2019 IAFI Field Trip Recap
The Palouse Falls Chapter put on a great exploration of the Lower Cheney-Palouse Scablands Tract, beginning Friday night with an intriguing slide presentation by chapter president Lloyd Stoess. The presentation laid the groundwork for the next days bus trip.
Two big buses traversed 222 captivating miles in 9 hours, touring the backroads and hidden gems of the area. Trip leaders Gene Kiver, Chad Prichard and Lloyd Stoess introduced us to many historical features and events in addition to the prehistory geologic events that sculpted the area. All along the way we rose and fell between sparsely vegetated floods-carved coulees and verdant Palouse soil uplands. We saw caliche-marked paleosols from ancient floods, dry falls, alluvial fans, pillow structures in the underlying basalts, as well as active and abandoned rail lines, towns, homes and barns.
We enjoyed a great baked potato lunch put on by the students of Washtucna School who were raising funds for a band trip to San Francisco. Then continued on to Palouse Falls, Lyons Ferry, Devil’s Monument, Elephant Mountain, and Staircase Rapids before returning to Ritzville. If you want to retrace the tour on your own you can contact the Palouse Falls Chapter () for a copy of their great field guide.
Next years IAFI Field Trip on Saturday, Sept. 12, will carry us to the glacial features of the Seattle area, where Bretz studied and worked long before the central Washington area piqued and captured his game-changing fascination with the Ice Age Floods. Hope to see you there!