This was my second time kayaking the Little Spokane River from the St. George’s launch to the Nine Mile takeout. The kayak launch site and the take out are part of Riverside State Park so a Discover Pass is required.
The last six miles of the Little Spokane River is a very popular route for kayakers and paddle boarders. The adventure starts at the St. George’s Trailhead near the private academy of the same name off Waikiki Road near the northern edge of the urban area.
As this is a one way trip we had to stage a pickup vehicle at the takeout spot first. In the summer, the City of Spokane runs a shuttle service for a fee.
The crystal clear stream has a significant current and meanders around horseshoe bends pretty much the entire length of the trip. South of the river are small rocky bluffs.
Wildlife includes numerous aquatic birds.
Almost all of the shoreline is within the state park and even though we were in Spokane County, there’s almost no development along the river.
As far as I could tell we were the only people on the river on a clear warm Friday morning. The first time I paddled this river was on a weekend and we had lots of company. Things really quiet down after Labor Day in the Inland Northwest.
I had planned on making a post about this trip the first time I did it less than a month ago but long story short, it turned out I was going to need a new phone/camera after we made it about half way down and that’s all I have to say about that.
The entire trip took about three hours. We mostly let the current carry us downstream and just steered the kayaks around the bends.
About halfway down we passed under the bridge for the Rutter Parkway. Here is the only other place people can launch or takeout, however it involves carrying your kayak a couple of hundred yards through a swampy field.
Beyond the bridge and the landing at the Indian Rocks trailhead you can see the large rocky cliffs on the north side of the river.
The ducks show you the way.
The trip reminded me of canoeing on Florida spring runs. You don’t have to worry about alligators or snakes though.
The rocky bluffs north of the river are impressive. This is the small mountain the Knothead Trail goes up and over from the Indian Rocks Trailhead. I posted about this hike earlier this spring.
Here is the view of the Little Spokane River from that hike. It gives you some idea how serpentine the river is.
As we neared the end of the trip, the valley opens up. Beyond the takeout point the Little Spokane ends at it’s junction with the Spokane River. The Spokane River is impounded here by Long Lake dam creating the lake of the same name. Just upstream is the much smaller Nine Mile Dam, a point of interest on the Riverside State Park section of the Centennial Trail.
It was a nice day on the Little Spokane River. Hopefully I will visit it more often. It’s hard to believe this year was the first time I took this trip since I moved to the area eighteen years ago.
This is definitely one of the best kayak spots in the Inland Northwest. It can be busy on summer weekends but during weekdays and on the shoulder season it is wonderful. Next time I hope to see a moose or two.
Failing in my attempt to secure lodging for a third night and stymied from visiting Many Glacier I weighed my options and instead of a third long hike that was not my first choice and then a late evening grueling six hour trip back, I decided to leave early and take my time and explore a little on the way home. My hikes at Siyeh Pass and Dawson Pass wore me out anyway.
I drove through Whitefish “underwhelming by the way”, then through Eureka “nice but no reason to stop”, then along Lake Koocanusa with it’s endless miles of road reconstruction. Lake Koocanuse, Koo for the Kootenai River can for Canada and usa for you guess it the United States of America, was formed by Libby Dam. Here they have a nice visitor center and public viewing platforms.
After driving through the town of Libby, my next stop was at Kootenai Falls. There is a parking lot with a picnic area along with a snack shop off of US 2 between Libby and Troy Montana.
Kootenai Falls is one of the largest undammed waterfalls in Montana.
This recreational site includes a pedestrian bridge over the BNSF Railroad mainline. Don’t worry, I checked before crossing to make sure my brother wasn’t coming.
A long pedestrian suspension bridge gives you access to the north side of the river and more views of the waterfall. If you’re afraid of these types of bridges then this one isn’t the one to overcome them on. It sways really good and the river is a long way down.
Here is the view of the bridge from across the river.
Kootenai Falls is managed by the US Forest Service and is a nice place to spend an hour or so exploring and enjoying the view.
Before Troy I cut over on Montana State Road 56 through the Bull River Valley towards Noxom. This is one of the most scenic roads in the area and goes through the middle of the Cabinet Mountains. About half way through it is Bull Lake.
