Lovely short hike with great views of Frenchman Coulee, and out west towards the river. The hike itself goes to a waterfall, which is visible from the trailhead, so it is a little boring but a good quick day hike. 

It was a very windy day to hike the trail. We saw lots of phlox already in bloom and saw some blooms a mustard with other mustards budding. The trail was in good condition and dry. Closer to the water fall, the trail turned into sand, so it was a little harder to walk.

Rock climbing is one of the few things that keep me sane and help me deal with the mounting combined stress of job, kids and life in general.

I suck at it because I don’t do nearly enough of it, but each time I’m up on one of those basalt columns I huff and puff, I moan and whine, I slip and fall but I don’t give up until I get to the top.

The routes I climbed this weekend:

Karen Martinis, Ethan, & I took a walk in Frenchman Coulee on this partly cloudy, mild day.  We walked the main coulee trail up the coulee to the waterfall where we found a nice boulder to sit against for lunch.  It was mild enough that we hung around for at least an hour, then made our way back the way we had come.  I was surprised at how much snow was still in the coulee.  We were only able to walk on a narrow path of bare ground, often beside the main trail, for about 1/3 of the way.  The rest of the way we walked on a not very consolidated track in soft snow which was very uneven and slippery.  The walking here was somewhat strenuous and slow going.  There's not enough snow to need snowshoes and I don't know if traction devices would make much difference in these conditions.  With the warm temperatures, however, by next weekend I would expect that a narrow track will have melted out most of the way up the coulee.  We only saw one other hike and no wildlife, but did hear a canyon wren.  Maybe spring is on its way.