DAY 12 - June 12, 2004
To the Mighty Columbia

Day 11

Native American Women

It began as a beautiful day in Salmon, ID, as the crew of Flight of Discovery began their long journey to Hood River, OR. The scenery through Lolo Pass was extraordinarily beautiful, and the weather could not have been better for crossing over the pass.

The crew landed in Lewiston, ID, where we were met with a warm welcome. This was originally to be an overnight stop. However, since the schedule had been pushed back by a day, due to inclement weather in Great Falls, MT, the expedition leader chose to push on to Hood River, OR, to catch up with the intended schedule.

The trip to Hood River was scenic, as well, and finally the lava flows from eruptions of the large Cascade volcanoes became visible on the landscape, and eventually, the snow-capped mountains, themselves. The crew landed in Hood River, in the shadow of Mt. Hood.

At Hood River, the crew was met by a group of Native American girls, who are interested in studying the sciences. They introduced themselves, and told of their Native American backgrounds, and gifts were exchanged with the crew of Flight of Discovery.

The crew decided to fly on to Vancouver, WA, and the girls got to ride with them in the planes. Then the long day's journey finally came to an end, after landing at Vancouver Pearson Field.


Cessna Flight Operations


Expedition Leader's Notes

Well, after nearly two and a half weeks on the road, it was bound to happen. We were probably due for a dud day, but once again, the Crew pulled themselves together and in the end were a source of unbelievable pride.

It started, as all days have in the last two weeks, almost two hours late in getting started. You can't blame people for wanting to take showers and have breakfast, though. The flight into Ravalli County was just gorgeous… up over Lost Trail Pass (where I did some work years ago on a road realignment with my buddy Dave Kopp) then west down the Lochsa River. A fairly easy track to follow for us… not so for the original Corps, who struggled mightily through the snows and along steep ridges for almost a month.

Easy to pick out the clear cuts versus the untouched wilderness areas. White waterfalls cascading down from the forests… the Clearwater joined from the south and Mike and I took the Caravan out over Weippe Prairie in search of Blue Camas… the root that brought Lewis and his Corps back to life after their harrowing journey through the Bitterroots… not over them like us. No camas… but lots of aircraft over Orofino and low over the reservoir where's there's an EAA fly-in.

Landed at Lewiston where we were met by Idaho State Representative and fellow pilot Don Pischner, who volunteered to shuttle us to a place for lunch… and I'm talking many shuttle trips. We were originally to overnight in the Lewiston/Clarkston area, but our local Trunk contact had other obligations and being a day behind, we decided to push on to Hood River, OR. After some confusion by at least one aircraft as to which way to fly to the Columbia (really… it happened) - Roger and Don chased it down and turned it around in the right direction - we all managed to head west, joining the Columbia at Sacajawea State Park.

Through the pelouse with geologic commentary by Julian along the way. Flew high to avoid the small wildlife refuges (e.g., Umatilla) along the route, flew low over Columbia Crest Winery where we had requested the opportunity to land and trade for wine (no response). This weekend was to be their annual Anachronistic Festival… but no one was home today.

The ceiling was coming down and the winds were rising as we landed at Hood River, OR, having passed up The Dalles airport based on a recommendation I received last year from locals I met at The Dalles. Here we met the AOPA editor and photographer that wanted to do a story on the Flight. In all honesty, we've had better days for them to cover the expedition. However, we were all revived by a wonderful reception and gift exchange with Judy Bluehorse Skelton and her students.

Unfortunately, there was no Jet A for the choppers (it eventually turned up… don't ask me how), no courtesy car, no rental cars available, no place to stay in town and no place to alder plank our $150.00 worth of fresh caught salmon. With one aircraft blown down the taxiway, glowering clouds, a sprinkling of rain and news that the ground crew had taken the Coeur d'Alene short cut from Salmon to Hood River, I held an impromptu pilot briefing while everyone fueled up, paid for the salmon we wouldn't eat and launched for Pearson Field in Vancouver, WA.

The Gorge can be quite beautiful when the sun is out, but on this late afternoon it didn't present itself very well. I feel badly that the crew didn't see it at it's best; Bonneville Dam… the Bridge of the Gods… Skamania Lodge… Beacon Rock… all passed below in the light rain and mist.

We landed at Pearson without incident and taxied up to the parking area outside the Museum hangers. Boy, will they be surprised when they open shop in the morning.

We stayed at my favorite motel along the north bank of the Columbia, Homewood Suites, where the manager remembered me and gave us a great rate. We had dinner at Beaches with the crew and Pat, Ross and Roger. We're almost to the Pacific and I'm starting to have problems remembering our last two stops. Brian admits the same phenomenon… that must be why he got into photography.

Sciences


Geology

Our flight today tok us across glacially sculpted mountains. Near Missoula, MT, we looked for the numerous shore lines extending high up the valley sides from the ice-age Lake Missoula that had been impounded behind a glacial ice dam. Further on after crossing the Bitterroot Mountains to the west, we flew over vast expanses of the Columbia River flood basalts, deposited as a molten mantle of lava over a great expans of Eastern Washington and Oregon. From the air we observe tremendous scour features eroded in basalts and overlying deposits by huge-scale floods of water released by the break-up of the glacial dam that had

impounded the ice-age Lake Missoula. Although fairly obvious from the air, these features are not as readily apparent from the ground.
Botany

Vegetation has changed dramatically over the last 200 years along the river courses the Corps of Discovery traveled. The Missouri River has been dredged, channelized, and 'girdled' by decades of flood control projects. Dams, power plants, and mines dotted the shores of the river, along with extensive farms. Recruitment of native plants, such has Cottonwood (Populus spp.) no longer occurs where natural flooding and creation of new habitat has been stopped. Mature cottonwood stands are becoming decadent, a phenomena witnessed along the Missouri at Wolf Point Montana, as well as

elsewhere on the expedition and throughout the West.

Nonnative species dominated the vegetation at most of the small landing strips along the route, including many European plants used for grazing (Smooth brome, Bromus inermis). Moving west along the route, the first strip to have any native vegetation was in Ft. Benton Montana (Foxtail barley, Hordeum jubatum; Bluebunch wheatgrass, Elytrigia spicata). Twin Bridges Idaho had the most native species including Green needlegrass (Achnatherum viridula) but also a very nasty plant, Spotted knapweed (Centaurea maculosa) which is State Listed throughout much of the

West as an official Noxious Weed. The most disturbed strip was probably in Lewiston Idaho, where many nonnative weeds, as well as Noxious Weeds occurred.

The most intact vegetation communitas encountered were along the Missouri in the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, along portions of Missouri in eastern Montana, and in the Charles Russell National Wildlife Refuge.