Last week a friend of mine and I packed up the Hiker Trailer and headed for sunny skies in Eastern WA. It had been 25+ years since I’d been to Steamboat Rock State Park. I like heading east of the mountains in April to chase the sunshine, and to hike before the rattlesnakes wake up! The campground at Steamboat Rock was lovely, right on the waters of Banks Lake.
We hiked up to the stop of Steamboat Rock the next morning. There’s a section of trail that’s more of a scramble than a hike, but it’s short and actually pretty fun. The Rock is about 800 feet tall and 600 acres total. Wildflowers were just starting to open up and we spent several hours just wandering, looking at the incredible views, crouching down to see the tiniest of wildflowers, saying hello to a couple of fat marmots, and just sitting cliffside and taking it all in.
Dry Falls State Park is 30 minutes away from Steamboat Rock, and I’d never been there, so of course we had to explore. This is another place that makes me realize I should have been a geologist. The geologic history here is fascinating! Dry Falls was the result of the ancient Missoula Floods, and is believed to have been the single largest waterfall in the history of the planet. When it was flowing, it would have been many many times larger than Niagara Falls. We drove to Dry Falls Lake and from there hiked back to another “alcove” to Alkali Lake. Standing there looking up at the sheer size of the cliffs was amazing, and something that is impossible to describe through photos alone.
If geology is something that interests you, look up the Missoula Floods, Dry Falls, and the Scablands. Our planet is a pretty amazing place 🙂
Looks beautiful ! Yeah, those snakes scare the bejeezus out of me.
Rattlers scare me! And that’s coming from someone who has an adorable ball python at home 🙂