A local BMW club sponsor several camping weekends, as well as an annual summer rally, around the State of Washington. This weekend is the last one of the year, being held in the more arid part of central WA state near the ancient Dry Falls. This unique geological feature is the result of an ice age dam bursting its debris bank and flooding an area from central Montana to the west coast. At one time the Dry Falls became ten times larger than Niagara Falls in upstate New York, as accumulated water raged across the landscape, reportedly, 1500 metres high.

Given that it wasn't so long ago, in the scheme of things, whether any natives stood atop a craggy bluff, of a sunny morning, releasing their wake-up stream into the wind, only to see and hear a much larger stream roiling and bubbling rapidly their way? I shall investigate.

I leave Friday morning for a four hour ride to the destination on the other side of the Cascade Range.

Beyond that, I seek two lane roads from the Pacific Northwest to the sunny desert South West, for my annual autumn migration, following the scent of roasting Hatch green chile. It's a simple pleasure to watch them slow roll the plump green chiles, in a metal mesh cage, often over a gas flame, until their skin is crispy and one of earth's heavenly scents fills the nostrils. Choose your own level of spice (heat).

I'll be gone for two or three weeks.

"At the end of the last Ice Age, 18,000 to 15,000 years ago, an ice dam in northern Idaho created Glacial Lake Missoula stretching 3,000 square miles around Missoula, Montana. The dam burst and released flood waters across Washington, down the Columbia River into Oregon before reaching the Pacific Ocean."

Some time ago the story of Missoula Lake caught my eye and off I went down the research rabbithole. I found the geological aspects of it - how it formed the lake and then reformed the modern landscape - absolutely fascinating.

I s'pose nearly every culture has their great flood. I'm curious about their Noah.