Coulee Country
No one with an eye for landforms can cross Eastern Washington in daylight without encountering and being impressed by the “scabland”. . . The region is unique: let the observer take wings of the morning to the uttermost parts of the earth: he will nowhere find its likeness. – J Harlen Bretz, Geologist, 1928
Photography and Story by John Latta
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ast month, I was keeping an eye on the weather, hoping to make a quick trip to Palouse Falls State Park. In Spokane, it felt like one of those days when it might rain most of the day. According to the forecast, the rain was supposed to end in the afternoon or evening. When I checked the satellite imagery just after noon, the clouds were beginning to open up over southern Washington’s lower Columbia Basin. I was hoping for some dramatic evening light that might develop after the storm passed, and possibly an unusual image of Palouse Falls. With the opportunity to make a quick trip to Palouse Falls, dressed for the cool early February weather and with camera gear ready and Discover Pass I was set. Being off-season, I had the park to myself from the time I arrived. The roar of the flood-swollen Palouse River spilling over the falls reverberated in the air. I enjoyed the afternoon and evening photographing the falls as the sun set. At times, one may experience a feeling here as if the Ice Age Floods have just receded. The falls were formed during the Ice Age Floods, or Missoula Floods, when the glacial outburst floods surged to a depth great enough to overflow the ancestral Palouse River valley’s southern wall. This valley, now called Washtucna Coulee, was one of the major channels for the floodwater discharging to the lower Columbia Basin. As the floodwaters surged over the divide between Washtucna Coulee and the Snake River
Moses Coulee, Moses Coulee Preserve, Washington, June 2011
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