Geo 730: November 18, Day 687: Bonneville Slide

Back to the cliffs I've pointed out in earlier posts, this slide was very likely due in part to oversteepening caused by incision during the Missoula Floods. Indeed, the many waterfalls in the gorge, particularly along the north-facing Oregon side, are thought to have their origins in these monstrous floods, which left nearly vertical cliffs in many places. The nice thing about this shot is that you can see both the headwall- the slide's source- and the runout into the river. I don't recall the view from Beacon Rock terribly well, but that's probably the best ground-based view of this feature that one is likely to find. Though come to think of it, the view from either of those peaks might be even better. But there's little doubt in my mind that the clearest views are from above. Here's a crop from a FlashEarth satellite map that shows the overall layout well:

The cliffs in the panorama at top show up as the lighter areas to the left of the word "Headwall," and the "x" in "~Photo location" is approximately where I was standing to shoot the photo.

Photo unmodified. October 10, 2012. FlashEarth Location.