Category Archives: The Grand Landscape

The overview of the natural landscape.

A Day to Celebrate Life

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Wildflowers – Snow Mountain Ranch, Cowiche, WA

Today is a special day.  It is a day to celebrate the wonderful life Karen and I had together.  What a better way to celebrate than to take a nice walk and enjoy the wildflowers of early Spring. It was a beautiful day.  The hills were covered with brilliant wildflowers … yellow, pink, purple, blue and the lush green of spring grasses.  Peace surrounded me.  It was a wonderful time to reflect on our lives and what is right in this world.

It was a day to CELEBRATE !!!

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Giant Ripples

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  • Giant Ripples on the West Bar – Columbia River

This image is a close-up of the giant ripples on the West Bar near Crescent City on the Columbia River as showed on my previous entry.  These giant ripples were created during the Ice Age Floods as the Columbia River flowed over the gravel bar.  They are 35 feet high, spaced at 150 -200 feet apart.  It is amazing what water can do!

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The Calm Columbia

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Columbia River – West Bar

How calm the Columbia River looks.  Fifteen thousand years ago, during the Ice Age Floods,  it wasn’t quite like this.  At that time the Columbia was flowing at the top of the basalt cliffs seen in the distance.  The West Bar shown in the middle of this image is comprised of gravel. rock, and other sediments.  It was part of the backwater created as the Columbia raged toward the left and then back down through the gorge. The surface of the bar is covered with giant ripples around thirty feet high.

This image was taken above Crescent Bar looking southwest.

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Sentinel Gap on Columbia River

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Sentinel Gap Looking South from Frenchman’s Spring Coulee

This image was taken from the bottom of Frenchman’s Spring Coulee near where it enters the Columbia River.  Sentinel Gap was cut across the Saddle Mountains by the Columbia River and the Ice Age Floods.  During the floods, the Columbia River was at a level near the top of the eastern slope of the Gap.  On the north side of the Gap, the Vantage Bridge and Wanapum Dam are faintly visible.  Through the Gap, Umatilla and Rattlesnake Ridges are visible.  And of course, the clouds make the image.

 

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Frenchman’s Spring Coulee

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Frenchman’s Spring Coulee – near Vantage, WA

This image is taken from the top of the Frenchman’s Spring Coulee looking down toward the Columbia River.  The mountains in the far background are the Cascade foothills. This coulee was created during the Ice Age Missoula Floods.  It is the farthest south water path from the Quincy Basin to the Columbia River.  The flood waters in the Quincy Basin were split by the Frenchman hills, just south of this coulee.  The water flowed east into the Drumheller Channels toward Othello and west into the Columbia River via several coulees including Frenchman Springs.

The wind was howling, so I did not feel like getting too close to the edge.  I bet this will make a good sunset or sunrise photo.  I will be back.

 

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Drumheller Channels Pano

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Drumheller Channels – Othello, Washington

This image is a hand-held pano taken above the Goose Lake trail head at the northern part of the Drumheller Channels reserve, just below O’Sullivan Dam.  This was our final stop on our Sandhill Crane photo shoot.  We took a leisurely hike (walk) to cap off a great trip.  Spring is a beautiful time to visit the Channels.  I was hoping for some big white puffy clouds.  But it just did not happen this trip.  I will return …

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Sometimes You Get Lucky

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Scootney Reservoir Sunset – Othello, WA

After a chilly late afternoon / early evening Sandhill Crane photography shoot, we were looking for a rest area.  The closest one was at Scootney Park.  As we drove down to the lake, the sun had just gone down below the western hills.  The red, orange, and pink colors covered the sky and reflected over the lake.  The rest stop had to be delayed for a while while we captured the beautiful sunset.  We sure got lucky!

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More Ice Age Geology – Corfu Landslide

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Corfu Landslide – Saddle Mountains, Central Washington

This image was taken from  Lower Crab Creek Road.  It is a small section of the Corfu Landslide. Lower Crab creek is in the foreground. This part of the landslide was probably post Missoula Floods.  It looked like the rocks at the base were not eroded, hence it probably occurred following the last floods.  The land slide extends upward to the Saddle Mountains crest.  A couple of weeks prior to taking this image,  I was at the crest of the Mountain looking down.  Refer to my post of 27 March.

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Drumheller Channels Overlook

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Drumheller Channels Overlook

It is hard to comprehend how enormous the Missoula Ice Age Floods were.  The edge of the bluff in the top left hand corner is approximately 200 feet high.  The water level during the Missoula Floods was about 200 feet above the top of the mesa.  The distance across the Drumheller Channels was 8-11 miles wide.  The water is estimated to have moved through here at 50+ miles/hour.  The landscape left behind is amazing.  My mind wanders about contemplating what it must have been like.

This image was taken at the overlook off the main road running through the reserve.

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Missoula Floods: Rattlesnake Ridge – Here Comes the Rain

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Rattlesnake Ridge and Pasco Basin from Saddle Mountain, Washington

This image was taken from the top of Saddle Mountain looking southwest toward Rattlesnake Ridge.  During the Missoula Floods, the water level of Lake Lewis between these two ridges was about 600 feet above the current basin floor.

As I was photographing on top of the mountain, I felt a cold wind pick up.  The skies turned dark and I could see the rain coming toward me.  I decided it was a good time to pack up my gear and head down the steep gravel/dirt road before it turned to mud.  It was the end of a good day and a great trip driving around the Pasco basin exploring for traces of the Ice Age floods.

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