A blustery dawn finds the National Geographic Sea Bird entering the lock at Little Goose Dam on the Snake River. We sail slowly into the water-filled lock and ease alongside the lock wall. Our deck hands toss a line over the floating bollard, making the ship fast to the side of the lock. The water drains from the lock, lowering us 100 feet to the level of the water below the dam. The great gate opens before us and we sail on down the Snake, bound for the Palouse River.
Anchoring in the Palouse River we find the wind has not abated, but has freshened and we have a condition called “sea smoke” as the tops of the waves are being whipped off and sent downwind in a fine spray. It is soon determined by Lee, our expedition leader, that conditions are too dangerous for inflatable landing craft expeditions so we haul up the anchor and sail back onto the Snake River. Now we enjoy some sunshine as we sail along with a following wind, making conditions on the bow very pleasant indeed. We enjoy the passing scenery of brown basalt cliffs trimmed out with the buff grasses of autumn, giant gravel bars deposited by the great Ice Age floods, intricate and beautiful patterns made by the weathering of the rocks on the hillsides, and “Ship Rock” (now called Monumental Rock) named by Lewis & Clark when their Corps of Discovery passed this site on October 14, 1805.
In the afternoon we enjoy a lively presentation on Lewis & Clark by Don, our Road Scholar historian, and also an informative presentation by Grace, our geologist/naturalist, on the history of ideas on volcanoes as well as some of the great volcanoes of the Cascade Range—volcanoes we will see, weather permitting, in coming days. Back on the bow we pass through the Lower Monumental Dam lock. The wind is pushing water in great gushes over the spillways of the dam. Below the dam we are thrilled to see white pelicans both swimming and flying in formation; these giant birds are beautiful flyers. A fox runs along a ridge next to the river. A chatty flock of Canada geese land near the shore. Low in the west, the sun burns golden as we arrive at the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers. As darkness falls we proceed on, sailing downstream on the Columbia, the Great River of the West.
