More pictures, this time from a geology tour of eastern Washington earlier in the week led by Kevin Pogue of Whitman College. Click on the pictures for larger images. The first picture is of the Yakima Valley from Chandler Butte in the Horse Heaven Hills.
Rocks types, including petrified wood to the left, at StoneTree Vineyard on the Wahluke Slope.
Looking down from StoneTree Vineyard toward the Columbia River.
Looking up at Snipes Mountain from the south side.
Stones on the surface of Snipes Mountain.
Stoney soils at Snipes Mountain. This is looking at an exposed cross section.
Old Cabernet Sauvignon vines at Cold Creek Vineyard.
Cross section of soils in Yakima Valley showing layering.
Caliche deposits in vineyard rows at DuBrul Vineyard.
Caliche deposited on the underside of a rock at DuBrul Vineyard.
Gorgeous Photos! One mistake in the captions. If you are looking down (South) from the top of StoneTree, the Saddle Mountains are behind you. Those ridges in the distance are Yakima Ridge which is the southern shore of the Columbia River as is wraps a horseshoe around the Wahluke. Further south is Rattlesnake Mountain.
Sorry for the nitpik, but I'm sensitive about the ridgeline names :)
Hey Sean – that's Umtanum Ridge in the distance in photo #3, not Saddle Mountain. The Wahluke Slope is located on the southern slope of Saddle Mtn., so the crest of the mountain was behind you when you were taking that photo. Otherwise, well done….
Chris and Terroirist, just making sure y'all were paying attention! ;)
I've changed the text above to "Looking down from StoneTree Vineyard toward the Columbia River" since I had one vote for Yakima Ridge and one vote for Umtanum Ridge. I zoomed myself over to a road view from the vineyard on Google earth and it looked like it would be Umtanum Ridge with Yakima Ridge immediately behind and perhaps hidden from view. Thanks to you both for the catch!
I defer to the terroirist. Those first cliffs on the river are indeed Umtanum. Had to look it up on Google Maps Terrain view. :)
Its the vineyard, its a wine blog. Waiting for Stillwater Creek and Stoneridge photo. Hoping for spring and white wines soon.
Chris, check out the view from Google Earth and go to street view. It was pretty cool.
Anon, sadly we didn't make it up to Stillwater Creek or Stoneridge on this visit. I went to Stoneridge last Fall but haven't been to Stillwater yet. It's close to the top of my list of places to visit at this point.
And I'm with you on spring and white wines.