Across the lake is Bad Medicine, a striking cliff formation that begs to be explored. As far as I can tell access isn’t easy.
A little further to the south is a four mile long paved road to one of the few old growth cedar groves left in the northwest. Ross Creek is well visited and maintained.
A short walk leads you from the parking lot to the giant trees. Moss covered boulders at the base of a cliff border the trail.
Some of these giants are well over four hundred years old.
They’re not quite the California Redwoods but they are in the ball park especially for here.
Walking through the grove is a relaxing experience.
About half way down the entrance road to Ross Creek is this view into the heart of the Cabinet Mountains. It’s not quite Glacier but it is only ninety minutes from my house.
Along State Road 56 there are several turnouts with scenic views of the Cabinet Mountains. I hiked a little here several years ago and hope to return in the near future.
The Bull River follows the highway down the valley. This valley has to be one of the prettiest places around.
I probably walked less than two miles at my various stops on the way home but it was a relaxing way to end my trip. Bull Lake in the middle of the valley has two campgrounds and would be a perfect place to combine a kayak trip with a mountain hike. Sounds like the basis for a future post.
On day one I discovered that I needed a two dollar on line pass to visit the Many Glacier area. I planned to hike to Grinnell Glacier on my second day but was unable to secure a pass. Disappointed I looked for an alternative and settled on the Two Medicine Lake area, the most under visited part of the park.
After checking in to my cabin as I hadn’t the night before, I drove about ninety minutes around Glacier national Park to East Glacier and then on to Two Medicine Lake. This is the “dry” side of the park and outside of it the habitat is primarily grasslands. This is also next to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.
So I settled on Dawson pass as my goal for todays hike. It would be pushing it for me as it was a thirteen mile long hike with a twenty eight hundred foot elevation gain. I figured I had time as I got a much earlier start that the previous days hike. By 9:30 I was on the trail.
The first couple of miles were along the north shore of Two Medicine Lake. It was a pretty walk but there was no elevation gain, a fact that would cost me later.
While hiking along the shore line I watched the boat tours run up the lake. They offer return only rides for hikers who would like to save about two and a half miles of their journey. If I ever go again I would take advantage of this service. The last couple of miles heading back got to be a little painful. If you get a round trip ticket it saves five miles but no elevation.
The scenery along the trail is amazing and the first three and a half miles are relatively flat.
That gave me plenty of time to appreciate the small things. FYI, blue berries “AKA huckleberries” good.
And red berries “Chokecherries” no bueno. They may or may not be toxic but either way you don’t eat these.
About three miles in you hit the trail junction that either back tracks to the boat landing or continues to Upper Two Medicine Lake, a popular overnight camping destination. Here the trail really starts climbing.
On the way up a series of challenging switch backs this impressive monolith stands guard above you.
At the top of this climb you are treated to views back towards Two Medicine Lake.
After climbing this section of the trail with it’s incredible views the path levels out for about half a mile until the junction with the spur to No Name Lake. I opted to skip the short spur in order to push to the pass.
After the No Name Lake Trail junction the main trail started to climb steeply again. By now I realized I wasn’t going to make it to the pass. I had plenty of time but was figuratively out of gas and it was a long way back.
This was as close as I got and that ridge is still a long way away. Having to gain all of the elevation in the last half of the hike made it difficult. The boat ride would have saved a lot of time and effort as well and if there is ever a next time I would take advantage of it.
The scenery on the way was just as good as it was on the way up and the walking a lot easier. It was still hard on the knees and back though.
On the way back I took my time and enjoyed the small things. I failed to reach my goal but it was still a rewarding experience.
Just before I reached the trailhead I got a bonus. A group of bighorn sheep were grazing right in my path. If I had taken the boat back I would have missed seeing these amazing animals.
They didn’t seen too worried about me and as I waited and enjoyed the show about a dozen other hikers showed up and did the same. We all eventually managed to get around them by detouring around the trail.
So five and a half hours later I was back at my car. I figured I ended up doing about eleven miles and maybe eighteen hundred feet. On top of yesterdays hike that made for twenty miles and four thousand feet. Not a bad effort.
