Changing the Course of the Columbia River Fall Field Trip
The Palouse Falls Chapter is offering a guided bus tour this fall, titled “Changing the Course of the Columbia River.” Our 2017 bus tour explores important sites on and around Saddle Mountain, south of State Route 26 between Othello and Vantage. Beginning with a drive through the Drumheller Channels, which Bretz described as
“a marvelous region of scabland buttes and knobs, canyoned channels, rock basins interrelated in a complex unparalleled elsewhere, even in the scablands,”
and then south to the mountain and the first of three landslides to view. Along the north side of the mountain, we will visit the ghost town of Corfu and follow the diverted ice age Columbia River to Beverly. After passing through Sentinel gap, a BBQ lunch and tour awaits us at Ginko Forest Winery.
Once lunch is complete, we will work our way back along the Hanford Reach National Monument area on the south side of the mountain, and even stop at the top of Saddle Mountain for a spectacular view of the Drumheller Channels, the Corfu landslide and more. More recent history is visible via the site of a Nike missile site that was active during the cold war with Russia. Once we have taken it all in, we return to Othello through some of the Othello channels.
Included: Hot lunch; snacks and drinks; guidebook.
Prices are as follows:
$70 for IAFI Members, with first priority;
$80 for non-IAFI members;
$40 for students and teachers.
Registration forms are available for download. Deadline is September 30, 2017.
For your convenience, Wheatland Express will have pick-up and drop-off sites in Colfax, LaCrosse, Washtucna, and Hatton Coulee. You will need to indicate that you request this option on the registration form. Buses will leave Othello promptly at 9:10a.
A (free) pre-trip traveling lecture series of the same name is also available, see the “Events” tab for the variety of locations to choose from.