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Driving east from Lewiston you leave the Clearwater River and head south on US-95. Within
thirty miles or so you will have climbed some 3,000 feet, following Lapwai Creek up its timbered canyon
and out onto an expansive black-soil plateau surrounded by rugged canyons and green mountain slopes. This is Camas Prairie, the isolated eastern-most remnant of the great Columbia River basalt field. Wheat and canola fields and black fallow patches now color the rolling landscape. In May wildflowers burst into the scene. Here blue camas, the prairie namesake, sets off blooming canola near Grangeville. Camas root was a staple for the Nez Perce. It is said that before extensive tilling the entire prairie would appear as a lake when the camas was in full bloom. Cottonwood Butte shows in the background. |
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A surprise May snow delivers even more contrast. On the drive from White Bird to Grangeville the prairie lays out before you. Here you can see Tolo Lake, where the Nez Perce gathered for tribal ceremonies and where the remains of several woolly mammoths have been found. Now people fish for trout at Tolo Lake and enjoy the abundant bird life.