Hells Canyon, Snake River
Today we made our magnificent passage up the Snake River by jet boat from the Sea Bird . We traveled first through miles of Columbia Plateau Basalt flows which cover most of the landscape in eastern Washington, Oregon and western Idaho. On our transit up river, the landscape suddenly changed from rocks only a few million years old to rocks of over 200 million years. These older rocks are faulted up into the overlying basalts and represent an accreted terrane: rocks which were formed in a Mesozoic ocean somewhere to the west and then rafted into western North America to add to the continent. These magnificent rocks form the narrows which create Hells Canyon.
We also viewed wildlife in many wonderful forms, including bighorn sheep (pictured), mule deer, and bald eagles, golden eagles, ospreys and two flocks of wild turkeys walking along the shore. It was a wonderful day.
Today we made our magnificent passage up the Snake River by jet boat from the Sea Bird . We traveled first through miles of Columbia Plateau Basalt flows which cover most of the landscape in eastern Washington, Oregon and western Idaho. On our transit up river, the landscape suddenly changed from rocks only a few million years old to rocks of over 200 million years. These older rocks are faulted up into the overlying basalts and represent an accreted terrane: rocks which were formed in a Mesozoic ocean somewhere to the west and then rafted into western North America to add to the continent. These magnificent rocks form the narrows which create Hells Canyon.
We also viewed wildlife in many wonderful forms, including bighorn sheep (pictured), mule deer, and bald eagles, golden eagles, ospreys and two flocks of wild turkeys walking along the shore. It was a wonderful day.
