Falls for Washington – Palouse Falls and Spokane Falls

Submitted by Don and Peg Doman.

After Peg and I read Susanne Bacon’s article on the wondrous Palouse Falls, we knew we had to visit the falls. We sold my sister Deedee and our cousin Lindy when they went to east Washington to see this national treasure in person.

We waited until June, then saddled Lindy’s Jeep SUV and left Tacoma on Friday morning at 11am, just an hour later than planned. Lindy drove to the John Hill Indian rest stop on I-90, where we had lunch. In the distance we admired the Stuart Mountain Range, which still covered a lot of snow on the peaks. Before, we would only have driven as far as our destination, but we wanted to see and enjoy the beauty of our state and not ignore it on the way to a single destination.

After reading Susanne Bacon’s article on the wondrous Palouse Falls, I had to visit her.

I forgot how big Washington State is. The drive from Auburn over the Snoqualmie Pass was absolutely beautiful. The trees were in different shades of green and dominated the view. Snow still lay over the woods. We enjoyed the sights along with the walk. Outside the mountains, the rolling hills of east Washington seemed to stretch as far as we could see. The distribution of water seems to have irrigated every morning. I drove out of the rest stop and we took a breather in Washtucna.

We drove to the John Hill Indian rest stop on I-90, where we had lunch.

The city of Washtucna calls itself the gateway to the Palouse Falls. The speed limit on Washtucna main road is 25 MPH. I’ve been careful of the boundary, though I doubt there’s a lawman to enforce it. We saw empty buildings, empty houses, rusting appliances, no people walking or children playing. . . not even a dog. And yet Washtucna was one of our fondest memories. Washtucna (named after a nearby lake named after a Native American) has 195 residents. I saw an empty house that looked perfect for a large growing family. I found one for sale: $ 59,000.

The Palouse River is a confluence of the Snake River. Palouse Falls National Park is 94 acres and is a 13,000 year old wonder of the Ice Age. We had driven on back roads to the Palouse Falls. We wanted to see the landscape formations of this beautiful area more than we wanted to save time. Most of the fields and hills were watered and deep green. But that wasn’t the whole landscape. In the less cultivated areas, the hills and fields were yellow, from pale pastel to gold and ocher, punctuated by the subtle gray-green of mugwort and small plants with yellow, purple, and blue wildflowers. These contrast with the rocks that surround the falls: dark, layered like bricks in some places and huge blocks, pitted and smooth in others. It was worth seeing all of this. There weren’t many trees, except as a shelter around a farmhouse.

The city of Washtucna calls itself the gateway to the Palouse Falls.

You need a Discover Pass to enter Palouse Falls State Park. If you don’t have one, you can just pay $ 30 more to buy your annual auto tabs. Once you turn into the park entrance, you have to cross 2.4 miles of washboard and gravel road to get to the actual parking lot, which only has space for 24 cars. Watch out for the large rocks and rattlesnakes. Rattlesnakes come out at dusk to warm themselves on the rocks that absorb the heat of the sun’s rays; The rocks are there all the time, however. We saw a woman almost stumble and fall. A nice woman visiting from Missouri threw herself on the trip and saved her from possible injury. Everyone we met was pleasant and helpful.

We saw marmots searching picnic ovens for scraps.

The first thing we saw when we got to Palouse Falls was a small picnic area with three healthy marmots (rodents of the Sciuridae family including squirrels, chipmunks, and prairie dogs) searching picnic stoves for scraps. Marmots are not dangerous, but they are wild animals. (The groundhog is a groundhog.) They can weigh about eleven pounds and grow to be over two feet tall. To Peg, they looked like furry brown rhumba vacuum cleaners. They just crossed the grass, stuck to their business, and completely ignored us. Saw one a few years ago playing golf at Carmel, Indiana’s Crooked Stick Golf Club. I was surprised at its size. In addition to rattlesnakes and marmots, deer and elk, bobcats and coyotes are other wild animals in the area. Crows and the giant Palouse earthworm. Our group of four might resemble the giant Palouse earthworm, for like them we were all pale and white. Fortunately, we are longer than the 20 cm giant, which can dig itself up to five meters deep into the earth. Marmots dig around too and would probably be overjoyed to find a huge bite to suit their taste.

The problem with sharing the beauty of Palouse Falls in photos is perspective. At the entrance you can see the waterfall and its pool of water from hundreds of meters above the ground. The waterfall itself falls about 200 meters. The family we saw swimming and sunbathing by the pool looked up at the falls as we looked down. The view of the pool below must have been impressive.

The problem with sharing the beauty of Palouse Falls is perspective.

While we were at the Palouse Falls, we should have visited the Upper Falls (a few miles north) as well. It would have been fun to walk down the valley along the river. The problem is that the descent to the bottom of the waterfall takes time and the climb would have required a lot more desire, energy and muscle tone than we had to offer. What they need in Palouse Falls is an escalator. We loved the view and the winding roads that led us to this beautiful place in Washington. We made no hurry and kept our pictures of Palouse Falls in our minds and hearts. You are still there.

Your perspective must have been awesome.

We drove on to the Spokane Valley, where rooms were waiting for us. On Saturday we visited Spokane Falls where we weren’t sure where we would have the best view. The falls have lovely paved and landscaped walkways along the river and intermittent bridges to cross. Spokane Falls was the original name of the city of Spokane. The Spokane River is 111 miles long from Idaho through Spokane and empties into Columbia.

We disagreed on where to get the best view of Spokane Falls.

The Spokane River provides electricity to the area. While the river is safe for swimming, there are five areas where swimming is prohibited. They are all selected for cleaning. Most of the time you can swim in the river, but not eat the fish.

The Spokane River provides electricity to the area.

As the river falls in steps, it gains strength. It was just as much fun listening to the river as it was watching it. I suggested returning and taking the gondola ride across the churned water, but didn’t get an overwhelming response. I tried to collect meaningful comments about the ride (holdover from the 1974 World’s Fair, but the first two I found called the ride overpriced.) Although I was disappointed with not crossing the White River, I was happy about it We visited the river and had a fantastic Saturday morning overlooking the river and downtown Spokane.

As the river falls in steps, its strength grows. It was just as much fun listening to the river as it was watching it.

We seldom had a moment when we were driving that we weren’t talking. We were happy campers or rather happy travelers. The weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold and only a drop or two of rain. Washington at its best. Lindy, cousin Lavinia Hart, said, “First on my list was Palouse Falls because of the surprise to see it in the middle of a seemingly endless prairie. I loved the tranquility and beauty of the falls. I was fascinated by the geology of the granite rocks of the canyon just behind the smooth pool of water created by the falls. “

The views expressed in this article are one’s own.