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!
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.
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.
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.
Sentinel Gap, Washington
This image was taken north of Sentinel Gap, looking south. The Columbia River is barely visible in the center of the photo. During the Ice Age Missoula Floods, Crab Creek thundered through here joining the Columbia River. This was the western path for the waters rushing through Drumheller Channels as it was diverted by the Saddle Mountains. The small rocks in the foreground are likely to have been carried by the rush of water as it carved out the scablands through the Drumheller Channels.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Fuji 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.