ROYAL CITY - Palouse Falls, which is about 83 miles from here, was recently named Washington's state waterfall.

Already the Royal Slope Seniors have their sights set on it. They plan to tour the area on Thursday, April 17, and hope non-member seniors will join the caravan.

"Come along, travel to Palouse Falls with the Royal Slope Seniors," President Sharon Chesterman said. "You don't have to be old, retired or a senior citizen to car pool with us. Everyone is welcome."

All you have to do is show up. The group will meet in the parking lot at Mack's Mocha at 9 a.m. Please pack a picnic lunch or plan a potluck lunch with friends.

If you have any questions, please call Sharon at 346-9482. If there's no answer, please leave a message.

Palouse Falls State Park is a 105-acre camping park with unique geology and history. The park offers a dramatic view of one of the state's most beautiful waterfalls. It drops from a height of 200 feet and is particularly spectacular in spring and early summer because of the high volume of water.

Created by the Ice Age Floods from Lake Missoula, Palouse Falls is the only major waterfall left along this glacial flood path of 15,000 years ago. Mammoths, camels, primitive horses and other now-extinct life forms inhabited the area before the Ice Age Floods.

The falls were discovered by the Wilkes Expedition in 1841.

The Palouse Tribe originally called them "Aput Aput" meaning falling water.

The falls were eventually named Palouse Falls to commemorate the Palouse Indian culture.