Palouse Canyon — Sunday, Apr. 20, 2014

My hiking buddy organized this Easter Day group hike to Palouse Canyon, so off we went early Sunday morning (8 of us and a dog) to Lyons Ferry for the starting point of our trek through the spring green spectacular canyon. This hike, which is located on state lands (Lyons Ferry State Park), begins near the confluence of the Palouse and Snake Rivers, and ends up about 8 miles later at the spectacular Palouse Falls. The hike is pretty strenuous, both physically and mentally due to the close proximity to steep cliff edges at various points along the trail (see attached map of our route) so I’d not recommend it for young children, but dogs are OK if they are used to hiking in this type of terrain. But I think you’ll find the challenges well worth the effort. This is best hiked in the early spring and fall as it gets very hot out here in the summer and too dangerous in the winter. If hiking the route one-way, you’ll need to shuttle one car up and leave it at the falls, and then drive the other car to the bottom of the canyon. One can then park at either the Lyons Ferry Fish Hatchery on the west side Highway 261, or at the day use picnic area on the east side. The trails are varied, depending on the route taken. We started out at the Fish Hatchery and took that well-beaten foot path on the northeast end of the day use area parking lot. There are a few interpretive signs near the beginning, but after about a half mile, the trail turns narrower, which is the more typical trail type for the rest of the hike. This is where the fun begins. Get ready to experience things seldom seen by 99% of those who venture only to Palouse Falls! It was fun hearing the oohs and ahhs from the first timers in our group as we caught site of the canyon at the 1 mile point (MP 1). We looked down over at the Corps of Engineers levee, where we could just see the top of Marmes Rock Shelter peeking out above the river. This levee was constructed after Lower Monumental Dam was built in 1969 to protect the archaeological site, but water seeped through soon thereafter, submerging the rock shelter. This is one of the oldest prehistoric sites in the northwest and it indicates continuous Native American use of this area for the past 10,000 years. We encountered two more large rock shelters along the route, but unlike Marmes, we could walk inside of these and explore the ancient surroundings while taking in the views. The trail gets a little trickier from here. We headed down the hillside where Achilles (the dog) took a little swim in the river, and then we headed up the scree slope just past an old fence line (MP 1.7). The trail is easy to spot, as deer and other hikers frequent this route, but it requires some attention to footing on the ascent. Past this point the trail crosses a plateau before heading down into a side canyon above a Corps of Engineers water pumping station. By now the big rock shelter is visible, so on the other side of the canyon, so up we hiked into the cool cave for lunch (MP 2.4). Our group organizer then presented us with an impromptu Palouse-style Easter egg hunt.. chocolate for all! OK, gotta get back on the trail, there’s a lot of miles still ahead. The next part of the hike is one of my favorite sections. The trail heads through sage brush and the wildflowers are most impressive as the canyon views open up. There’s another rock shelter that appears as a gap at the base of a basalt cliff that’s fun to check out. Following this, we encountered a short scramble up a 5 foot basalt cliff (MP 3.5), but there’s good footing (though a short dog might require some help). The next ¼ mile is probably the narrowest stretch but also one of the most exciting parts of the trail and, well, there’s no turning back at the halfway point! But soon the trail opens up again and back down to the river we go (MP 4). We stood at the bottom and looked up (MP 4.6). This is where we had to make a decision. This is my third time on this hike, and back in 2009 with the Ice Age Flood Institute gang, we hiked straight up the talus slope and wound around the upper canyon walls. Last year we tried to find the route up but it wasn’t there. This year we hiked a little further and tried going up, but it was just too steep and dangerous. Where is that old route? We got the answer from a Mountaineer at the WTA trails and ales event the other night. Don’t go up, the trail no longer exists. Stay along the water’s edge around the talus, and then take the next scree slope up. Hmm, we’ll have to try that one next time. So we headed back to the westward canyon and hiked this amazing balsam root filled valley up to the railroad tracks. This is a very active train route, but you don’t have to cross it or walk along it for very long, maybe 100 feet before heading up the hill prior to the tunnel (MP 5.2). From here, the trail is on top of the tunnel, and continues to the portal on the other end, then down a little valley, back up and onto the level plains again. Up here we got a surprise by a mule deer that decided to cross our path… think he was as startled as us! We hiked a mile further along the top of the canyon before intersecting a dirt road (MP 6.8), which we followed to the end of the trail… we’re finally at Palouse Falls. Wow! It’s over! Where’s that cooler filled with apple cider? NOTE: A little background on the geology of the area… The Palouse River is an old river, but the part between the falls and the Snake River is probably less than 12000 years old. Take a look at the river on a map, or Google Earth, and you’ll see where the river bends sharply south about 2 miles north (above) the falls. This sharp turn is the result of the powerful Pleistocene Missoula Floods that carved out the channeled scablands of eastern Washington. The Palouse River valley was overtopped as water, ice and rocks gouged its way through basalt ridges until hitting the opposite ridge (west canyon wall), and turned sharply southward along an old linear fracture present in the underlying basalt. The floodwaters were eventually captured in the channel, where they spent a short while slicing through the basalt bedrock making the canyon we see today. The falls weren’t originally where they are today – they initially stood at the mouth of the Snake River. As the water first plunged into the Snake River, the newly created Palouse River stood higher than the Snake, and had to down cut its way upstream to level itself. As the Missoula Flood faucet turned off, the down-cutting ended, leaving the falls in its present location.