Palouse Falls
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| near Walla Walla / Franklin County / Whitman County, Washington, USA |
Palouse Falls took our breath away when we gazed upon its powerful flow amidst a rugged and naturesque canyon that very much reminded us of the raw scenery in Iceland. Except in this instance, we were in a remote corner of southeast Washington. Indeed, it was that combination of nearly unspoilt scenery combined with a quality waterfall that further reminded us of how beautiful waterfalls could be when left alone to Nature.
Even though this waterfall was said to be only 180ft tall, it had a power that threw up enough mist to produce rainbows. In fact, the Palouse River, which was responsible for this falls, was the geological legacy of repeated glacial dams and floods (especially the Great Missoula Flood) from the Ice Age. It was said to be the only year-round waterfall that resulted from this turbulent history. The accompanying canyons and hills surrounding both the falls and the deep gorge here provided clues as to violence of the geological forces at work from that last major Ice Age.
Indeed, we gave this waterfall the benefit of the doubt both in its ratings and in its place on our Top 10 US Waterfalls List. Perhaps it was also because we were starting to get jaded after seeing potentially larger waterfalls that ended up getting compromised in the Snake River Plains of Southern Idaho. However, Palouse Falls was such a refreshing sight that it literally stole the show on our Idaho trip in April 2013. We had read in the literature this preservation was aided in part by a majority of ratepayers of Franklin County rejecting a proposal to build a dam immediately upstream of the falls despite the promise of lower rates.
We were able to experience this waterfall in a few ways. We'll describe these options separately on this page.
Even though this waterfall exhibited power and precipitous gorges, it was hard to believe that someone managed to kayak over this falls and still live! This happened back in April 2009, and I'm sure you can find YouTube videos of the feat if you do a search for "Palouse Falls kayak".
Since there were a few very different ways to experience the falls, I've decided to describe each method separately so we can paint a clearer picture for you about the experience and the logistics of a visit to Palouse Falls. All of the methods being described start and end at the main car park. See below.
source: http://www.world-of-waterfalls.com/pacific-northwest-palouse-falls.html
