A Palouse Minute
Palouse Falls, far off the beaten bath in southeastern Washington, drops 198 ft (60 m) through the basalt rock of the Columbia Plateau. The canyon at the falls is 377 ft (115 m) deep, exposing a large cross-section of the Columbia River Basalt Group. These falls and the canyon downstream are an important feature of the channeled scablands created by the great Missoula floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and across the Columbia River Plateau during the Pleistocene epoch. The ancestral Palouse River flowed through the currently dry Washtucna Coulee to the Columbia River. The Palouse Falls and surrounding canyons were created when the Missoula floods overtopped the south valley wall of the ancestral Palouse River, diverting it to the current course to the Snake River by erosion of a new channel. The area is characterized by interconnected and hanging flood-created coulees, cataracts, plunge pools, kolk-created potholes, rock benches, buttes, and pinnacles typical of scablands. Palouse Falls State Park is located at the falls, protecting this part of the uniquely scenic area. On April 21, 2009, Tyler Bradt ran the falls in a kayak, setting an unofficial world record for the highest waterfall run. This is a 60-second exposure, taken with a B+W 10-stop ND filter.
A Palouse Minute
Palouse Falls, far off the beaten bath in southeastern Washington, drops 198 ft (60 m) through the basalt rock of the Columbia Plateau. The canyon at the falls is 377 ft (115 m) deep, exposing a large cross-section of the Columbia River Basalt Group. These falls and the canyon downstream are an important feature of the channeled scablands created by the great Missoula floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and across the Columbia River Plateau during the Pleistocene epoch. The ancestral Palouse River flowed through the currently dry Washtucna Coulee to the Columbia River. The Palouse Falls and surrounding canyons were created when the Missoula floods overtopped the south valley wall of the ancestral Palouse River, diverting it to the current course to the Snake River by erosion of a new channel. The area is characterized by interconnected and hanging flood-created coulees, cataracts, plunge pools, kolk-created potholes, rock benches, buttes, and pinnacles typical of scablands. Palouse Falls State Park is located at the falls, protecting this part of the uniquely scenic area. On April 21, 2009, Tyler Bradt ran the falls in a kayak, setting an unofficial world record for the highest waterfall run. This is a 60-second exposure, taken with a B+W 10-stop ND filter.