The Palouse

While attending the AVISTA NAIA World Series at the end of May we kept looking to the north. The World Series host cities of Lewiston, ID/Clarkson, WA set at the southern edge of the famous photographic region of the Palouse.

The World Series ended on Thursday, and we put the "if needed" day of Friday to good use. We drove across a good part of the western Idaho panhandle and eastern Washington. Early evening found us perched on the southwest slope of Steptoe Butte.

Steptoe Butte is the remnant of an ancient volcano and it provides a great way to gain elevation above the rolling Palouse hills. Our vantage point was about 500 ft above the surrounding hills.

These hills are windblown dust dunes resting upon a volcanic basalt plateau that is up to 6,000 feet thick in places. You can quickly go from the gently rolling hills to deep jagged canyons of the Snake River basin carved out of the ancient lava.

Here are three images that are a brief reflection of the Palouse hills. The first (Blue, White & Green) is a road-level image while the others are shot from the butte.

Blue, White and Green



Gentle Curves



Lone Tree



After just a few hours of driving around the region I know that I have but scratched the surface. I know that this a place I will visit again!

Tools:

Blue, White & Green: D7000 w/ Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8

Gentle Curves and Lone Tree: D7000 w/ Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8

Post in ACR 7 & Photoshop CS6