![]() On April 21, 2009, Tyler Bradt ran the falls in a kayak, setting an unofficial world record for the highest waterfall run. A larger trail system is being developed by the parks department. The park provides a viewpoint facing Palouse Falls that is a short walk from the parking area, campground, and picnic area. The falls are included in Washington's Palouse Falls State Park, which provides access to the falls and has displays explaining the region's unique geology, as well as its historical ties (the Palouse Indians and the Mullan Road both took advantage of the easy access to the plateau in the vicinity of the falls). In the Palouse River Canyon just downstream of Palouse Falls, the Sentinel Bluffs flows of the Grand Ronde Formation can be seen on the bottom, covered by the Ginkgo Flow of the Wanapum Basalt. ![]() However, the majority of the ratepayers declined to approve the investment, preserving this geologically significant feature. This would have provided over one-third of the county's power and would have reduced ratepayer charges substantially. In 1984, the Franklin County Public Utility District proposed a 98-foot-high (30 m) dam be constructed upstream of the falls, allowing for a significant hydraulic head for hydroelectric power generation. Palouse Falls State Park is located at the falls, protecting this part of the uniquely scenic area. The area is characterized by interconnected and hanging flood-created coulees, cataracts, plunge pools, kolk-created potholes, rock benches, buttes, and pinnacles typical of scablands. The Palouse Falls and surrounding canyons were created when the Missoula floods overtopped the south valley wall of the ancestral Palouse River, diverting it to the current course to the Snake River by erosion of a new channel. ![]() The ancestral Palouse River flowed through the currently dry Washtucna Coulee to the Columbia River. ![]()
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