Palouse Falls State Park

The Palouse Falls State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Washington. The 42 -acre park located 37 km southeast of Washtucna in Franklin County in the southeast of the state. Got its name, the park with its main attraction, the 60 -meter-high Palouse Falls.

Geography

The Palouse River flows within the park by an eroded by the glacial Missoula Floods 13,000 and 15,000 years ago Canyon and plunges it over a cliff in a circular basin. The towering walls of the canyon consist of up to 30 m thick layers of Columbia Plateau basalt. When in the spring and reaches its maximum water level in the early summer, the Palouse River, the waterfall is most impressive.

Fauna

In the steep canyon walls yellow-bellied marmots, Bull snakes and rattlesnakes live.

History

As the first white United States Exploring Expedition reported by the waterfall, which discovered it in 1841. The Palouse Indians called the case aput aput, which is translated as " Falling Water ". The land for the park was donated by several companies and individuals, the park itself was founded on June 3, 1951. To commemorate the Indian tribe of the Palouse, the case has been renamed.

According to a legend of the Palouse Indians of the Palouse River flowed gently once in the Snake River. But four giants, who were brothers, in pursuit of a mythical, Big Beaver called beings and it met five times with spears. Every time the character was wounded, it furrowed the earth. When it was made ​​for the fifth time, it defended itself bravely and drilled doing a deep canyon in the rushes by the river over Palouse Falls. The rugged canyon walls still show the deep imprints of the mouth of the Big Beavers.

Tourist Facilities

The park has a campground with ten parking spaces, over an observation platform overlooking the waterfall and picnic areas.