The tour traverses rugged terrain, partially a semidesert waste, relieved by patches of second-growth evergreens and a fringe of irrigated apple orchards, their pipelines arching down to the river.

Rickey Canyon contains a stream that rises on the west slope of Mingo Mountain in west central Stevens County and flows seven miles northwest to join the Columbia River at the site of an old town called Rickey. The name is for John Rickey, a well-known, early pioneer, who ran a trading post at the mouth of the canyon. Beginning in 1886 Mr. Rickey also ran a steamer from Kettle Falls to Spokane Falls.