My wife and I attempted the Steamboat Rock hike over Memorial Day weekend. We left our car Sunday morning around 11:30am. It was a beautiful day, about 70 degrees out, and very few clouds. There was a nice gentle breeze that grew stronger as we gained elevation. The hike starts out easy, though the sand makes the going a little more dificult, but it felt good to get a little burn in my calves. After ascending through beautiful desert wild flowers and sage brush, we came to the base of the rock. Here, the going gets much more dificult as the trail becomes a loose slot of crumbling basalt and boulders. Though not strenuous by any means, we definitely had to slow down and pick our footing, though not all the hikers that day followed our precaution, more on that later. After a 1/10 of a mile or so, the "trail" gets very steep. There were about 20 people hiking along side us on a narrow, rocky, and steep trail, and hardly any of them had any trail etiquette as we politely waited in queue for our turn to ascend the steepest section. As we waited groups of children and their parents, wearing sandals, scrambled up the loose rock and flung small rocks and softball sized rocks behind them at the hikers below, endangering us all. My wife and I decided to call it quits at this point and get down before one of us got knocked out by the falling rocks. We returned to the park across from Steamboat and had a nice lunch, relaxed in the sun, and admired the impressive monolith from the ground instead.

After seeing graybeard's photos in his trip report on Steamboat Rock, I decided to get over there while the flowers were still good. I arrived about noon & set up camp in the state park campground, had lunch, and headed for the top. I walked counterclockwise, but seldom on the trail because the flower fields were often in the interior. The lupine, larkspur, & senecio were still spectacular, though the lupine is starting to go (if you want to catch it, go now!). I also saw quite a few deer & a coyote. As it was Thursday, I only saw a couple of other people. The wind was mostly calm and the skies were sunny. It was a wonderful afternoon.

Trail conditions are as good as they get - lots of loose rubble, steep, easy to slip and hurt yourself. Remember what the trailhead sign says - "Falling can be deadly"! Once you're on top, though, the hiking is easy. The usually drab desert habitat was magically transformed into a blooming garden and the sweet scent of lupine filled the morning air. This week or next would be the perfect time to partake in the colors and scents of Steamboat Rock, if you like that sort of thing. Just take it easy during the up and down scramble... "Falling can be deadly"!

It was looking to be a cold weekend, but the hiking bug had hit so Jayson, Pat, and myself headed out towards Wenatchee for a bit of day hiking and car camping. After dropping off our gear at our campsite at Steamboat Rock State Park, we headed the mile or so to the Steamboat Rock trailhead. Day time temp was mid-fifties, so I was able to ditch the jacket. Along the way, we passed the leg of some unfortunate deer and blood on the rocks. A quick scramble up the rock and we found we had the whole mesa to ourselves. Banks lake below was still frozen and we spent much of the day making fun of Pat for bringing a full pack ("training" he says) and hiked along the perimeter of the rock, daring ourselves to see how far over the cliff sides we'd peer. We spotted a herd of about 30 deer, all keeping a wary eye on us as we passed to the east. On our way back to the trail, we found a relatively fresh carcass of an unfortunate deer (cougar?) after the coyotes and birds had taken their fill. The very cold night (20 degrees) passed with the coyotes howling through the night. The campground was relatively clear, with only a few trailers of some nice folks and a small troop of boyscouts who kept relatively quiet. The next morning, we headed out to Northrup Canyon. Book says this is 3 miles to the cabins and another mile to the lake, but we did all 8 miles in just over 2 and a half hours, so I doubt it. No eagles to be seen and heavy cloud cover, but it was a nice change of scenery from the day before. The first mile of trail had thick ice on the trail making it slippery at times, the last mile thick mud. Would bring gators. Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thehostelwitness/sets/72157615761080771/ Jayson's photos: http://jaysonmcivorphotography.com/gallery/7697136_xwmB8

Several years ago we discovered a spot on Steamboat Rock where we could look down on a bald eagle's nest. There were two babies in the nest and so we had an enjoyable lunch spot to enjoy the coming and going of the parents! We did not observe the babies being fed this time, but there was a fish in the nest. After wandering for a few hours on the rock, taking bitterroot (spelled it right this time!)pictures we returned later in the afternoon to again enjoy watching the activity in the nest! There weren't as many flowers as we see early in spring, but the bitterroot were everywhere! You had to walk carefully to not step on them!