June 9th
We started out early as temps were likely to be in mid-90’s. Our first stop was at a water tower on Eastern Washington University campus. I walked up to the tower and viewed the 360 degrees of the valley below. Next we went to Turnbull Wildlife Refuge and stopped at the visitor center. We talked to the woman there, Nan Berger(?), and she used to be in the Forest Service, so she recognized one of our LOWS members, Mary Wisehart. Small world! The Refuge was full of ponds and wetlands and many vertical rock walls – formed by the Ice Age Floods.
We then drove south around the bottom of Rock Lake, a beautiful drive through the valley with impressive rock walls, river, lakes, and marsh. Our last stop for the day was Steptoe Battlefield State Park. Steptoe Battlefield is the site on May 17, 1858, where Lt. Col. E.J. Steptoe led 159 American soldiers in a running fight with a large band of Spokane, Palouse and Coeur D’Alene Native Americans. The American soldiers beat off a series of attacks until night halted the battle. With ammunition almost gone and facing disaster, Lt. Col. Steptoe and his men retreated with their wounded under the cover of darkness to Fort Walla Walla. The 25-foot granite memorial erected by Esther Reed Chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution in 1914 marks the authentic site of Steptoe Battlefield. We had planned to go visit Steptoe Butte, but the road was closed. So we headed back to our campground.
