top of page
Hike 5/2-4 Hiking Eastern Washington Overnighter
Driving toward Steamboat Rock, our first hiking stop on day one.
All sides of Steamboat Rock are steep, so the trail must go up a rocky section to reach the top.
Nearing the top of Steamboat Rock, the basalt cliffs stand out
Some lovely flowers up there, including these bitterroots
Steamboat Rock is nearly surrounded by Banks Lake, seen here 700 feet below
Looking over the edge from the top
Watch your step--what goes up, must come down.
Second stop on day one was to witness the geologic wonder known as Dry Falls
Nice visitor center there tells all about the ice age floods that shaped the region
Dry Falls Lake sits below the cliffs where floodwaters once surged
A view from Dry Falls Overlook
Starting out day two with a hike at White Bluffs in the Hanford Reach National Monument.
Hanford Reach is a 50-mile free-flowing stretch of the Columbia River, which this trail overlooks.
Views were stellar, and the vegetation featured lots of unusual plants in the sandy soil
Windy weather with threatening clouds, not atypical for spring around there.
The grasslands appear to flow with the wind
White Bluffs features some extensive sand dunes, a rarity in Washington.
Walking over the top of a huge dune
Having a look around the sandy landscape
That's Mount Rainier in the far distance to the west, with the Columbia River in the foreground.
On to our next stop on day two, Palouse Falls State Park. Here's the terrain upstream of the falls.
The canyon downstream from the falls. Lots of basalt cliffs.
The falls is easily the largest in eastern Washington at 180 feet high
Peering down into the canyon from above
Lots of marmots hang out at Palouse Falls. Rangers are trying to get people to stop feeding them.
bottom of page