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Central Washington State trip

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EasyEd
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Canada

Re: Central Washington State trip

Post by EasyEd » Tue May 11, 2021 9:48 pm

Hey All,

I have to comment.

Dry Falls most don't know it but the volume of water flowing over Dry Falls during the Missoula Floods was estimated to be in excess of ten times all of the water in all rivers combined on earth delivered to oceans today. Think of that volume of water flowing over the falls in the fifth and sixth pictures Hatch posted.

If you travel to the tricities in Washington you can see the high water mark at wallula gap. The snake and Willamette rivers flowed backwards. Water was 500 odd feet deep over Spokane 400 ft deep over portland. The scale of these floods is astounding and in dry desert country.

Here is an animation...

https://youtu.be/G_LRo3wIT34

I confess this stuff absolutely captivates and fascinates me. I will likely spend some of my retirement exploring more of these events (the Missoula Floods occurred many times perhaps as many as 50). Two of my hobbies are landscape photography and soon I think metal detecting. I can't help but wonder if gold got trapped anywhere and a lot of the land is BLM. Think I can combine these?

The other geologic event that really fascinates me is the apparent fact that at one time the Colorado river actually drained into the strait (sea?) between Greenland and Canada. Think about that!!!

Anyway I had to comment.

-Ed-

Here is a link to an organization that studies this stuff.
https://iafi.org/
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John E Davies
Cattle Driver
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Location: Spokane WA
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Re: Central Washington State trip

Post by John E Davies » Wed May 12, 2021 12:17 am

I think it’s ironic that many people think of Montana as “all mountains”, but in reality all the valuable and developed land - cities, farms and ranches - are located on the sprawling old glacial lake beds. That is not a great long term investment, they will have to rethink things in another 10000 years and relocate a little further uphill. 😬

Another excellent resource: … http://hugefloods.com/LakeMissoula.html

Excellent Nat Geo article (requires email to view). … https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adv ... -scablands

And of course the classic Nova: Mystery of the Superflood, more than a little corny, but worth watching. … https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7WxiGrBeZ94

And let’s not forget Lake Bonneville, which was massive (present day Great Salt Lake is a tiny remnant) - it flooded many times into the Snake River area and created a lot of the features that some people mistakenly think were due to the Lake Missoula ones. And there are other similar but a lot smaller features in Eastern MT, flowing out into the Missouri Breaks.

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I love this stuff too. My home location was under a few hundred feet of churning water, muck, trees, house sized boulders, wooley mammoths, and probably a few unfortunate Native Americans, lots of times. I would have loved to be able to witness a flood, but from a very tall mountain. Pics are from that Nat Geo article - farmers plant crops on what is left of the topsoil, the ripped up basalt rock erosion features are left to rattlesnakes and campers.…

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Another thing that I find fascinating is the very similar Mars images showing huge floods in its past. …. https://scitechdaily.com/ancient-marti ... s-equator/

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John Davies
Spokane WA
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JEBar
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Re: Central Washington State trip

Post by JEBar » Wed May 12, 2021 10:10 am

John E Davies wrote:
Wed May 12, 2021 12:17 am
That is not a great long term investment, they will have to rethink things in another 10000 years and relocate a little further uphill. 😬

John Davies
Spokane WA
fascinating indeed .... great pictures with excellent comments .... we have considered moving to that area .... with the above projection for the future I'm now glad we didn't :?

:lol:
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Hatchdog
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Re: Central Washington State trip

Post by Hatchdog » Wed May 12, 2021 10:35 am

Great stuff Ed and John, thanks for posting.

We’re planning a day trip here soon to Palouse Falls and Steptoe Butte as my wife has never visited either. I’ve been to both but it’s been decades since I last visited either place. I’ll add some pictures after we make the trip. These features were from the eastern portion of the great flood located in the Palouse area’s of Eastern Washington State and Idaho.

John,

You will know the area but I used to drive down to Rock Lake to shoot a long range hunter course on steel. I would drive south out of Sprague to St. John and on the way there are several “mini” Steamboat Rocks along the route. Rock Lake Range doesn’t host the shoots anymore so I no longer make that drive and I miss it. For folks other than John picture a lot of range land with basalt rock outcropping 50 feet above the surface. Just random rock area’s that are maybe 100 ft long by 50 ft wide with the longer portion aligned with the direction of the flood waters.

Thanks to everybody for the additional information. When I posted originally I didn’t take the time to get into that much detail so I’m thankful you guys added some great facts.

Yeah Jim, you better not relocate as sometime in the next 10,000 years we’re gonna see another catastrophic massive flood. :D
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John E Davies
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Re: Central Washington State trip

Post by John E Davies » Wed May 12, 2021 11:48 am

Hatchdog, Steptoe Butte State Park was going to be closed completely for two to four months to fully redo the crummy/ scary road going up to the top, check the official Parks website for current information. Plus they no longer allow camping, the campground was turned into a day use area a few years ago. If they post a date, you might be able beat the closure. Now is a great time to view the greens (wheat and soybeans) and yellows (canola) of the Palouse fields, the colors are popping. Try for a day with bright sun and drifting cumulous clouds, for dramatic shadows. This is the butte seen from a distant drone, I suspect, there is no other high ground close by:

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https://www.jasonsavagephotography.com/tag/palouse/

And Palouse Falls is CRAZY busy on summer weekends, especially on major holidays. Don't go if there have been any serious rain, because their "overflow' lots are rutted fields that turn into bogs that have trapped many an unwary visitor. Midweek is best.

If you want to bring your trailer, let me know and I can advise about camping spots, there are not very many in this area.

FYI everybody, these irregular rolling fields are loess deposits, windblown dust from the area around Pasco WA where those temporary Missoula flood lakes formed and reformed, each time they dumped their vast loads of soil and then drained slowly away. The prevailing wind coming up the Columbia Gorge carries it to the eastern part of the state. It is terrific farmland, if irrigated.

John Davies
Spokane WA
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