I was supposed to lead a Fall Color Spectacular backpack to Phelps Basin for the Cascadians this weekend, but I guess I’m becoming a wimp in my old age, because with a forecast of mostly cloudy, highs in the mid-40s, and a 40-80% chance of precip, I decided to go to Plan B instead and do a car camp and day hikes in the Grand Coulee where the forecast was partly sunny to partly cloudy, highs in the upper 60s-lower 70s, and 0% chance of precip. The rest of the party found this to be an agreeable alternative, so we set off from Yakima on Thurs afternoon, arriving at the Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park around 4:30.
On Fri, after a leisurely breakfast, we headed out for the Umitilla Rock Trail. We followed the trail most of the way up the east side of Umitilla Rock, then took a detour over to Green Lake, which at this time of year is just a pan of alkali. From here we went back to the main trail and climbed up through the gap in Umitilla Rock and down to a nice lunch spot overlooking Dry Falls Lake. Afterwards we headed back on the trail that runs between Umitilla Rock and to road. It was only mid-afternoon when we arrived back at the truck, but I was out of gas, so we drove back to camp. Brenda, Jonah, & Gayle still had plenty of energy, so they went off and explored the Park Lake Side Canyon while Marty tried fishing in Park Lake and Rudy & I just puttered around the park.
On Sat we started off with the Castle Lake Trail as described in Bjornstad & Kiver’s book On the Trail of the Ice Age Floods, The Northern Reaches. This route starts just outside Coulee City on the west side of the Main Canal from Banks Lake and crosses flood-grooved scabland to the brink of the Castle Lake Cataract precipice and dramatic views across the entire Castle Lake Basin. We found the ladders descending to Castle Lake, but decided that we didn’t have time to go down and explore because we wanted to do another hike in the afternoon, so we headed southeast along the edge of the precipice to the giant berm alongside the Main Canal, walked the berm past the Bacon Siphons to its end above Don Paul Draw, and then out a peninsula past a giant flood-drilled pothole to a better overlook of Deep Lake. We returned to the truck along the service road on the east side of the berm and drove to the Dry Falls Visitor Center for lunch.
After lunch we drove around to Deep Lake and started out on the Deep Lake Pothole route as described in Bjornstad & Kiver’s book. This involved climbing through a short cave to the bottom of a large pothole and climbing out the other side. From here, rather than walking west along the potholed bench as suggested in the guidebook, we went south and climbed to the top of the coulee wall and then walked west to the Deep Lake Coulee Overlook as described in Bjornstad & Kiver’s book. Along here we had spectacular views up and down the Deep Lake Coulee. We then connected up to the Caribou Trail and descended to the potholed bench, but instead of following the trail back to the road, we headed northeast into a maze of potholes and narrow coulees, eventually making our way back to the Deep Lake Road near the Caribou trailhead. Once back at camp, Brenda, Jonah, & Marty packed up and headed home while Rudy, Gayle, and I enjoyed a pleasant evening around the campfire.
On Sun the three of us took our time packing up, then drove down to the Lake Lenore Cave Shelters. We started out by climbing up to the notch in the Great Blade that overlooks East Lenore Coulee. After taking in the view, we descended to the main trail and explored the various shelters. By the time we arrived back at the truck it was lunchtime, so we sat at the picnic table at the trailhead and enjoyed the view over Lake Lenore to the dramatic west cliffs of the Lower Grand Coulee as we ate, then headed for home.
The scenery was spectacular throughout the trip: dramatic cliffs, huge flood-drilled potholes, and sparkling lakes. The rabbitbrush and snow desert buckwheat were in full bloom, the reeds and grasses were turning gold, and there was the beginning of fall color in some of the trees and shrubs. There were deer and racoons in the campground, we heard coyotes at night, and saw a couple of flocks of sandhill cranes in the air. Though it was a nice weekend and a free day in the park, the campground was not crowded and we saw very few others on the trails, though there were a number a people fishing at Park, Deep, & Dry Falls Lakes. The weather was mild and we had plenty of sun. Everyone agreed that this was a nice alternative to backpacking in the rain and cold.
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