Before visiting the Palouse a couple of weeks ago, I had fallen in love with the beautiful shots that I had seen online of the area. I hadn't realized that most of those shots were from Steptoe Butte State Park at either sunrise of sunset. Now that I have been there in person for almost a week, I am even more impressed with the area and have realized that there is so much more to shoot than the butte.
The Palouse covers approximately 4,000 square miles in eastern Washington and western Idaho, which is slightly smaller than my home state of Connecticut. It is tough to truly set boundaries to it as there are no signs or boundaries. The best way to determine whether you are in the Palouse is to use your eyes. There is a unique look to the landscape.
The rolling green fields of the Palouse are everywhere. The challenge is to find a place high enough to get a good view of the land. I saw this scene in my rear view mirror and knew I was stopping at the first place that I could find. After taking it in, I decided that a panorama was in order to capture the full beauty of what I was seeing. The evening sun illuminated the shape of the landscape with light and shadows. To me, this is the classic Palouse scene.
This photo is better viewed by clicking on it.