
Krystyna Wolniakowski – Volunteer Extraordinaire for Columbia River Gorge Chapter
It’s not every day you meet someone whose passion for





It’s not every day you meet someone whose passion for

Washington state is famous for its dramatic landscapes, many carved

The 2025 Gorge-ous Gathering, the annual membership meeting of the

Palouse Falls State Park, dedicated in 1951, is a 94-acre

The origin story of Hells Canyon, North America’s deepest river

New research reveals industrial waste can turn into rock in

Background The 4.5 billion-year-old Earth is the only known astronomical

Evidence from Earth’s deep past suggests dramatic subduction zones can

Scientists have discovered a “breathing” magma cap beneath the Yellowstone

Background The 4.5 billion-year-old Earth is the only known astronomical

What would you say about a volunteer who has spent

How would you like to have on your team a

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Ice Age

Just a short drive east of Cheney, Washington, lies Fish

We know the story…a world gripped by ice. Some twenty
IAFI Events
Explore and Discover How Our Amazing Region was Formed!
Field Trips, Presentations and Other Events are designed to educate, entertain and leave you with a sense of “wow” along with providing fascinating information about the Ice Age Floods.







Ice Age Floods Institute Events Inspire, Encourage Exploration, Offer Friendship and Involvement
Field Trips and Hikes are led by amateur and professional Geologists with new and amazing information to share. They are fun, exciting and informative outdoor adventures for the entire Family to enjoy!
Visit our Activities Event Calendar below for IAFI Field Trips, Hikes and other activities in your area, and go have a great time!


We offer indoor Presentations, especially popular when heat or cold make outdoor Field Trips too uncertain or uncomfortable. Many Presentations are available via Zoom.
We also offer programs for schools, senior centers and similar organizations to educate and stimulate minds about the Ice Age Floods.



Other Events such as meetings, festivals, conventions and gatherings, with various public and private organizations, help us tell the story of the Ice Age Floods, Geology, Wildlife and History.
We often have our ‘Store in a Box‘ at these types of events where people can view and purchase IAFI merchandise.

There’s a Columbian Mammoth hiding out in Coyote Canyon down Kennewick way, and MCBONES Research Center Foundation is working to uncover his/her hiding place. For a small contribution you can tour this hide-and-seek site, or you can volunteer to help uncover the hidden mammoth. Sound interesting? Find out more in

1918 story in the Wenatchee World that Bill Dietrich (former Columbian reporter and later with The Seattle Times) says in his wonderful 1995 book Northwest Passage — The Great Columbia River , “is probably the single most famous newspaper article in Pacific Northwest history. . . It is generally credited

The Columbia River Gorge is an incredibly popular area to visit, and that’s for good reason, the setting is uniquely spectacular. The Gorge encompasses: Easily accessible ecozones that range through boreal conifer forests, oak woodlands, high desert grasslands and alpine environments in only 40 miles, Dazzling viewpoints and scenery, including

In March, while visiting San Diego, I went to the San Diego Museum of Natural History in Balboa Park and toured the remarkable Cerutti Mastodon Site exhibit. This controversial exhibit of a mastodon site is notable for its claim that the mastodon’s bones were broken by humans 130,000 years ago,

Articles in Science Alert and the New York Times report on a well documented age for many sets of human footprints as old as 23,000 years in the ancient lake shore sands of White Sands, New Mexico. “The footprints were first discovered in 2009 by David Bustos, the park’s resource

I’ve found there is huge public interest and concern about the catastrophic effects of the Eagle Creek Fire on the Columbia River Gorge. Pictures of ridgeline after ridgeline enveloped in bright orange fire, trees bursting into towering flames, and the choking smoke that filled valleys throughout the Pacific Northwest are

Do you ever hear the Led Zepplin song “Kashmir” in your head when contemplating the Ice Age Floods? “I am a traveler of both time and space. To be where I have been” –Robert Plant, Led Zepplin’s Kashmir My 11-year old daughter and I are on a 5-day, 4-night raft

On October 7th at Chief Timothy Park near Clarkston, WA at the latest Confluence Story Gathering, Thomas Morning Owl (Umatilla tribe) noted there are indigenous people’s stories of massive floods going back to 14,000 years ago. While he didn’t elaborate, it would be very interesting to have these stories shared as first-hand