Having hiked the south side of the old Vantage highway many, many times, we decided to try the north side this time, where we've noticed many birders parked. Parked on the right hand side of the road, just across from Echo Basin, though not in the actual parking lot. We saw a track to the east, but thought we'd head towards the water so struck out to the left, passing several large roundish basalt boulders randomly situated amongst the sagebrush. 

In a little under a mile we reached the cliff edge and had to decide between going down to the waterfront, or continue heading north. We continued north along the cliff edge, taking in expansive views of the Columbia River, tall basalt columns along the eastern edge, and the little riverside community of Crescent Bar tucked onto a large sandbar jutting out into the river.

It was a very mild day, 50 degrees, blue skies with interesting cloud formations, a little breezy. We stopped for a spell at a craggy ravine that had a tiny stream with just enough of a trickle for Jazz Dog to quench her thirst. She had been running up and down a couple of ravines that had forced us to detour to the right. 

Continued another mile till we reached a massive gully with a sand dune and decided to turn around since it was getting late. We took the higher route back and had to traverse around the ravines, but enjoyed a different way back. 

A nice, non strenuous stroll across a bench of sage brush and basalt boulders with lovely views up and down the Columbia. Nice especially for Jazz Dog as she could roam unleashed. We didn't see any wildlife, though there were plenty of elk tracks in the mud. Oh and lots of geese heading south. Lunch in the car. A very pleasant 4 miler.

Ethan & I headed over to Frenchman Coulee today in search of the predicted afternoon sun.  We arrived around 11:00 to mostly cloudy skies.  We parked at trailhead on the coulee floor and walked north about 1/2 mile on the old 2-track.  We then walked west through a small coulee to the steep slopes above the Columbia River.  This is sort of the equivalent of the Ancient Lakes outlet, though nowhere near as spectacular.  We then made our way north along the top of steep slopes and cliffs to the small coulee opposite Scammon Landing where we found a nice, scenic spot for lunch.  We headed back about 1:30 under sun & partly cloudy skies.  We took a slightly higher route back, walked up a different small coulee, then south to the car.  We saw & heard lots of geese and followed lots of fresh deer tracks.  We only saw 2 other hikers in the distance (Jazz Dog & party?), heading north as we returned to the car.  It was a very nice day exploring an area here that I hadn't walked before.

Having not been out for a couple weeks I needed some outdoor therapy. Raining on the west side I headed east and got blue sky, warm temps and sunshine. Met up with a friend and her 2 dogs. So 2 girls with 3 dogs clocked in 4.5 miles. Well the dogs probably did 15. We parked down by a gate below the 2 upper parking areas and headed to the waterfall. Along the way we found at least 2 but maybe 3 cars. What the heck. The road was pretty high at that point. Hopefully they were empty when they went over. There was also a fridge. The waterfall was so beautiful. We hiked to the base of it. A little windy so it was misty but it made great photo opps. On the return back we found a truck. Well the cab of it. I think higher up was the rest of the truck but we didn’t hike up to it. There were two huge rocks/pillars that at one point we’re together and then split. I’m guessing here. You can walk through them. It appears people were rock climbing on them but there’s a no trespassing sign on the rocks now. Next time we’ll go up top above the pillars where the climbers are. I like watching but this girl will keep her feet planted on the ground. Love this place and there is so much acreage to explore. History too.

I led my first Winter Walk of the season for the Cascadians to the Frenchman Coulee area on this mild, sunny day.  The plan was to do a circuit of the rim of Echo Basin, hopefully including the large shelf on the south side of the basin's mouth.  We parked at the Frenchman Coulee trailhead on Babcock Bench and walked south across the mouth of Echo Basin to the first set of sand dunes.  From here we climbed the steep, grassy slope immediately south of the dunes on clear game/boot trail.  This brought us to a little basin separated from the shelf by a precipitous slope around the front of a butte and an eight foot row of basalt columns between this and another butte.  We chose the columns and found a short class 3 crack (no exposure) that brought us to the top.  From here we dropped down a steep grassy slope to the shelf.  We walked out to the corner of the shelf where we had views up & down Babcock Bench and into Echo Basin for lunch.  We could see no obvious exit from the shelf except for the way we had come in, but during lunch some of the party explored east along the shelf and found a nice little chute under a collapsed column that took us easily up to the basin's rim.  From here we followed the south rim around to the Echo Basin Overlook, then took the climber's trail out the Frenchman Coulee Rib.  Rudy & Jackie went down the slot to the base of Sunshine Wall and on down to the floor of the coulee and back to the cars while the rest of us walked out the rest of the rib and  back down to the cars.

There were quite a few climbers on the rib, though not as many as I expected. Other than that, we saw no other hikers except below us on Babcock Bench.  The only wildlife we saw were some doves and one cottontail.  We walked 5 - 6 miles depending on whether you walked the floor of the coulee or the rib, with 1100' total elevation gain.  It was a very nice day.

Been wanting to go here for awhile now. Finally made it and I loved it! We went from a 30 degrees snow hike to 65 degree desert hike in one day. Awesome day to take advantage of the diversity of our state. 3 women with 4 dogs. Sunny, blue sky and warm temperatures. Late October you can’t ask for more. The dogs had a blast playing one the big sand dune. Lots of climbers out. So much to explore here and can’t wait to come back.