So I decided to go back to west Glacier by taking Going to the Sun Road across the park. To get to St. Mary’s I used Montana State Road 49. Looking back towards Two Medicine I was treated to this view. The road takes you through part of the Blackfeet Nation.
State Road 49 climbed over a pass and near the top this was the view. This is the end of the Rockies and the beginning of the Great Plains. From here it’s almost as flat as a pancake to West Virginia a couple of thousand miles to the east.
This is looking north towards St Mary’s across the rolling plains. The east end of Going to the Sun Road was about a twenty mile drive from Two Medicine.
The eastern end of Going to the Sun Road is dominated by Saint Mary’s Lake. The landscape is noticeably drier than that on the other side of Logan Pass. This photo is at the overlook for Goose Island.
As beautiful as Lake McDonald is Saint Mary’s Lake is in my opinion even prettier.
At Sun Point I took a short walk and enjoyed the late afternoon views.
The sun was setting in the west and it truly felt like I was on a road going to the sun. Now it was time to head back across the park. The road is fifty miles long and it takes at least two hours to transit Glacier National Park on it. Going around on the U.S. Highways is longer and faster but ends up taking just about as long.
I headed the rest of the way back up towards Logan Pass and at Siyeh Bend I saw this cascade I missed the day before.
So I get to Logan Pass at the end of the day and it’s still a zoo. The parking lot was closed and Park Rangers were blocking the entrances. I was glad I wasn’t fighting those crowds.
I enjoyed the slow scenic ride back down on the narrower west side of the pass. Going to the Sun Road from St. Mary’s to Logan Pass is a much better and safer road than the section west of Logan heading towards Lake McDonald.
Before it got dark I had just enough time to check out a small waterfall on the way to Lake McDonald. By now the hordes were mostly out of the park.
I stopped to take one last look oat Lake McDonald before I got back in cell phone land. I tried to buy a two dollar pass to Many Glacier for the next day but of course they already sold out. I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to take the drive cross the park again the next morning anyway.
One the first day of my road trip to Glacier National Park I discovered that you need one day permits to drive on Going to the Sun Road and to visit Many Glaciers and you can only get them on line. I lucked out and was able to purchase one for Going to the Sun Road as I was waiting in line to enter the park. It is a complicated system and not very conducive to spur of the moment visits.
Entering Glacier National park from the west I soon arrived at Lake McDonald. Scenic pull outs along the road provide beautiful views of the mountains on the far side.
Beyond the lake the Going to the Sun Road follows the river that feeds it upstream. The outlet for Lake McDonald is the beginning of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River.
I blew by the trailhead for Avalanche Basin. This is one of the most congested places in the park and the parking lots were full. I’ve been there and done that anyway and was looking for new adventures.
Just after crossing Logan Creek, the road turns northwest and really starts climbing. It doesn’t take long before you’re far above the river valley.
The views are outstanding but the road is narrow and winding. It requires your full attention. It would be nice if all large trucks folded their sideview mirrors in.
Having to purchase a day pass to drive on the road was a hassle. The flip side was that traffic was kind of manageable. It was still heavy but there were no delays on the way up.
I was heading for Logan pass to hike the Highline Trail. I always wanted to try it. The trail is way above Going to the Sun Road.
Well I got to the top and it was a zoo. The parking lots was completely full and the trailhead looked so busy that it was a turn off for me. The popular Hidden Lake Trail also starts at Logan Pass and I did that one years ago too.
I stopped at a smaller pull out down the slope to assess the situation when I saw this guy. It was nice to have a goat pose for my blog.
I decided to drive down the other side of Logan Pass and take a hike out of Siyeh Bend. Sometimes it’s good to have a backup plan.
According to the sign at the trailhead it was a nine mile round trip with about twenty three hundred feet of elevation gain. Sounds about right.
Soon I was in a thickly canopied forest.
I was glad I brought a can. I would have rather had a firearm but National Parks are very strict about that. It would have been nice to have had company just for the added safety but sometimes you have to strike out on your own.
