The Palouse

The Palouse is a large agricultural area in the southeastern part of Washington and western part of Idaho.  It was originally a rolling prairie, but settlers converted the area to productive grain and legume fields in the late 1800s. I read that this area of Washington was the most populous area of the state then, which is why it became home to Washington State University in Pullman, and the University of Idaho six miles to the east in Moscow, Idaho.  And even though the region is no longer a population hub for Washington, it remains an agricultural center, growing 97% of all US grown lentils.  In fact while we were here, we saw signs for the upcoming Lentil Festival! The crops don't need irrigation, and I'm not sure why that is, because they get very little rain here compared to western Washington.  We got here a little early in the season for photography; by late May this entire region will be a rolling blanket of vivid green (wheat, lentils, etc.) and yellow (canola, wild mustard).  I'm already planning my photography trip back here during this colorful season.  Here, the green hills are freshly planted, and the majority of the brown hills have been plowed.  This particular photo was taken from the top of Steptoe Butte, elev. 3612 ft, and I thought this was a good "overview" photo to introduce the region.  The hills look tiny from up here, but they're pretty large.  And those puffy clouds hung around the whole weekend we were here.  The Palouse is a windy place, and the clouds move over the hills pretty quickly, so the hills were always coming in and out of shadow, which added extra to the interesting curves of the land.