Eastern Washington -- The Palouse Rewards Those Who Slow Down

COLFAX, Whitman County - I used to be like most folks who came to Palouse country. Just passing through to get somewhere else: Pullman, Boise or Spokane.

I'd stop, but just for gas or a quick meal.

But a couple of years ago something caught my eye and I started coming here for long weekends.

The main attraction: the challenge of capturing in photographs one of Washington's most scenic and unusual regions, most of which lies in Whitman and Spokane counties in Washington and Latah County in Idaho.

With my camera, I started prowling the Palouse, mostly around Walla Walla and Waitsburg.

Rolling hills are set off by barns, farm houses, tractors, narrow dirt roads often lined with telephone wires and - nearly everywhere - planted rows that resemble three-dimensional contour lines.

Except for the occasional satellite dish, it's a picture of rural America 70 years ago.

I was pleased with my photos, but I knew there were great shooting locations I wasn't finding.

Then I met Alan Caddey, a Boeing engineer whose hobby is nature photography and who loves the Palouse.

And as one of six amateur photographers who signed on for Caddey's photo workshop "Springtime in the Palouse" last year, I learned again the wisdom of one of photography's rules that hold true for travelers anywhere: slow down.

And along with that came a new appreciation for the Palouse.

Look again and again

On my own, I learned to go the extra mile and explore the back roads for better scenes. And once I'd find a worthy subject, I'd take 10 minutes, 15 at the most, to shoot.

With Caddey, a typical stop lasted two to four hours. We looked, and looked, and looked again . . . whether for a subject or a different way to shoot a scene. We often waited for the "magic hour" lighting at the start and end of the day - made more challenging on this outing because it was only a few weeks before the longest day of the year).

Caddey's schedule wasn't easy. We'd meet in the motel lobby as early as 4:30 a.m., sometimes returning after 11 p.m.

But in those hours we all got an in-depth look at the Palouse country, the 4,000-square-mile drainage basin of the Palouse River, which starts in the Clearwater and Bitterroot mountains of Idaho and empties into the Snake River about 35 miles north of Walla Walla.

Each photographer in the group had a different reason for being here: one wanted to capture a prize-winning photo, another wanted to find out what "The Palouse" really was; another wanted to learn to use a new camera.

The differences in our skills showed up every day. Caddey and the more experienced group members found endless possibilities every place we stopped - a barn, a small lake, a church.

Near Kamiak Butte, north of Pullman, I thought I had exhausted my photo possibilities after an hour. But we stayed nearly five, and I found things I would have missed on my own.

One morning we forced ourselves out of bed at 4 a.m. to catch a 5:30 a.m. sunrise from a spot beside a road on top of a hill in the middle of grain fields just east of Genesee, Idaho, south of Moscow.

A sunrise is a sunrise - weather permitting - you say?

Perhaps. But the lush, fertile fields of the Palouse make a spectacular canvas on which to capture the dawn's early light.

The eyes have it

At breakfast, we'd sample small-town cafes in places like Uniontown, Colfax and Moscow. Then we'd stake out barns, bright yellow fields of canola, owls in a church belfry for possible photos.

One day we had a picnic lunch in a cemetery beside a serene country church north of Potlatch in Idaho.

We didn't get a lot of sleep. Some afternoons Caddey allowed us a nap - so we'd be awake to shoot the sunset and a full moon that bathed the rolling hills of wheat in a golden glow. We spent our last evening shooting the sunset atop the circular knob of Steptoe Butte, at 3,612 feet the highest point in the Palouse.

Once the site of a swank hotel and ballroom and now a state park, the butte is a fine spot to watch a sunrise or sunset. Hang gliders use it as a launching pad. Communications companies use it to hold relay antennas and microwave dishes.

I was tempted to join two other group members who, like me, were cold and tired of taking photos and wanted to stay in the car. But even though the western horizon was obscured by distant clouds, making good photos unlikely, I joined the shooters.

As we shivered in the wind, the sun gradually emerged from behind some clouds. Just after sunset I captured one of the best shots of the entire trip, showing a red-orange sky that seemed to have no boundary.

Favorite spots

Part of the Palouse can be seen without going far from Interstate 90. West of Spokane, exit at the Tokio weigh station and drive a few miles south on Tokio Road or explore one of its dirt side roads. Palouse purists might quibble, but you'll find similar scenery in Central Washington's Douglas County along Highway 2 (or on side roads) between Orondo and Farmer.

My favorite Palouse scenery is along Highway 12 (and side roads, always take the side roads) between Walla Walla and Waitsburg and farther east on the same highway between Dayton and Dusty. Highway 195, from Spokane to Pullman is also prime Palouse country.

South at Uniontown, we had breakfast at the Cougar Country Cafe and visited the Uniontown's St. Boniface Church, the first consecrated Catholic church in the state. Next door, a former convent is being transformed into The Churchyard Inn, a bed-and-breakfast to open in summer.

Among my favorite Palouse places, for restful contemplation and great photographs, is the Freeze Church, a small white country church and cemetery in Idaho. Take Highway 95 north from Potlatch, then take a left onto Freeze Road and you'll find it in about a mile.

Keep the secret

And, please keep this to yourself, not far from this church, in Garfield, Whitman County, is Cher's The Good Old Days Restaurant and Lounge, home of some of the best restaurant pie in Eastern Washington.

It's best to explore the Palouse when you can take a three-day weekend, or longer. The mood of the place changes with the colors of the season: white predominating in the winters, browns prominent all year and the greens of spring and summer turning to golds and tans in fall.

On holiday weekends like Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day, when Western Washington's beaches, parks, motels and roads are filled with families, the Palouse is relatively uncrowded.

That's when you're likely to find me there, with my camera.

IF YOU GO PHOTOGRAPHING THE PALOUSE ---------------------------------------------------

Alan Caddey's "Springtime in the Palouse" photo workshop this year is May 30-June 2. Cost: $395 tuition plus transportation, meals, lodging and photo supplies. Information: 242-5840.

Other photo workshops are listed in Photo Media (548-9880), a bi-monthly newspaper available free at many photo stores and film labs.

The Pullman Chamber of Commerce's visitors guide to the Palouse should be ready by March. For a copy, phone (509) 334-3565 or write the chamber at N. 415 Grand Ave., Pullman, WA 99163. In the Palouse Country, the stories of oldtimers are as plentiful and rolling as the hills. Oral historian Dick Scheuerman and photographer John Clement capture both in a self-published book about this slice of southeastern Washington: "Palouse Country: A Land and Its People." Photos and excerpts from the book are in today's Pacific magazine.