Tributaries
August 1, 2025
The lower Columbia basin’s beautiful late-bloomer, the Green-banded Mariposa lilly
Images from the web of waters adding to the Columbia’s mighty flow
One of my favorite places east of the Cascades is the gathering of waters near Wallula Gap, east of Pasco, where the Palouse, Walla Walla, and Snake rivers all join the Columbia just upstream of Wallula Gap, where the big river starts its U-turn toward the Pacific by burrowing through the basalt wall of the Horse Heaven Hills. It’s a remarkable convergence, all the more so if you add in the Yakima River contributing its waters just five miles upstream from where the Snake ends its long journey from the Rockies.
To which I can add a few favorite photos from the lower Columbia watershed.
Boulder in the Bumping River, from the upper Yakima watershed near Mount Tahoma
Douglas Creek, in Moses Coulee, flowing southward toward the Columbia.
The falls at Hawk Creek, north of Creston, WA
Lower Latah Creek near its confluence with the Spokane River
Fishing party on the Yakima River south of Ellensburg, WA
Rock Creek flowing south and east to join the Palouse River at the Escure Ranch in remote Whitman County.
Fall color on the Deschutes River in northeast Oregon about a mile from the Columbia.
Late summer rabbitbrush in bloom on the Walla Walla River near Wallula Gap
Crab Creek flowing southward at the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge north of Othello, WA
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Wachlella Falls in the Columbia River gorge
—tjc
