Wallula Gap, Washington
When viewed as a sepia image, the land and sky of Wallula Gap appear especially dramatic. The Sea Lion sailed through this area shortly before sunset.
Our day on the Columbia River began as we exited the cavernous lock chamber at John Day Dam and sailed east into a multicolored sunrise. During the night we had left the well-watered and heavily forested land west of the Cascade Mountains and entered the spare but visually arresting high desert country typical of the eastern two-thirds of Oregon and Washington. Nearly all day long we cruised steadily upriver with Oregon on our starboard side and Washington on our port.
During the morning Carlos Schwantes of the University of Missouri gave a slide-illustrated overview of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and during the afternoon Peter Wood of Duke University placed the Lewis and Clark expedition within the larger context of global exploration by the Spanish, Russians, English, and Americans. History is in large measure about making connections, and today we connected Lewis and Clark back in time as far as Columbus and ahead to the Missionary era of the Whitman’s and Spalding’s. Many more connections wait to be made in the coming days of our journey. The Columbia River and the Sea Lion combined to form the ideal classroom to talk about exploration history in a local as well as a global context.
Finally, to give our legs a stretch we went by Zodiacs to Hat Rock State Park in Oregon where we hiked up to a promontory overlooking the Great River of the West.
When viewed as a sepia image, the land and sky of Wallula Gap appear especially dramatic. The Sea Lion sailed through this area shortly before sunset.
Our day on the Columbia River began as we exited the cavernous lock chamber at John Day Dam and sailed east into a multicolored sunrise. During the night we had left the well-watered and heavily forested land west of the Cascade Mountains and entered the spare but visually arresting high desert country typical of the eastern two-thirds of Oregon and Washington. Nearly all day long we cruised steadily upriver with Oregon on our starboard side and Washington on our port.
During the morning Carlos Schwantes of the University of Missouri gave a slide-illustrated overview of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and during the afternoon Peter Wood of Duke University placed the Lewis and Clark expedition within the larger context of global exploration by the Spanish, Russians, English, and Americans. History is in large measure about making connections, and today we connected Lewis and Clark back in time as far as Columbus and ahead to the Missionary era of the Whitman’s and Spalding’s. Many more connections wait to be made in the coming days of our journey. The Columbia River and the Sea Lion combined to form the ideal classroom to talk about exploration history in a local as well as a global context.
Finally, to give our legs a stretch we went by Zodiacs to Hat Rock State Park in Oregon where we hiked up to a promontory overlooking the Great River of the West.
