May 21st – 24th

I left home on Wed. May 21st trying to catch an early ferry. I was parked at the top of the hill and not sure I would get on the next boat. In fact, I was the LAST vehicle on the boat, pulling my trailer, and they had me park diagonally to fit! My good luck! Had a quick visit with another RV friend Sue M. in Monroe. I had to stop for a nap as I had less than 4 hours sleep getting everything loaded, and still made it to Eagle Valley RV in Cle Elum by 4:30. Loris, a LOWs friend, met me the next morning and we proceeded to the Charbonneau RV park next to the Snake River just before it reaches the Columbia River, to meet up with Myrna P. We had not made any reservations for the weekend (Memorial Day!) but we were able to boondock at the nearby Ice Harbor Lock and Dam on the Snake River, so we stayed there thru Sunday. It is one of the 4 lower Snake River dams that are often controversial. It was a good central location for our explorations.

On Saturday, we went to Palouse Falls. We walked to several outlooks to view the falls, and I walked some other trails so I could look down on it. It’s beautiful, and the falls and the coulee below were all formed by the Ice Age Floods. Vertical cliff walls are not caused by long time erosion, but the immense volume and speed of the Ice Age Floods ripped away all the loose soil and much of the rock walls.

We went back to the Ice Harbor Dam to view the Indian Memorial. The native tribes buried their own by the river, and they are now under water. There is a Petroglyph rock that was moved from the riverbed before the dam was built, creating Lake Sacagawea. I was able to take a good photo of the whole dam from above.

On Sunday we explored the Wallula Gap, Frenchtown, and Walla Walla. That will be in the next Travelogue.

Be sure to see the main page for this set of travelogues so you can learn more about the Ice Age Floods. Go to: 2025 Ice Age Floods.

*Marks a few photos that were added after this was published.