I drove out Sunday the 12th (my birthday, 47th) on Rt 2 for the scenery, and was not disappointed. 100 times better than dreadfully boring I-90 (but takes way more time). The best part was past Wenatchee, from Orondo to Coulee City. Canyons, coulees, high desert, snow-covered farmland, rolling hills surrounded by higher rolling hills, it's like a whole 'nother planet. Surreal is a word that comes to mind. Plus smooth roads with no traffic, high speed limits, mind-boggling panoramas, and plenty of places to play with the dog, my lone companion for this trip. Well, eventually we arrived at the Dry Falls/Sun Lakes area, took a few pics, and headed over to the trailhead for the day's (short) hike: Lenore Lake caves. They are nice, but when you get right down to it they are just holes in the cliffs. Worth the hike if you happen to be nearby, just not a life-altering experience. There was a nice view down the valley from an overlook point along the trail where we watched the sun set from. Then we went north to about 5 miles past Steamboat Rock state park, to a small WDFW area adjancent to Osborn Bay lake, where we camped in the car for free (since we had our WDFW V.U.P.). On Monday, we awoke to some fresh snow on the ground, maybe an inch, plus some biting wind and cold, so we drove into Grand Coulee for some hot coffee at the Safeway, then over to Steamboat Rock for the day's hike to the top of the rock. Due to the park's completely deserted status, plus nice irrigated lawns perfect for playing with a yellow dog, I decided to spring for the $16 and camp there, ignoring the signs that said I had to pay $22 for an electric site even if I didn't use the electricity, on the grounds that they had arbitrarily closed off the only sites that had no electricity. Since I was out the $5 parking fee in any case, I felt the extra $11 was justified by the picnic table, bathrooms, lawns, nearness to the hike's trailhead, etc. The hike up Steamboat Rock was surprisingly hard. The elevation gain seemed like more than 600 ft, and the trail is very rocky, loose rock at that, and super steep in places, with some exposure should one take a tumble. But then we were up, and it's mighty nice up there. There were views in all directions, Banks Lake below, wildlife like various birds, plenty of cool desert plants, just a good place to be. We explored the various plateaus, starting with the south plateau, then moving over to the north/west plateau. We stayed up there until the setting sun turned a cold wind into an unbearable knife-like agony of frigidity. But on the way down we found a sheltered spot to watch the last of the sunset from. Monday night were treated to a repeat of the super-bright moonlight we had the night before that I forgot to mention. It made for a pretty special night time walk with Daisy. On Tuesday, I decided to do some more car exploring into new territory for me, so we drove from Grand Coulee to Wilbur and then south towards Odessa, where we visited the Odessa Craters. They are very strange geological features, nice to walk to and interesting to see, but are very minor attractions on the scale of things. But I recommend them if you happen to be out that way anyway, kind of like Lenore Caves. But the driving out that way is spectacular. I just love the instantaneous transitions between green irrigated farmland and the dry desert country. From Odessa, we went west on Hwy 28 to Ephrata rather than go south to get on the freeway. It was truly great driving, 20 miles or more passing between each car coming the other way. But eventually we got on the freeway so we could get home in a reasonable amount of time, and fought the boring traffic over snowcrummy pass. We had great weather, saw some marvelous things, stayed pretty warm sleeping in the car despite the wind and cold, and got back safe and sound. The end.

Yawn, nothing like getting up at 2:45am to go out for a day of photography and hiking in the desert! Wanting more time to accomplish more and still be home by mid-afternoon I found myself rolling out of the driveway at 2:57pm enroute to my first stop of the day: Steamboat Rock State Park in the great Grand Coulee country. Even after some snow over the pass (it's almost May for goodness sake!) and stops at Indian John Hill and Ephrata, I was escorting myself up the sandy trail toward Steamboat Rock by 6:20am. What joy it felt like to look across the vast area of Steamboat Rock State Park at that hour and see no sign of life, even in the three lonely campers in the campground. Ahead of me was the massive ""island"" of a rock mountain that was left behind through all of the Great Missoula Floods, the sun was rising against it's green and brown lichen-covered rocks, and I was prepared to look over this huge area of The Grand Coulee...from on top! Down low along the rocks and cliffs arrowleaf balsamroot was blooming and the morning sunrise was making it really glow. Prairie star-flowers were carpeting the desert floor everywhere I hiked this day. The trail becomes very rough and steep the first 1/8 mile up through the slot in the cliffs, even becoming more of a scramble in two places. Upon reaching the middle ledge suddenly a carpet of sagebrush buttercups bombed the ground in all directions turning many areas a glow of yellow! Upon reaching the split in the trail I veered left to explore to the western end of the top of ""The Rock"" until I came to the edge which dropped off to the flatlands below. Through here it was obvious far fewer people come this direction as the path is really a sort of bash through the sage in places. Staying to the trail here is a fine and smart thing to do to protect the fragile ecosystem surrounding you. Here also the flowers really put on a show: bluebells growing under the large sage canopy of the desert, yellow-bells, large clumps of not yet blooming prairie lupines, and the true start of the day was the vast purple areas of desert shooting star! Wow! Just when was standing up from shooting underneath a lovely clump of shooting stars two female ringed-neck pheasants tore off away from the area I was encroaching on them. Scared the daylights outta me! Golden-crowned kinglets were singing a lively song in some shrubs along a rocky area--looked like squaw current shrubs to me. I hiked back after looking down into the waters of Banks Lake off the western end of the rock, and just as I took the eastern trail I was greeted with seven mule deer coming up the same trail area I had come up. They looked like they had enjoyed a night down low drinking and feeding, and now that it was the late hour of 8:00am decided to head up high to hide and rest for the day. I was lucky to have a large rock to hide behind and followed suit by shooting at least four of them...with an equivalent of 800mm of lens on the camera! They had to have known I was there due to their nervousness looking my direction, but it was the only way up so they hurried quickly and soon were gone. What a treat to be up there so early! I then roamed the eastern end of the rock for another hour before hiking back down to the day use area where I parked. I noticed large areas of death camas growing near the trailhead as well, then was on my way out to my second hike of the day by 9:20am. Next: Northrup Canyon.