This month we took a week off to go on a white water rafting trip through Hell's Canyon on the Snake River, visit wineries in Walla Walla, and see both the Palouse and Grand Coulee Dam. This was all new territory for me, never having gone much beyond the Tri-Cities since we've lived here--and it was amazing.
Our rafting trip was very exciting, although we really didn't have to do any work even when we went through two class four rapids. Our guides took care of rowing, setting up camp, and provided gourmet meals with organic produce (really), far from any grocery store. We saw a wild sheep, but the mountains that line Hell's Canyon are so tall it was difficult to identify without binoculars. I'm including some photos, so if you've never been there you can see what it looks like.
I don't think you can travel through this part of the country without thinking about the impact water and dams have had both in Oregon and Washington. We traveled with a variety of guidebooks to help us understand what we were seeing. And we could have brought others from the library that would have explained the politics and history of the dams we saw on the Snake and the Columbia. We had with us Bruce Bjornstad's On the Trail of the Ice Age Floods, and while staying in Walla Walla we looked at William Layman's River of Memory: The Everlasting Columbia, a collection of photographs documenting the Columbia from its source to the sea. Empty Nets: Indians, Dams, and the Columbia River by Roberta Urich
and Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner are books that address the affect dams have had on the land and its people.
This list just scratches the surface of our collection, which includes much more on the history, policy, and geography of this region, as well as guides to the ever-growing wine industry in Walla Walla should you want a break from natural wonders. I would encourage you to start any vacation with a visit to the library--we'll guide you on your way!
