.All Trips / North America / Pacific Northwest / Washington

Dry Falls – Home of The World’s Largest Waterfall!

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Imagine a waterfall with a precipice over three and a half miles long and a drop of over 400 feet!  (By comparison, Niagara Falls is about 1/10th as wide).  Imagine millions of gallons of water pouring over it each second, draining the flooded plains of central Washington State.  When you gaze at the geologic skeleton of this event, try to envision what it was like here 10-15,000 years ago as snow and ice from the last great Ice Age began melting and shaping the landscape.

I’ve always had a general interest in science and find the geology of Dry Falls State Park to be fascinating.  To understand what you now see in this park a short review …

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.All Trips / North America / Pacific Northwest / Washington

A springtime hike on the Yakima Rim Skyline Trail

A springtime hike on the Yakima Rim Skyline Trail

After a rather long winter in Spokane, I was ready for a pleasant hike. While in my heart I’d rather head up to the mountains for a stroll in an alpine meadow, there’s way too much snow up there in April. Fortunately in Washington state we have some good springtime hiking options, mostly in the central state in the deserts around the Columbia River. In the summer these places tend to be too hot and in winter they, too, can be covered in snow. Spring and fall are the best time to try these trails.

I’d read about the Yakima Rim Skyline Trail years ago in Harvey Manning‘s classic book, the …

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.All Trips / North America / Pacific Northwest / Washington

Wild Horses Monument & Gingko Petrified Forest

Wild Horses Monument & Gingko Petrified Forest

The Columbia River is one of the most interesting and beautiful geographic features of the Inland Northwest, from its headwaters in British Columbia to the dramatic Gorge just east of Portland.    When you look at the river remember, as I do, that this was a major portion of the road Lewis and Clark took to the Pacific under President Jefferson’s sponsorship.  While it lacks the dramatic forest of the coast, the Columbia River Gorge in Central Washington is still an impressive place to visit — or at least to stop on your journey east from Seattle.  There are two locations on either bank that I’d driven by on I-90 dozens of times, traveling between the coast and my home in Spokane.  I’d seen signs …

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