Zooming around farm roads near Columbia River Gorge, central WA

[John E Davies]

I found a neat tunnel that penetrates the Burlington Northern Santa Fe main line (freight and Amtrack) a little east of Wenatchee.

Baird Springs Rd NW is a 26 mile bypass that goes between Crescent Bar (a Missoula Floods artifact) and the little farm town of Ephrata, by way of pretty much nothing but desert. It is completely deserted and very fast in a RR.

The railroad makes a cool loop over the road, though you have no way of telling that it is active unless you study maps or happen to see a train go by, you are well below track level.

Here is a rail fan video I found, this opening shot is this exact spot.

VIDEO BNSF’s Columbia River Sub Preview

Nearby Crescent Bar viewpoint is worth a stop, it is a gigantic Ice Age flood feature - sand “ripples” hundreds of feet long. The only access is by boat or by 4wd through the DNR lands west of the river, a looooong trip.

CAUTION - these dirt roads, especially the smaller farm side tracks that announce “Primitive Road No Warning Signs”, can become completely impassible after a rain, The soil is clay and becomes so slick you can’t stay standing., however it does dry out very quickly if the sun comes out. I was running fresh snow tires, soft Hakka LT3s, and they worked most excellent on smooth gravel - better that my KO3s - but they would be completely useless in any kind of mud…..

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

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[John E Davies]

Some more info

 

[purdyd]

I don't consider that area the Columbia gorge....

But that does look like a lot of fun!

 

[John E Davies]

I don't consider that area the Columbia gorge....

But that does look like a lot of fun!

Locals do actually call it the Columbia Gorge, there is even a big outdoor concert venue south of there called The Gorge, it is noted for the views, camping, hiking in the nearby Scablands lakes, and for stoners…..

This one can’t compare to the big one on the Oregon border, at least in size. However It is darned impressive when approaching from the east flatlands. And it doesn’t have the insane number of visitors and traffic.

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

 

[purdyd]

Locals do actually call it the Columbia Gorge, there is even a big outdoor concert venue south of there called The Gorge, it is noted for the views, camping, hiking in the nearby Scablands lakes, and for stoners…..

This one can’t compare to the big one on Oregon, at least in size. However It is darned impressive when approaching from the east flatlands. And it doesn’t have the insane number of visitors and traffic.

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

yes I’ve been to George in the gorge amptheater. I figured it I was a local thing and it rhymes.

to me it is always where the Columbia River passes through the cascades!

 

[They Call Me Bruce]

spent a whole hell of a lot of time out there while in the army in the 80's, to my memory it was a Brutal but beautiful place. We would spend weeks at a time out there. That was at the Yakima Army facility.

 

[bdallas9]

Great info. Thanks. I’ll have to check it out on my next trip east from Snoqualmie.

 

[Scooter]

In WA state I enjoyed coming across Geological Anomalies.
The Missoula floods were a series of cataclysmic glacial lake outburst floods that occurred at the end of the last ice age. Mega floods that kept happening.
Finding the deep channels scoured into the landscape.
Its on my list to go see the Palouse Falls.

Ice Age Floods

Newberry volcanic eruption. Crooked River Gorge. OR
Not created by Missoula floods. i use to motorcycle tour a lot in the PNW.
This area fascinated me. Placards described the breaking ground of the railway. 1911.

 

[John E Davies]

This page is MOST excellent, with great pics, you have to enter an email address to view the article. The attached images are a sample, one shows the path of the many floods., the other shows Potholes Coulee, just twenty minutes south of the Crescent Bar area…

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/channeled-scablands

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

 

[Scooter]

John, thanks for posting that picture. Impressive. Yes lot's of Basalt unearthed.

 

[Scooter]

It is unfathomable the Velocity and Volume that flowed. Cool the house size rocks out on farm land. The boring of rock through a vortex .

The one thing i can not rap my head around is how much top soil was removed.
Hmm, its kinda of high desert in some of those areas.

I am a self taught Forest Geek, love Geology.
Where i live in BC the Queen Charlette Island did not never was covered by the ice in the Ice Age Period. The Bears jaws evolved differently the then west Coast Bear.
Humans migrated over the expansive ice. .

One area I really hope to get back to is the Backside of Mnt Saint Hellens. Great motorcycle road up to peak. What I am wishing to see in the area is a Lava tunnel. Suppose to be 1 KM long.

 

[John E Davies]

The one thing i can not rap my head around is how much top soil was removed.
Hmm, its kinda of high desert in some of those areas.

The Channeled Scablands remain very barren, good only for cattle grazing, though generally there are lots of “water holes”. Also as a result, lots of ticks in warm weather, and of course venomous snakes. It is not a very pleasant or safe place to camp or hike in the summer months, unless you stick to the more developed areas.

The vast amounts of fine dirt and soils that washed out of the Montana area glacial lakes accumulated in the staggeringly huge temporary lakes that formed over and over again, for several days on the east side of the Columbia Gorge, and in the Williamette Valley (Portland/ Eugene area), before the water eventually made its way into the ocean. The strong prevailing winds continue to send dust clouds to the east, where they have formed the fertile loess Palouse Hills. Those are up to 100 feet deep and rank up there as one of the most fertile crop areas anywhere…

https://wa100.dnr.wa.gov/columbia-basin/loess

This is looking out toward Steptoe Butte from the Idaho Border (Mary McCroskey State Park, Point Sublime) westward out toward the wheat fields, in spring time the fields are countless shades of green.

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

 

[Scooter]

Hmm ! sounds like this glacial flour was part of why this all came about.

During the last several ice ages, glaciers advancing south from Canada ground up the bedrock as they passed over it, creating a fine rock dust known as glacier flour.

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