Jeff and I took a day trip down to Palouse Falls on Saturday. It is about an hour's drive from our home and Jeff, having lived in this area for all of his life (other than a 6 year detour in Oregon), had never been to them. The falls were formed by the ice age Glacial Lake Missoula.
About 12,000 years ago, the valleys of western Montana lay beneath a lake nearly 2,000 feet deep. Glacial Lake Missoula formed as the Cordilleran Ice Sheet dammed the Clark Fork River just as it entered Idaho. The rising water behind the glacial dam weakened it until water burst through in a catastrophic flood that raced across Idaho, Oregon, and Washington toward the Pacific Ocean. Thundering waves and chunks of ice tore away soils and mountainsides, deposited giant ripple marks, created the scablands of eastern Washington and carved the Columbia River Gorge. Over the course of centuries, Glacial Lake Missoula filled and emptied in repeated cycles, leaving its story embedded in the land.
Flood Facts:
- The ice dam was over 2000 feet tall.
- Glacial Lake Missoula was as big as Lakes Erie and Ontario combined.
- The flood waters ran with the force equal to 60 Amazon Rivers.
- Car-sized boulders embedded in ice floated some 500 miles; they can still be seen today!
(credit http://www.glaciallakemissoula.org/)
We stopped on the way to pick up some of the $4.99 footlong sandwiches from Subway and had a picnic right on the edge of the cliffs overlooking the falls. It was a really cold day but the sun was out and there were lots of people there hiking down to the top of the falls. We even made a friend (a groundhog). It was a beautiful way to spend part of the day. I hope you enjoy the pictures.
Beautiful, I love those falls. We need to get together and take a day trip as Hub's and I love that kind of thing. Maybe we could do a bike trail? Then crash the day after:)
ReplyDeleteI would love to get together with you and your hubby. :) But please, no bikes...I would crash the minute I tried to ride it. LOL!
DeleteBeautiful!
ReplyDeleteDebbie
Thank you!
DeleteGreat photos.Love that area. Wrote an email but cut it short when hotmail hiccuped. Will write more later.
ReplyDeleteSJ
Thanks and I will check email in a bit. :)
DeleteOh my! What an incredible experience! And I love that you ate the frugal footlongs!
ReplyDeleteI hope you remember it fondly for many years. Is this one of your bucket list things?
Your friend in Missouri,
Laura of Harvest Lane Cottage
Hi Laura and yes it is one of our bucket list items. Jeff wanted to go there and I have always wanted to have a picnic overlooking a waterfall. :)
DeleteThose waterfalls are beautiful, Debbie! I bet it did wonders to your soul!
ReplyDeleteI never saw a groundhog before (i don't know if there are any groundhogs in Portugal).
Have a blessed week, my friend!
:)
Hi Paula :) Groundhogs are very common in this area and can cause a lot of damage but they are just so cute!
DeleteHave you ever ventured up north to Curlew Lake SP? It's east of Osyoos. One of my all time favorite parks in eastern WA.
ReplyDeleteFrom the last post - Congrats again on paying off your house!!! I am so excited for you guys to have done that! Wrote 2X this morning on email - a bit long winded but hotmail hiccuped again while writing the first one. Don't know if it's hotmail or my laptop. Hope it's the former. Need to buy a new dryer before I can buy a new computer. And then there's the whole issue of saving in case/when I move.
Hope you have a good day! Enjoy that hot tub. We got snow this AM as well.
Cheers SJ
Hi SJ. :) I have never been to that lake but will have to check it out. Thank you! Gosh I hope you computer is not going out. The snow is still falling here this morning and will continue for awhile. Be blessed!
DeleteThose falls are lovely! One of my favorite things is going outside and having picnics. I feel like I'm finally getting my autistic niece on board, since on Monday, I convinced her to take some French fries down to the river and she ate them while watching a ferry take cars back and forth across the water. On Tuesday, it was her idea--she kept saying "let's have a picnic." We did go to the park, but little brother felt sick, and cried and cried, so we left rather quickly. It's raining again now, but I have high hopes for picnics once it clears up again.
ReplyDeleteGetting outside is one of the things that keeps me cheerful. I'm glad I got out a bit before the weather turned, and I'm super glad you got such a nice outing!
Becky, that is great that your niece is finally loving picnics! :) I am sorry that Jake was not feeling well though on Tuesday. Praying that he is doing better now.
DeleteI love getting outside is good weather. We do not have the rain here yet, but boy did we get a lot of snow!
I love waterfalls, Debbie. My husband and I spent a day travelling around to a few different falls while we had a couple of days away recently. I have never seen a groundhog before, how cute! I'm glad you had a lovely time out and felt good for doing it. Meg:)
ReplyDeleteThank you Meg. :) I love waterfalls too. There just seems to be something almost magical about them.
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