A patchwork landscape of greens, browns, and yellows warmly welcomes you to the picturesque Palouse Scenic Byway. The Palouse is well known for its four distinct seasons, but if you ask the old timers about the best time to daytrip through the Palouse, most likely their answer will be "springtime." Regardless of the season, grab your camera and binoculars, don your most comfortable clothes, fill up your gas tank, and prepare yourself for hidden treasures and pleasant surprises. As you wind through this peaceful pastoral route, keep in mind the dramatic and sometimes violent forces of nature that shaped the Palouse Scenic Byway over thousands of years.

For an awe-inspiring view, a "must see" is 3,618-foot Steptoe Butte, where on a clear day you can see features of three states. The rolling hills of Palouse stretch as far as you can see. Thousands of years of windblown loess formed these hills that are up to one hundred feet deep in places. The butte and the surrounding hills are also a splendid area to hike, picnic, watch birds, fly remote control machines, or for the more adventuresome, hang-glide or paraglide. Catch a glimpse of resident moose, deer and elk at Kamiak Butte. Kamiak Butte, Steptoe Butte, and the other area buttes were formed about 25 million years ago by basalt lava flows that covered all but the highest peaks.

The Channeled Scablands are another intriguing feature of the area for the curious traveler. They were created 13,000 years ago when Lake Missoula sustained catastrophic flooding. The Palouse River flows along the main flood channel and cuts through the heart of the scablands and most of the region. Before you leave this area, stop in Lacrosse which is home to six stone houses built in the mid-1930s. Continue a little farther west and just off the byway to visit Palouse Falls State Park, where you will see breathtaking falls cascading 198 feet into a rock canyon.

Nature may have rearranged the landscape but it was man who submerged a town. Dams built along the Snake River wiped out the town of Almota. This was not the only community lost to time, as this area was once home to the Nez Pierce Indians.

Once you have discovered the magic of the Palouse, you will come back again and again to enjoy the magnificent landscape and the friendly folks along the Palouse Scenic Byway.

Customizable Directions