The hike through the forest was nice but I was really looking for bigger views. The trail was easy to follow and crossed numerous small creeks. In September the streams are much smaller than they are early in the hiking season.
Probably over half of the hike was though this type of evergreen forest. It slowly opened up as I gained elevation.
As the canopy thinned I was treated to views of the mountains still far above me on a more regular basis.
After a couple of hours I finally hit the open valleys and could see Siyeh Pass which is really a low saddle between a couple of peaks.
One last stream crossing on a bridge of rocks .
Up in this high valley the scenery was truly epic. I only passed a few hikers who were on their way down and once I hit the open slopes I had the place to myself.
The trail passed by a small high country pond. I was surprised and a little disappointed that there wasn’t any wildlife to be viewed here.
As I continued to climb the trail towards the pass, the views behind me kept getting better and better. That’s Piegan Mountain with Piegan Glacier across the valley on the right side. Clements Mountain overlooking Logan Pass is in the distance in the center.
The final part of the hike to Siyeh Pass climbed up a series of steep switchbacks. By now I was running out of time.
At the base of Mount Siyeh I enjoyed the view of three small glacier melt off lakes. At the end of my hike I ran into three young men who started at 9:00 AM and hiked to the top of this mountain. They told me it was the best hike in the park. I’m afraid a hike like that is a little out of my league anymore.
I was this close to the saddle when I turned around. The effort wasn’t the problem, time was. I had a drop dead time to turn around. It wouldn’t do to be trying to find my way back in the dark in grizzly country.
On the way back I savored the view. These are exactly the views I came for. It reminded me of the line from the movie Jeremiah Johnson when his travelling companion told him the Rockies are the marrow of the world.
Soon I was back in the canopied forest. I was making the best time I could. As far as I knew I was the last person on the trail.
I recrossed all of the streams again on my way down.
By now I was nearing the trailhead and the shadows were starting to lengthen. I did pass a couple of people heading up and assumed they were either backpack camping or turning around soon. This is were the three mountain climbers caught up with me. They knew the park like the back of their hands and shared lots of tips on were to hike around Many Glacier which was my plan for the next day.
I drove back down Going to the Sun Road as the light faded. By the time I got back in cell phone land all of the next days passes for Many Glacier were already sold out. To keep my options open I bought another pass for Going to the Sun Road which I ended up not needing. The system the park uses to limit traffic was really working against me.
I started my day by leaving home at 5:00 AM. The drive took a good six hours and with the additional delays in securing a pass, waiting in line to get in and losing an hour from the time zone change, it was 2:00 PM before I started my hike. I was back to my car by 6:30. It would have been nice to have another hour to push it further, still 2300 feet and nine miles wasn’t too shabby. By the time I made it to my campground in West Glacier it was dark and the office was closed. They left a map and a key for me taped to the office door. Nice.
For my third trip this summer on the Palouse Cascade Trail, I headed west from Rosalia with the goal of making it to Malden. I fell short by a couple of miles. Better to enjoy a sixteen mile round trip than have a miserable twenty miler. Part 1 is under the hiking category as that is how I traveled it.
Rosalia is a small farming town on US-195 about thirty-five miles south of Spokane. The Palouse Cascade Trail crosses the old highway just south of Rosalia on this amazing concrete arch bridge. This bridge is a local landmark and still has the Milwaukee Railroad logo painted on it.
In addition to the old highway, this bridge crossed Pine Creek , a small stream the trail follows all the way to Rock Lake. The new US-195 crosses over the railroad easement just to the east. Rosalia is about twenty miles west of Tekoa, the town I used as my base for my last trip on the trail. The level of engineering used on the bridges give a hint that this was once one of the five transcontinental railroads in the United States.
The trail is a little hard to access from the town. Rosalia does have a small park with restrooms, but the trail is located up a steep slope from the town off of rough gravel roads. Within the first mile, a steep detour bypasses a place where an old bridge was removed over Gashouse Road. This intersection is the only thing resembling a trailhead in the area.
At the intersection their is an interpretive sign. The trail surface alternates between rough gravel ballast and soft sand. I heard the surface is far more challenging west of Rock Lake and Ewan.
