.
After “trading places” we returned for a barbecue lunch on the aft deck, culminating with a “make your own sundae” opportunity which none of us needed, but all partook of!
A leisurely afternoon will take back down the Snake, soon to reunite with the mighty Columbia, a point reached with great excitement by Lewis and Clark on October 16, 1805. Tomorrow morning we will spend several hours in Hood River, Oregon, and then will, like our intrepid explorers, “proceed on,” reaching our own version of Clark’s “Ocian in View! O! the Joy!” (November 7, 1805) the day after tomorrow.
Indeed, what a thrill it is to be retracing this historic route, and all the beauty encompassed by it, almost 200 years after The Corps of Discovery passed this way.
