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Touring: Snake River Region

By: Falcon Guides

When most travelers think of the Northwest, they think of evergreen forests, snow-capped Cascade peaks, and copious amounts of rain. All those qualities are true of western Washington and Oregon, but the Inland Northwest could not be more different. East of the Cascades, Washington is dominated by arid, rolling hills and bisected by deep river canyons. It was this land Lewis and Clark floated through during the week of October 10–16, 1805, on their way to the Columbia River.

Near Clarkston, Washington, the 300-foot Lewis and Clark Timeline details highlights of the expedition and reproductions of drawings from the journals. It can be viewed on the sidewalk outside Rooster’s Landing Restaurant at Hells Canyon Resort, 1550 Port Drive. The resort also includes a marina and store. It’s a nice place to watch a sunset.

The Snake River here is actually Lower Granite Lake, backed up by the Lower Granite Dam. Over the past few years, a debate has been raging in the Inland Northwest over whether to breach Lower Granite and three other dams on the lower Snake in an effort to help save declining wild salmon runs. A decision may be made by the time this book appears in print. If the dams are breached, the Snake will return to a state much closer to that seen by Lewis and Clark.

Chief Timothy State Park, 8 miles west of Clarkston, on U.S. Highway 12, offers an excellent beach and pleasant camping. The park is also home to the Alpowai Interpretive Center, which includes a video and exhibits on the Lewis and Clark expedition. The center is usually open from 1 to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Visits by appointment are sometimes available at other times; to check, call (509) 758-9580.

Alpowai was a major Nez Perce settlement at the junction of Alpowa Creek and the Snake River. The town was led by Chief Timothy and Chief Red Wolf, who—like many Washingtonians after him—ran an apple orchard. In the 1860s, when the second treaty with the U.S. government drastically reduced the size of the Nez Perce reservation, Alpowai found itself outside the reservation boundaries. White settlers flowed into the area, and by the late 1880s the small town of Silcott overshadowed Alpowai, only to deteriorate by the 1920s and eventually disappear. In 1975, Lower Granite Dam’s gates were closed, and water covered the Nez Perce village site.

After a steep climb up US 12, the panorama shifts again, this time to rolling fields of grain. This is the edge of the Palouse, one of the nation’s most beautiful and productive wheat-growing areas. An interpretive sign mentions that on their way home May 3, 1806, the Lewis and Clark expedition camped at a grove of cottonwoods near the highway after a tedious 28-mile journey up Pataha Creek. Supper that night included scant rations of dried meat and dog. Throughout their travels in the Northwest, the party turned frequently to dog meat to help extend their rations—a phenomenon that had to unnerve Lewis’s steadfast companion, Seaman, at least a little. The next morning, they followed a branch of the Indian trail they had followed up the creek. The trail can still be faintly seen on the north side of the highway across from the historic marker.

By now, today’s traveler has lost the river Lewis and Clark worked so hard to find. Mayview Road, located past the rest areas east of Pataha, provides access to Lower Granite Dam and a back road that follows the Snake River and the Lewis and Clark route of 1805. US 12 runs parallel at a distance, following more closely the return route of 1806.

Pomeroy is a major agricultural hub for Garfield County. The city park has a pool, lots of shade, and even a small golf course. Centennial Boulevard boasts a lovely garden, planted for the 100th anniversary of Washington’s statehood.

Twenty-two miles west of Pomeroy, Washington 261 leads to Lyons Ferry State Park, nestled at the confluence of the Snake and Palouse rivers. The expedition had earlier named the Palouse River for George Drouillard, misspelling it as usual “Drewyer.” Throughout the journals, Drouillard was praised as a hunter, scout, and interpreter. He was a good friend to Lewis and is considered one of the two or three most valuable enlisted members of the expedition.

Like Chief Timothy State Park, Lyons Ferry has a superb little beach area, perfect for cooling off on a blazing summer day. (Temperatures in eastern Washington frequently exceed 100 degrees F in the summer, so travelers should take advantage of any available means to keep cool.) Nearby Palouse Falls State Park is also worth the drive, largely because it seems entirely out of place in this denuded landscape. You’re driving through a landscape with no water in sight when suddenly a gorge opens up and a 190-foot waterfall plunges majestically into a small pond. There’s no easy way down to the pool, but some folks make the hike anyway. Camping is available at both parks. From Lyons Ferry/Palouse Falls, travelers can either follow back roads along the Snake River to the Tri-Cities (check a detailed state map to plot your route) or backtrack to US 12 to have a look at part of Lewis and Clark’s homeward route via Dayton and Walla Walla, a route explained a bit later—albeit in reverse, the way the explorers encountered it.
Traveling the Lewis and Clark Trail