The first couple of miles out of Rosalia parallels US-195 and passes though a typical mix of farmland and basalt cuts as it heads north and then northwest.
The trail passes a cemetery just outside of town. There’s one off the trail just east of Tekoa as well.
At Babb Road, the trail passes under the roadway in a newer culvert. I don’t think a train would fit through it. I’m not sure if this “tunnel” replaced a taller bridge or if the road just didn’t go through before the railroad was abandoned.
Evidence of a catastrophic wildfire from a few years ago was evident along the trail. This fire burned down much of the town of Malden and three or four bridges between that town and Pine City. Here I ran into the only other person I saw. This gentleman was nearing the end of a multiday journey that started in Cedar Falls over two hundred miles away. I was impresses. I made it sixteen and was tired by the time I finished.
Here is the first of several bridges over Pine Creek west of Rosalia. It was an impressive piece of engineering.
After the bridge, the trail passed through a couple of impressive cuts trough the basalt.
There are still old telegraph posts along the trail, some of which still had the old glass insulators. This was close to my turnaround point. I was still short of Malden by a couple of miles and the next bridge over Pine Creek was just around the bend. Sometimes a man has to know his limitations.
I saw a couple of coyotes and these white tail deer. Other than that my wildlife was limited to birds.
Most of the route of this trail is bordered by either farmland or cattle ranches. There were a few pieces of abandoned machinery along the way.
The trail passes through open range areas with gates that are the responsibility of the trail user to open and close. The State of Washington requires trail users to register on line so that they understand the rules. This process is simple and can be found here. The bovines did yield the right-of-way to me without argument.
On the way back to Rosalia I took a brief detour off trail to get a different preceptive of the bridge over Pine Creek.
When I got back to Rosalia, I ran into the same fella that I talked to on my way outbound. He was camping at the local park and we shared a couple of beers and traded stories about riding bicycle trails. Not a bad way to finish the trip.
An hour later I was back home after navigating rush hour traffic through Spokane. Between this ride and my two previous trips on the Palouse Cascade Trail I think I’ve seen most of it though eastern Washington. I would really like to explore the section through the Cascade Mountains closer to Seattle. I understand that part is beautiful and more user friendly. That might have to wait until next year.
Yesterdays hike at the McKenzie Conservation Area on the north side of Newman Lake is a return to a local hidden gem. Thank you Spokane County. This was my fourth trip here this year. The trailhead is only about fifteen minutes from my house.
A simple gravel parking area provides access to about five miles of hiking trails. I hiked about four miles of them by taking the Bedrock Ridge Trail and returning on the Turtle Rock Trail with a side trip south through the marshlands to the property boundary and back. Oddly enough, Spokane County has another conservation area only a few miles to the south with slightly different spelling called Mackenzie next to Liberty Lake Park. If anyone who reads this blog knows why that is please let me know.
The first part of the Bedrock Ridge Trail winds through a nice mixed forest. One of the things I like about McKenzie is the tree variety. Pretty much every species native to the area is represented.
The two species of firs, Grand and Douglas often grow side by side. Douglas firs are not true fir trees and the needles grow out of the stem in a radial pattern. Grand firs have flat needles like a feather.
The Bedrock Ridge Trail gains a little bit of elevation and true to it’s name about a mile in you come to rock outcroppings near the high point of the trail.
Here you see Newman Lake for the first time on the hike. On the drive to the trailhead you get to see a lot of the lake from the the windshield. It is a scenic drive.
At the junction with the Turtle Rock Trail I went right instead of left to check out the wetlands on the south end of the conservation area.
Something had a sweet tooth. I saw more than one hive broken open and scattered. I imagine the first few licks of honey were awfully tangy.
I turned around and made my way to Turtle Rock. This is the only spot on the property where its possible to access the lake without wading through marshlands. Allegedly this was a favorite campsite for Native Americans.
Most of the walk back on the Turtle Rock Trail is flat and skirts wetlands.
There are some pretty big cottonwood trees in the lowlands along with cedars and hemlocks. The conservation area has several mature western white pines which is nice to see as they were almost eliminated from the region due to the white pine blister rust and over harvesting.
