We car camped at Sun Lakes State Park near Coulee City over Memorial Day weekend. While the destination was worth the drive, I don’t think we’ll ever attempt camping here over a holiday weekend again -- way too much partying going on. That said, the boozehounds were not interested in the many hiking opportunities in the park. We did two of the hikes from the Best Desert Hikes: Washington guidebook published by Mountaineers Books.

Umatilla Rock: I’m not sure we actually found the proper trail as described in the book, but we had fun regardless. Take the road to the left just after the second campground entrance, toward the Camp Delaney group camp. There’s a parking area for about five cars before the gate to the group camp. A faint trail leads from there through the camp, coming to a less than inviting barbed wire fence. The book shows a junction where you can continue the hike as a loop, but we were unable to spot it. We hiked up to the base of a basalt slope and climbed up a narrow path to the top of a cliff overlooking the Dry Falls valley. Although it was sunny when we started, rain forced us to turn back after our mini-scramble.

 

Park Lake Side Canyon: There’s a large parking lot at the day use area, straight after the second campground entrance. Here, if the weather cooperates you can take a dip in Park Lake after the hike, or take a shower in any weather (bring some quarters!). The guidebook says that you can drive to the trailhead, but the paved road has been blocked off to allow only bike and foot traffic -- this adds about a mile of road walk at either end of the hike. The trail/jeep track starts at the second ‘No Vehicles After This Point’ sign, which also has an orange ‘Park Boundary’ sign next to it. There’s one steep section to get into the valley, but it’s mostly flat for the remainder of the hike. It’s obvious that the trail does see some motorized traffic, and target practice, and beer drinking. The trail continues through a valley with high basalt cliffs to either side. I spotted plenty of crows, robins, magpies, and even an eagle in the air. The only ground-bound creature was a hare near the beginning of the hike. About three miles in, the jeep track fades away and you can climb a basalt slope to a small lake protected by more barbed wire (easily walked around). Perhaps someone is protecting a favorite fishing hole! This is a good lunch and turnaround spot.

Given the sage brush and loose basalt rock, I recommend long pants and over-the-ankle boots for any hikes in this area. As the summer progresses, you’ll need plenty of sunscreen and water as well -- by 10:00 a.m. the temperature in the valley was in the upper 70’s. Good side trips can be made to the Dry Falls Information Center (fabulous views down into the valley), additional State Parks along Banks Lake, Northrup Point, Lenore Lake and Caves, Soap Lake, and the Grand Coulee Dam. We were fortunate enough to catch not only the laser show at the dam, but also the season-opening fireworks put on by the town council.