Compare Great Ice Age Floods: Nature’s Power & Beauty in the Northwest by Road Scholar

Day 1
Check-in, Registration, Welcome Dinner, Orientation
Spokane, WA D Red Lion River Inn
Activity note: Hotel check-in from 3:00 p.m.

Afternoon: Hotel check in begins at 3:00 PM. After you have your room assignment, come over to the Shoreline B room, just around the corner from the front desk, for the Program Registration. The Road Scholar desk is available from 4:00 - 5:00 PM. Meet program staff and pick up your arrival packet that includes your schedule and other important information.

Dinner: At the hotel's Shoreline B room.

Evening: Orientation and Introductions: We will gather in our meeting room (Shoreline B) after dinner to introduce everyone and review the daily itinerary. We will go over any schedule changes at this time. We will also discuss responsibilities, safety guidelines, emergency procedures and answer any questions you may have. Please be aware that program activities and scheduled times could change due to local circumstances. In the event of changes, we will alert you as quickly as possible. Thank you for your understanding.

Day 2
Large Potholes, Coulees, Lava Flows Galore!
Spokane, WA B,L,D Red Lion River Inn
Activity note: Drive is about 220 miles over the course of the day, up to 90 minutes. Getting on/off motorcoach. Opportunity for a mile-long evening walk; generally smooth paths with periodic stops for commentary.

Breakfast: In the hotel breakfast room, our daily breakfast buffet includes hot egg items, breakfast meats, breads & pastries, whole fruits, yogurts and cereals.

Morning: We begin our exploration shortly after breakfast studying the channeled scablands, coulees and potholes of the Spokane area. The unflattering term ‘scabland’ sometimes is applied to rough or barren regions with little or no economic potential. J Harlen Bretz established the term ‘channeled scablands’ during his studies that led to his theory that these unusual landscapes had been created by massive, powerful floods that had swept through the Columbia Basin during the Ice Age. The scablands in this area have gouged channels, which distinguishes the Columbia Basin from tracts of scablands found elsewhere. Scablands topography normally results from the effects of massive long-term erosion. This area is different in that there is evidence that other forces were involved. These floods gouged the scablands, creating the coulees, channels and potholes which add interest and unusual beauty to the landscape.

Lunch: Picnic-style box lunches en-route.

Afternoon: On our way back to Spokane, your Study Leader will help you identify within the landscape the remains of massive lava flows, potholes, pillow basalt and spectacular coulees carved by Ice Age rivers – truly wonderful terrain created 18,000 to 15,000 years ago by Glacial Lake Missoula.

Dinner: In the Shoreline B room, the catered buffet dinner is an entrée plus soup or salad, a dessert, coffee, tea, water; other beverages available for purchase.

Evening: Recommended optional walking tour along the Spokane River. Join your Study Leader on a causal walk along the beautiful Spokane River and learn some of the history of Spokane, including the geology, people, events and what many of the historic buildings represent. We'll see the spectacular Spokane Falls and the skyline of downtown Spokane as we work our way to the city park (the site of Expo '74, the first environmentally themed world's fair). This is a casual 2 hour walk (round trip) with several stops along the way to rest and learn about this city's fabulous history.

Day 3
Grand Coulee Dam, Dry Falls, Moses Lake
Moses Lake, WA B,L,D Comfort Suites WA
Activity note: Drive is about 360 miles throughout the day, up to 90 minutes. Getting on/off motorcoach. Walking up to half a mile on a paved trail.

Breakfast: Hotel buffet.

Morning: Explore a part of the 'scablands' west of Spokane - giant raw scars that speak of a massive ripping away of the earth's surface - as we travel to the Grand Coulee Dam, through the Upper Grand Coulee, Steamboat Rock and Dry Falls. During the Floods, Dry Falls was a waterfall ten times the size of Niagara Falls, the largest waterfall that ever existed on earth. Now, this stark 400'-high, 3.5 mile-wide dry cliff overlooks a desert oasis filled with lakes and abundant wildlife.

Lunch: Picnic-style box lunches in the falls area.

Afternoon: Travel through the Lower Grand Coulee and learn about the glaciation activity that formed the ancient riverbed. Afterwards, we will transfer to the hotel to check in prior to dinner.

Dinner: At a family-owned restaurant a short ride from the hotel, enjoy a meal which you pre-selected on the first day, rolls, and soft drinks.