Another view of Newman Lake.
McKenzie Conservation Area is a nice place to enjoy a relaxing walk in the woods. The elevation gain is minimal and views are beautiful. That’s Mica Peak Idaho, AKA Signal Point, in the distance. There is another trail that crosses Newman Lake Road and climbs considerable higher up the ridge if you just have to get more of a workout. This loop adds another mile of two to the hike and gains maybe 400 feet of elevation. There are no views of the lake through from this trail.
Yesterday I tool a sixteen mile trip on a section of the Palouse Cascades Trail on my old trusty mountain bike.
I started my trip in the small town of Tekoa. It is one of the nicer towns in the Palouse and has several historic buildings including this old art deco movie theater. Across the street is a small park with a public restroom, a rare amenity out here in farm country.
The landmark Tekoa trestle dominates the local landscape. This 976 foot long and 125 foot high structure carried the transcontinental Milwaukee Road rail line over Hangman Creek, State Road 27 and another old railroad easement.
There is a trailhead off Washington Street on the east side of the trestle with interpretive signage and a picnic table. This trail is managed as a Washington State Park and extends from the Idaho state line almost to the Seattle area.
From the trestle there is a view of the town looking up Hangman Creek. In the background is Liberty Butte, one of several large hills embedded in the middle of an expanse of wheat fields.
The trail winds through miles of agricultural land alternating between cuts through the hills and embankments between them.
About three miles in you come to Lone Pine. There are the remains of an old grain loading facility here and not much else.
Wheat is the main crop here and in places they cultivate it right to the edge of the trail bed. About eighty percent of the fields I rode by were already harvested but some were still waiting for the combines.
Tekoa is in Whitman County which bills itself as the largest wheat producing county in the United States.
Amber waves as far as the eye can see. From the trail you get to see scattered farm buildings and spacious skies.
I crossed under one old bridge. The trail surface varied from rough ballast to fresh gravel and some areas of dried compacted dirt. I don’t usually ride on gravel and going sixteen miles on it was like riding forty on pavement.
I came across two places where small bridges had been removed and the state build a bypass trail.
Just before my turn around place, I arrived at the historic Seabury Bridge. I walked the bike across as some of the gaps in the decking could easily catch a bicycle tire and eight miles is a long way to walk back. There is a lot of useful information about the trail on the home page for the Palouse Cascade Trail Coalition, a non-profit group dedicated to supporting improvements to the trail.
The Seabury Bridge crossed over another railroad which is now also abandoned. Here you can see the cut of the Spokane Inland Empire branch that at one time extended all the way to Lewiston.
Here is the best view I could get of this impressive structure. It’s long way down to the bottom and the land down there is privately owned.
So here was the end of my ride. Washington State Parks put up these mile markers at the same spots the railroad at one time had them. They show the distance from the start of the railroad in Chicago.
The way back was pretty but I did have to deal with a decent head wind. Winds on the Palouse are usually out of the southwest or west. Today it was out of the northeast.
It was a relief to make it back to Tekoa. That’s Tekoa Mountain in the background looking northeast from the deck of the trestle.
The 287 mile long trail almost spans Washington. Through Eastern Washington it is lightly used. I was the only one on it for all sixteen miles. Earlier this summer I had hiked the section along Pine Creek and Rock Lake. This was the first time I rode part of it. Next time I’ll bring a couple of replacement inner tubes just in case.
Dishman Hills is a natural area made up of three units. Iller Creek is the northern most and highest of them. The Iller Creek trailhead is located west of Dishman Mica Road in a residential area of Spokane Valley.
The trailhead has limited parking which usually isn’t an issue on weekdays. As soon as you start there is a fork. I always take the right path and hike the loop counter clockwise.
This trail follows a dry creek bed at a moderate grade through a thick forest. It isn’t very exciting but it gets you to where your going.
At two and a half miles in you come to the Rocks of Sharon. These massive boulders are a popular local rock climbing destination.
I typically spend over an hour exploring the rocks. There are over a dozen of these monoliths lined up on the south side of the high ridge.
