I went over to the Saddle Mts today and hiked some of the Saddle Mts East hike in the Best Desert Hikes book. I got a late start and wasn't hiking until about 1:30. After climbing to the first high point above the notch, I walked around to Pt 1795, then around to the head of the next easterly canyon, then back to the first high point, then down into the notch and up to my truck. There were nice flowers, but it was probably better a week ago. It was still pretty green, but the cheat grass is on the verge of drying out. The views of the Hanford Reach on the south & the Crab Creek area on the north are panoramic. It was mostly sunny & quite warm, but breezy much of the time. Later in the evening I went over to the viewpoint at the trailhead to the White Bluffs South. They have taken up all the old, potholed blacktop along this road & it is now a nice, smooth gravel road. There was lots of nice phlox here. I discovered, however, that the sun is now too far north at sunset for good colored light on the bluffs themselves.

It appears most hikers enter Hanford Reach National Monument from the north, branching off from SR24. Instead, I followed the driving instructions of Hiking Bros. (Apr 15, 2006) to enter Hanford Reach National Monument from the south and driving towards the White Bluffs. At the Ringold fish hatchery there is a Washington State WDFW river access area called Ringold Springs, a fishing and camping area on the wet shore of the river with 3 (three!) outhouses, but no registration forms available in the registration forms dispensing box. The number of outhouses is in stark contrast to the lack of campsite development otherwise. Just north of the fish hatchery is the south entrance gate to the National Monument, solar powered, similar to the one at the north entrance. It looks like it is capable of being closed at dusk, but it was chained open and there were no warning signs about the timing of imminent gate closures (like at the gate at the north entrance). A siren near the south entrance will warn visitors in the unlikely case of nuclear emergencies on the other side of the river, in which case one should hurry to get upwind from here as fast as possible. This is mostly an area for fishermen and not so much for hikers. There are several designated parking areas and river access spots along the 8-mile, well-graded gravel road which offers scenic views of cliffs above and the river below. About halfway in, there is a recent landslide (see http://washingtonlandscape.[…]-at-ringold-landslides.html). There were several landslides further north, which is one of the reasons why the paved section of the road has been abandoned. After 8 miles of gravel road one comes to a closed gate beyond which no motorized travel is allowed. Admittedly, in spite of the nice views, it would not be very inviting to walk on the abandoned, paved road on foot, so I cheated and made a bike-hike and rode it very slowly with the mountain bike, 3.1 miles and 400 feet elevation gain up to the next gate at the Scenic Overlook, which is also accessible by car from the north entrance. This is the Scenic Overlook that is also described as access point in Hike 47 of Bauer-Nelson's "Best Desert Hikes - Washington". I did not see the trails described in Hike 47 of that book where they are leaving the paved road on the river side or on the bluff side of the road. I'll have to look for them next time. The powerline with wooden poles which is crossing the road and the river is a good orientation aid in this area. The more scenic part of the bluffs is north of the power line. The wet shore between the road and the river is habitat for all kinds of waterfowl and it is easy to watch them from the road. I also saw a golden eagle flying by.
Additional info on Hanford Reach can be found at http://www.fws.gov/hanfordreach/

I Hiked with a group who had previously done this trail. We did not have a map with us, but were able to find our way to the trail along the ridge. We followed the trail to the fence line, then descended into the valley for lunch. We made our way north through the valley, back to the trail near the bluffs. The overall consensus from the kids when asked about their favorite part, was dropping down one of the small ravines to the road below. From there we followed the river, south to an abandoned road grader, then back north along the road to the trail head. The last 2 miles were up hill, by then most of the kids started slowing considerably. Took a little longer than we anticipated; this was most of the kids' first ten miler. (Their longest until now was 5). The flowers were not blooming as much as I hoped. All in all, this was a great day hike. The weather couldn't have been better. I'm definitely coming back to this area in the future.

We didn't bring the directions with us when we drove to this trail. We couldn't find it anywhere!!! There were NO signs whatsoever anywhere. Bummer. We ended up going to the boat launch and parking there, then walking for 2+ miles along the Columbia River bank heading north. It was hard because of no trail but nice and quiet. We stopped on a nice rocky part of the river side and made a small fire and ate lunch. There were lots of geese flying around the river. THEN we went to the end of the other road and actually found where the trail was - just a blocked off road. So we plan to go back and actually walk that road some time. Hiked with a 9 and 13 year old and our puppy and we all had a great time! But WISH there were SIGNS.