RidgeRunner
01-08-2007, 06:00PM
Since I often incorporate history and wheeling together my goal is to look for places to go that will satisfy my insatiable lust for “What happened here”.
A number of years ago I read a book about Dr. Harlen Bretz, a geologist who discovered the reason for the geological events, better known as the Missoula Floods, that occurred in the Northwest 12,000 + years ago.
The name of the book is Cataclisms on the Columbia byJohn Eliot Allen and MarjorieBurns.
In a nutshell, huge, multiple floods occurred, after ice dams broke, and flowed across Northern Idaho and Western Washington , down the Columbia Basin and on to the Pacific Ocean. Where I live here in the Portland area, the water was about 400 ft. deep. It resulted in what’s now known as the Scablands of Western Washington (http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/ColumbiaPlateau/summary_columbia_plateau.html). It left a lot of evidence that can be seen when you know what to look for.
The National Park Service is in the process of implementing interpretive centers and driving routes so people can learn and see what happened. Some of it certainly takes some imagination, particularly for those of us who don’t have much geological training.
I’ve made countless trips, driving across and flying over the area for more than 30 years and didn’t really know what I was looking at until I read the book and saw the Mystery of the Megaflood: Nova (http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?&movieid=70041657&trkid=1767) which is available on Netflix. You can also Google (Missoula Floods), (Ancient Floods), etc and get a flood of information.
I'd like to plan a trip in May of 2007 with the intent to see some of this area firsthand instead of just driving through on the way to somewhere else. I don’t see it as a mainly highway trip from one interpretive center to the next. With a little research, we can take some off-highway excursions that will reveal evidence that the general public will probably miss and exercise our suspension systems at the same time.
Anyway, I’ll throw this out as conversation for now and if any of the Northwest members, Alanh, HenryJ, flywgn or anyone else is interested, I’ll pick a date and post this as a real trip. If no interest, it will be another expedition of one.:wink:
Mick
A number of years ago I read a book about Dr. Harlen Bretz, a geologist who discovered the reason for the geological events, better known as the Missoula Floods, that occurred in the Northwest 12,000 + years ago.
The name of the book is Cataclisms on the Columbia byJohn Eliot Allen and MarjorieBurns.
In a nutshell, huge, multiple floods occurred, after ice dams broke, and flowed across Northern Idaho and Western Washington , down the Columbia Basin and on to the Pacific Ocean. Where I live here in the Portland area, the water was about 400 ft. deep. It resulted in what’s now known as the Scablands of Western Washington (http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/ColumbiaPlateau/summary_columbia_plateau.html). It left a lot of evidence that can be seen when you know what to look for.
The National Park Service is in the process of implementing interpretive centers and driving routes so people can learn and see what happened. Some of it certainly takes some imagination, particularly for those of us who don’t have much geological training.
I’ve made countless trips, driving across and flying over the area for more than 30 years and didn’t really know what I was looking at until I read the book and saw the Mystery of the Megaflood: Nova (http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?&movieid=70041657&trkid=1767) which is available on Netflix. You can also Google (Missoula Floods), (Ancient Floods), etc and get a flood of information.
I'd like to plan a trip in May of 2007 with the intent to see some of this area firsthand instead of just driving through on the way to somewhere else. I don’t see it as a mainly highway trip from one interpretive center to the next. With a little research, we can take some off-highway excursions that will reveal evidence that the general public will probably miss and exercise our suspension systems at the same time.
Anyway, I’ll throw this out as conversation for now and if any of the Northwest members, Alanh, HenryJ, flywgn or anyone else is interested, I’ll pick a date and post this as a real trip. If no interest, it will be another expedition of one.:wink:
Mick