Category Archives: Landscape Photography

Missoula Floods: Sentinel Gap

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Sentinel Gap, Washington

This image was taken looking north through Sentinel Gap.  This gap cuts through the Saddle Mountains which separate the Pasco and Othello basins in Eastern Washington.  The Columbia River runs through this gap on its way to the Oregon/Washington border.  At the time of the Missoula Floods, the water level going through the gap reached the top of the left ridge, flowing into Lake Lewis which covered the Pasco basin.

The erratics in the foreground most likely are from the gap, carved away by the raging wall of water that flowed through it.

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Missoula Floods: How Did This Get Here?

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Granite Erratic in Pasco Basin, Washington

The Central Washington Basin is covered with layers of basalt, totaling as much as 2 miles thick, created by huge lava flows 8-15 million years ago.  The nearest source of granite rock is several hundred miles away.  This photo was taken near the Hanford site north of Richland.  The granite rock was about 1/4 mile from the road.  My lens combination was 560mm.  For reference, the actual height of the rock (above ground) is about 12 feet.  It is a big granite rock.  How did it get here???

The current theory is that it was brought here as part of the ice dam that broke loose during one of the Missoula floods around 15,000 years ago.  As the ice melted, embedded rocks were released.  The Pasco basin and its surround hills have many such erratics.

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Missoula Floods: This Was Once a Lake

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Pasco Basin and Columbia River, Washington

This image was taken from the top of Saddle Mountain looking south toward the Pasco Basin. (Yesterday’s post was from the same location looking north toward the Othello Basin.)

Can you believe that this was once a 800 foot deep lake?  During the Missoula floods, water entered the Pasco Basin northeast from the Palouse, north from the Drumheller/Othello Channels and northwest from the Columbia River through Sentinel Gap.  Wallula Gap blocked the water from flowing freely through the Columbia Gorge to the Pacific Ocean.  The result was the temporary Ice Age Lake Lewis.  Today, the Columbia River meanders through the basin.  The Hanford Nuclear Research facility is located south and east of the river.  Rattlesnake Ridge is visible in the background.

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A Day in the Canyon: Abstract Art

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Basalt, Yaklma River Canyon

These pieces of basalt (approximately 18 inches in length) caught my as I was exploring road cuts in the Yakima River Canyon.  They seemed to be accented by an artists brush.  Different patterns and different colors abounded in adjacent rocks.  Since the rocks were adjacent and seem to be part of the same basalt flow, why are they so different in surface color and pattern. I need to do a little research on what factors determine the color and patterns.

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Missoula Floods: Facing Drumheller Channels

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Drumheller Channels in Distance from Top of Saddle Mountain

This image was taken from the top of Saddle Mountain (~1,300 ft elevation) looking north east over the Othello basin toward the Drumheller Channels.  Imagine a wall of water 200 – 300 feet high racing over an 8-11 mile stretch over the Drumheller Channels at over 60 miles per hour.  This was the amount of water that was released (multiple times) when the Lake Missoula glacier dam broke releasing the water over the Eastern Washington basin.  Saddle Mountain broke the onslaught of water.  Some flowed west through the Crab Creek Coulee to the Columbia River and Sentinal Gap.  The remainder rushed around the eastern edge of the Mountain and into the Pasco Basin and Lake Lewis.

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A Day in the Canyon: Vertical Basalt Columns

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Vertical Basalt Columns – Yakima River Canyon

A couple of miles up the road from my last post, I saw these basalt columns protruding vertically upward.  They were located on a different ridge.  The forces driving the uplift were different than the ones from the first ridge.  I ask why, what caused the difference? Did this ridge lift at a different time or were the forces just different from the ridge in the first post.  My curiosity kills me.  I think I need to do more research on how these “Yakima Folds” evolved.

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A Day in the Canyon: Tilted Basalt

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Tilted Basalt Columns – Yakima River Canyon

This tilted basalt was the result of a plate fold being pushed up from a diagonal force.  Throughout the Yakima River Canyon the basalt columns show displacement in various directions.  This illustrates that forces were lateral pushing toward each other creating a “fold”.

The basalt shown here is in a “columnar” formation.  Basalt formed like this cooled very slowly, creating a soother texture.

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Mountain or River, Which Came First

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Yakima River Canyon, Washington

How did a river cut such a gorge through a basalt mountain.  Maybe it didn’t.  The Yakima River originates high in the Cascade Mountains. The upper end of the river was not part of the great Missoula floods that covered Eastern Washington.  The Yakima meanders through several Basalt Ridges.  The nature of a meandering steam is that it flows through a relatively flat plain.  If the mountains were there first, the river would have flowed around them.  So how did the Yakima get through the mountains.  Maybe the river was there first,  As the ridges slowly developed as part of the Yakima fold formations, the river could have gradually cut a channel through its original riverbed route.

I spent a day slowly driving through the Yakima River Canyon.  I stopped and photographed several interesting rocks and formations. During the next week or so, I will post several of my images.

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Beautiful Day!

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Fuji X-T1, XF55-200mm @ 86mm, f/13, 1/340 sec, ISO 400

It was a beautiful day with a bright blue sky and the sun shining down on this bucolic rural scene just below Hearst Castle along the central California coast.  You can see the Castle on the hill above.  It was just fun being out enjoying the countryside.  I waited until the horses moved around to frame the country school house.  I felt like I was going back in time.  This area will be a place I come back to in future years.

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Starting Up Again

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170302_Central CA CoastFuji X-T1, XF 18-135mm @ 89 mm, f/11, 1/350 sec, ISO 400

It has been several months since I entered my last post.  It is time to get started again.  I was motivated to do so by two photographers I went on a photo shoot with along the Central California Coast.  These two, Karen Hall and Vicki Moro, took me on a quick introductory trip along the California coast line above Morro Bay.  They encouraged me to start sharing my images again.  Thank you Karen and Vicki for a great day and the stimulus!

This image is of the hills above Morro Bay.  What caught my eye was the layers of shadows across the emerald green hills, the water, the distant hills, and the clouds.  The shot was at mid-day, so I combined several images to create a balanced exposure.

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