Water column
Into a round pool.
Kid Clutch from RAIN CITY USA — CC BY 2.0 · David Lee from Redmond, WA, USA — CC BY 2.0 · Mark Wagner — CC BY-SA 2.5 · Chris M Morris — CC BY 2.0 · Vineesh Devasia — CC BY 2.0
Palouse Falls is a waterfall on the Palouse River in southeast Washington, about 6 km upstream of its confluence with the Snake River and about 12 km southeast of the town of Washtucna in a straight line. It lies within a small, 38-hectare state park. The falls are 61 metres high, with a small upper fall of about 6 metres some 300 metres upstream. The canyon at the falls is 115 metres deep, exposing a large cross-section of basalt. The falls and canyon were created by the great Missoula floods of the last ice age, which repeatedly swept across eastern Washington and diverted the old river onto its present course to the Snake. A dam above the falls was proposed in 1984 but never built. The water drops in a single white column into a wide, round pool ringed by dark, banded basalt walls. Below it the canyon winds away between cliffs and rock pillars through dry golden grassland, and rainbows sometimes form in the spray. Visitors watch the falls from viewpoints on the canyon rim. The cliffs are high and unfenced in many places, so stay in the marked areas. The flow varies with the seasons.
Into a round pool.
Dark bands.
Winding away.
Palouse Falls State Park, eastern Washington, United States
115 metres.
Not everywhere, so stay in the marked areas.