Clearwater: Photography by Gregory S. Walsh

CLEARWATER In June of 2019 I had planned a trip over to the Clearwater River area north of Grangeville, south of Kamiah, to visit some old friends who had a ranch up the hill from the tiny town of Harpster. By early May it was apparent that I had too much work to do back at home here on the eastern border of the Semiahmoo Peninsula, so I opted to postpone the journey for another year. I was all planned to make another attempt at the trip east in June of 2020, had my reservations at the Sportsman Paradise AirBnB booked, and the dates carved out on my calendar. Then the Pandemic hit. Poof went my plans for 2020. Next up, May or June of 2021. The Delta Variant of the Covid-19 virus was threatening to derail this year as well. I tried to make reservations at the Sportsman Paradise, but they were booked until July 6th. The warmest part of the Idaho summer. If only it was just the warmest part. But this was the summer of 2021, when Portland, Oregon hit an unbearable 116 degrees during the June heat wave. Even my home near Birch Bay, Washington hit 100 on one day. Record heat, everywhere. But I was determined that not another year would go by before I’d make this photo expedition to the Clearwater region. I had an idea for another coffee table book of my photography and it was time to get it done. So I had my dates booked at the Sportsman Paradise, and off I set at 6 am on July 5th, through Seattle and out across The Palouse of eastern Washington and an overnight stay in Moscow, Idaho. Then on to Harpster on July 6th. In all, an 8-day stay planned for photography, golf and good times with my old friends. The temperature gauge had other plans. As the days broiled on from 93 to 99 degrees, the fun of the adventure was relegated to the morning hours. Then a wave of thunderheads crossed the middle of Idaho and lightning set wild fires from Lewiston to Missoula. Four days into my expedition, melted by the heat and chocked by the smoke I cut my stay short. I vowed to return in September when I hoped the cooling autumn weather would end the heat waves and the fires. And that is how my photo journey got divided into two expeditions, one in July that focused on rusted farm implements and old vehicles rotting in tall dried grass, and one in September that focused on the people of the Clearwater River region and the river itself. I took a number of photos on the way over and back of The Palouse, and I’ve sprinkled those images