Frenchman Coulee — Sunday, Apr. 10, 2022

Ethan, Karen, Brenda, Jonah, & I headed off to Frenchman Coulee today.  Once there we walked across the mouth of Echo Basin to the first set of sand dunes and climbed the steep boot trail beside the dunes to the little basin at the top of the dunes.  From here we climbed into the little notch above the basin (8' of class 3), then dropped onto the big flat bench on the south side of the mouth of Echo Basin and found a spot overlooking the basin for lunch.  It had been pretty sunny to this point, but as we were settling in a squall blew in and it became dark, windy, and cool with a little precip.  Nevertheless, we spent our usual hour or so.  As we sat we were treated to some great aerial displays by a pair of redt-tail hawks and then a flock of ravens.  When it was time to go we crossed the bench to the gully with the fallen pillar that leads up to the rim of Echo Basin.  We explored above the bench for a while before heading down the coulee that takes you to the basin at the top of the sand.  From here we went back to the car the way we had come.  After lunch, the weather cleared up, but by the time we were down to the bottom of the sand it was cloudy again with a little precip.  There was a nice scattering of wildflowers, but nothing in profustion, though I did see some specimens of the rare Robinson's onion.  Other than the birds, we didn't see any wildlife and no other hikers except for a lone runner on the rim of Echo Basin and some large family groups playing on the sand.