Palouse River, Washington
We have begun our descent of the Columbia and Snake Rivers, headed in a westerly direction, but there is much time to explore as we descend. So, today we took a detour up the Palouse River, the mouth of which was visited by Lewis and Clark also in mid-October, the time of our visit today.
We had gray skies as we split into groups, Zodiac cruisers, waterfall visitors and the intrepid kayakers. No matter which adventure we chose, we all had a wonderful time, whether it was marveling at the waterfall, or paddling upstream as far as was navigable. The scenery was spectacular and we also had some great wildlife sightings, with large flocks of Red-winged blackbirds flitting among the cattails, Osprey flying overhead, Mule deer grazing at the rivers edge, and a Beaver lodge wedged into the willow bank.
We were all back aboard for a delicious barbecue lunch, as we sailed towards the Lower Monumental Dam and our descent towards the Columbia River. The sun broke through the clouds and we had a sunny afternoon as we sailed by acre upon acre of apple orchards. Sunset as we slid through Ice Harbor Locks and our day ended with a wine tasting, sampling many of the fine wines produced now in the Pacific Northwest. Cheers!
We have begun our descent of the Columbia and Snake Rivers, headed in a westerly direction, but there is much time to explore as we descend. So, today we took a detour up the Palouse River, the mouth of which was visited by Lewis and Clark also in mid-October, the time of our visit today.
We had gray skies as we split into groups, Zodiac cruisers, waterfall visitors and the intrepid kayakers. No matter which adventure we chose, we all had a wonderful time, whether it was marveling at the waterfall, or paddling upstream as far as was navigable. The scenery was spectacular and we also had some great wildlife sightings, with large flocks of Red-winged blackbirds flitting among the cattails, Osprey flying overhead, Mule deer grazing at the rivers edge, and a Beaver lodge wedged into the willow bank.
We were all back aboard for a delicious barbecue lunch, as we sailed towards the Lower Monumental Dam and our descent towards the Columbia River. The sun broke through the clouds and we had a sunny afternoon as we sailed by acre upon acre of apple orchards. Sunset as we slid through Ice Harbor Locks and our day ended with a wine tasting, sampling many of the fine wines produced now in the Pacific Northwest. Cheers!
