Historical hike, lecture scheduled

CHENEY – The Cheney-Spokane Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute is offering a choice: a difficult hike or a comfortable lecture.

Choose both if you like.

Next Thursday, author John Soennichsen will discuss his book, “Bretz’s Flood: The Remarkable Story of a Rebel Geologist and the World’s Greatest Flood.”

It’s the story of J. Harlen Bretz, who explored the Inland Northwest’s scablands and proposed in 1922 that numerous channels, huge dry waterfalls, isolated buttes and columnar basalt walls were created by a cataclysmic flood.

Bretz’s conclusion was rejected by other scientists at the time, but now is accepted as fact.

Soennichsen’s lecture will be at 6:30 p.m. in Room 137 of the Science Building at Eastern Washington University in Cheney.

A nine-mile guided hike is planned two days later at Lyons Ferry and Palouse Falls state parks. The hike will cover geomorphology, geology, botany, zoology, the Ice Ages floods and early Indian history.

It is to start at 9 a.m. at the fish hatchery in Lyons Ferry State Park, on state Route 261 near the Palouse River’s confluence with the Snake River, about 12 miles southeast of Washtucna. The six-hour hike will end in Palouse Falls State Park, and hikers will be driven back to the starting point.

Institute officials say the hike ranks 10 on a 10-point difficulty scale, and shouldn’t be attempted by people with serious heart conditions or vertigo. Hikers need to be able to hike three miles without a break.

No pets are allowed.

A spokeswoman said participation in the hike will be limited, but people who aren’t accepted may get on a waiting list for future hikes.

To sign up or get more information about the hike, e-mail Lloyd Stoess at stoess@ritzcom.net or call him at 646-3292 (work) or 646-3274 (home). A $5 donation is suggested to support the chapter’s educational activities.

For more information about the lecture, contact Melanie Bell at mbell4242@comcast.net or 954-4242.