25 June 2017

Perhaps one of the more unique regions we have visited in the US is the Palouse in Washington State. It has been a “bucket item” for us for years. A number of the photographers I follow visit and photograph this region on a regular basis.

Leaving Mt. Rainier, we headed east out of the Cascades through a semi-arid region, following the Columbia River. This arid region gives way to the incredible rolling hills of the Palouse region of Washington.

We were told conflicting stories by locals of how the geology of this area was created. One individual said these hills were created by an enormous flood caused when a prehistoric ice dam burst. The ice dam was created by glaciers from the last ice age. The resulting flood waters created the undulating hills. Another individual stated that blowing sands created the hills as tremendous winds blew in from the Pacific Ocean, carrying silt and sand. Whatever the case, the result is well worth seeing.

Three things struck us as we entered the area. First were the rolling hills themselves. Second was the agriculture of the area. Every available inch seemed to be planted in similar crops. In actuality, we were told the major crops were wheat, canola, flax, lentils, garbanzo beans, and mustard. Third was the scope of the area, miles and miles of rolling hills!

We spent two days photographing the Palouse. On the morning of the first day we drove to the top of the largest hill in the area known as Steptoe Butt, spiritual mountain for the local indians. From Steptoe Butt, one is presented with a magnificent panorama of the surrounding area. The best time to photograph from here is early morning so we arrived at 6:00a (later we were told by a local photographer that we should have been there at 4:00a!) In the afternoon we scouted out old barns, old flour mills, and more fields of grain.

The second day was spent photographing fields of wheat and canola. One field of canola was in full bloom presenting us with the challenge of capturing its beauty. We hope you enjoy these photographs as much as we enjoyed creating them.

It’s hard to describe the difficulty we had picking representative photographs from atop Steptoe Butt. Every photograph seemed to say “pick me”!

Fields of grain and old barns!

Canola everywhere!

This is a panorama created from four separate photographs