Evening: Following dinner we'll transit back to the hotel to rest and relax for tomorrow's travels.

Day 4
Basalt Cliffs, Quincy Basin, Walla Walla
Walla Walla, WA B,L Best Western Walla Walla Suites Inn
Activity note: Drive is about 290 miles throughout the day, up to 90 minutes. Getting on/off motorcoach. Walking up to half a mile on a paved trail.

Breakfast: In the hotel breakfast room, our daily breakfast buffet includes scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs along with either bacon, sausage links or ham steaks, a variety of yogurt and fresh fruit, single serve Quakers oatmeal.

Morning: During today's rolling lecture and field trip, learn about the giant ripple marks left by the flood; they are plainly visible on aerial photographs. The marks went unnoticed for many years simply because their immense size makes their pattern and symmetry almost indistinguishable from the ground. Visit a Pothole Reservoir whose ‘Potholes’ were created by the flood waters and the subsequent addition of O'Sullivan Dam by the Columbia Basin Project. It raised the water table high enough to allow these topographical depressions to become lakes.

Lunch: Picnic-style box lunches at historic wayside.

Afternoon: Travel through the Quincy Basin, where the flood waters carried huge basalt and granite boulders from the bedrock along the flood's course and scattered them across the basin as the waters slowed. Fields are now filled with thousands of boulders, some the size of a small houses.

Dinner: This meal has been excluded from the program cost and is on your own to enjoy what you like. The Group Leader will be happy to offer suggestions.

Evening: Free time. Take this opportunity for personal independent exploration to see and do what interests you most. The Group Leader will be happy to offer suggestions.

Day 5
Wallula Gap, Palouse Falls, Farewell Dinner
Spokane, WA B,L,D Red Lion River Inn
Activity note: Drive is about 290 miles throughout the day, up to 90 minutes. Getting on/off motorcoach. Walking up to half a mile on varied surfaces including a hike at Wallula Gap for scenic views/vistas. Participants who do not wish to hike can stay on the ground level or rest on the motor coach.

Breakfast: In the hotel breakfast room, our daily breakfast buffet includes eggs, omelets, ham, sausage, cereals, yogurt, juice, coffee and tea.

Morning: Travel to Twin Sisters at Wallula Gap. Twin Sisters are two pillars of basalt that jut from the cliffs along Wallula Gap overlooking the Columbia River. Geologists say the rock formation is the result of erosion from the great flood. A Cayuse legend states that the natural monument was formed when Coyote, an animal spirit, fell in love with three sisters, then became jealous and turned two of them into stone. The third was turned into a cave, says the legend. The trail here is short and provides some amazing views of the Wallula Gap on the Columbia River. Wallula Gap restricted the outflow from the floods, creating massive Lake Lewis. This area covered the entire Pasco Basin, most of the Quincy Basin, Yakima Valley, much of the Ahtanum Valley and the valley of the Walla Walla River (with its main tributaries). Floodwaters also backed up the Snake River well beyond present-day Lewiston, Idaho. An estimated 3,000 square miles of land were under water.

Lunch: At a local's favorite restaurant in Dayton, WA, we’ll have our pre-ordered entrée, soft drinks, cookie/brownie.

Afternoon: After lunch, we will continue to Palouse Falls for a dramatic view of one of the most beautiful waterfalls in the state of Washington. Palouse Falls drops from a height of 198 feet. After these amazing falls, travel through Snake River/Palouse country, where you'll see farmland that thrives from rich soils deposited by the Floods.

Dinner: In the Shoreline B room, the catered buffet dinner is an entrée plus soup or salad, a dessert, coffee, tea, water; other beverages available for purchase.

Evening: Celebrate the amazing terrain we have traversed, the powerful forces of nature and the people of the Northwest who have adapted to this, including our own group of intrepid explorers! Share stories of your travels as you say goodbye to new Road Scholar friends.

Day 6
Program Concludes
Spokane, WA B
Activity note: Hotel check-out by 11:00 a.m.

Breakfast: At hotel. Departures after breakfast. This concludes our program. We hope you enjoyed your Road Scholar learning adventure and we look forward to having you on rewarding programs in the future. Please be in touch via the Road Scholar Social Network, where you can share memories, pictures, and comments. Best wishes for all your journeys.