Absolutely amazing stop... in the middle of nowhere
As many of the trail reports point out there is nothing for miles in any direction when you visit Palouse. That being said, enjoying the falls and camping there overnight made the trip well worth it.
I left Seattle around 5:30 Saturday morning to head east. Stopped in Ancient Lakes at around 9:30 and spent an hour or two there on a <4 mile hike. This was a nice stop to break up the driving with some truly spectacular views. The rock formations, lakes and waterfalls were unlike anything I've seen in Washington and more along the lines of something I'd expect to see at the Grand Canyon. The drive from there to Palouse seemed longer than it was only because of the lack of scenery. Not being from Washington I didn't know what to expect east of the Cascades but I never expected so much nothing...
I finally arrived at Palouse at 2:30 and was speechless at the first sight to behold... A line of cars up the road and over the nearby hill with a ranger at the head of the only road in and out of the park. One car was admit at a time when another was seen coming out of the park. At around 3:30 it was finally my turn to enter the park and I drove along the 2 mile dirt road into the park itself. Though these was a significant amount of dust this road is nothing your car can't handle (I drive a Mustang that admittedly is not made to take its passengers hiking/camping). Once there I parked and was surprised to find there were still a few camping spots left. I set a few of my things down to lay my claim and ventured out to see what all the fus was about.
This has to be one of the most spectacular views in Washington if you're a fan of gravity and what it does to water. The pictures will never capture the beauty of this area because its so much more than just a waterfall. The surrounding landscape is like nothing I've ever seen and only adds to the waterfall's grandeur. Most of the trails are unmarked and although there's a chainlink fence for some of the park most of the cliffs are open for you to sit and dangle your feet over. You can also get as close as you feel comfortable to the falls if you make your way to the back of the park and go down the trail to get to water level. This hike was not long but also provided some spectacular views and leads right to where the water spills over the cliff. I've never been afraid of heights but this petrified me. There are a ton of unmarked trails all around to explore other areas of the falls including making your way down to the base. This is a remarkable area but I was done exploring in a few hours so I recommend you make plans to make this part of a longer trip
TL;DR: This place is an abosolute must for anyone who likes waterfalls but the time spent there might be shorter than the time to get there depending on where you're coming from and what you're doing
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