This is a perfect place to stop for a break and enjoy the views.
And the view is of the Palouse Prairie, an area of rolling farmland that extends a hundred miles to the south.
North of the rocks is probably the largest collection of antennas and satellite dishes I’ve ever seen. Pretty much every television and radio station in greater Spokane uses this site to transmit their signals.
Another view of interesting rock formations.
At the Rocks of Sharon there is a junction with the Stevens Creek Trailhead connector. By using this access point it is possible to get to the rocks by hiking less than half the distance and a third of the elevation. Drive there though takes an extra hour.
I had the place to myself for a good hour. I highly recommend hiking this trail on weekdays. It can get awfully busy on weekends.
I just wish I hadn’t tried to drive my truck up the trail. No really, this isn’t the first old abandoned vehicle I’ve come across hiking close to Spokane. This was on the East Ridge Trail just after I started my return.
If you hike the loop counter clockwise, you will return to the Iller Creek Trailhead vis the East Ridge Trail.
The East Ridge Trail is more open and you get views of Spokane Valley and Mt. Spokane in the distance.
To the west you can see Mica Peak with it’s distinctive radar dome.
Five miles and twelve hundred feet later, you return to the starting point. Here is a picture at the trailhead of a mountain ash tree.
I first saw this place while flying out of the Spokane airport over a decade ago. It looked so cool from above I did a little research, found the trailheads and have since hiked it about a dozen times. I was a little surprised that the elevation gain turned out to be well over a thousand feet. It is one of the best little hikes close to Spokane that I know of.
I drove to Bend Oregon and spent a couple of nights in an affordable motel. I planned to visit several places that I always wanted to see and had alternatives in mind in case plans change. That turned out to be a good thing.
After I checked in my room, I drove a few miles south of Bend to check out Lava Butte, a National Forest site showcasing an old cinder cone and lava field.
By the time I got there it was late and the visitor center was closed. I walked a little through the lava field in the lengthening shadows. The place reminded me of a scaled down version of Craters of the Moon in southern Idaho.
So I got up the next morning again at 6:00 AM and made a beeline to Crater Lake National Park. The nice folks at the motel said it was about a two hour drive. It would have been if the north entrance was open. It wasn’t due to fire activity. I had to drive another hour around the park to the south entrance and back track to the park.
So it took me a good three hours to make it to the rim and boy was I in for a disappointment. The higher I got, the worse the smoke got. I could barely see the lake below me. At least they weren’t charging the entrance fee which was also a bummer as I had my America the Beautiful pass and didn’t even get to use it.
The smoke was so thick it hurt to breath and my eyes watered. I’ve had several people tell me that they thought Crater Lake was one of the most beautiful spots they had ever been to. I’ll have to take their word for it. I planned to hike Scott Peak but that was pointless and I later found out they had the trailhead closed anyway due to road construction.
This picture of Wizard Island through the smoke was the best I could do. I stayed about a minute and a half before I decided to try and salvage the rest of the day. I was disgusted by the situation. Damn Oregon wildfires. Additionally the facilities I visited were covered in graffiti and litter was everywhere. Even though you couldn’t really see anything the park was surprisingly busy. Visiting this park has been on my bucket list and sadly I will probably never go back.
So I drove almost three more hours taking the longer and less scenic way near Klamath Falls and went with my plan B, the Newberry Caldera south of Bend. Here I used my America the Beautiful Pass to cover the entrance fee. There wasn’t smoke but the previous nights storm left lingering low clouds and fog. At least I could breath.
My first stop was the Big Obsidian Flow. A nice trail with interpretive signs gave me access to all the lava rocks you could ever ask to see.
There was a lot of obsidian which is basically black glass. It was kind of pretty.
The caldera has two lakes in it.
By now the clouds were starting to lift so I decided to hike to the high point of the caldera rim, Paulina Peak. From where I started to the top and back was about a four mile hike. About half way up the views opened and I could see both lakes as well as the central cinder cone.
I even caught a couple of patches of blue skies near the top. I had the trail to myself on the way up.
When I reached the summit, the weather closed in again. It was time to head back down.
On the way down I could see just how big the cliffs I had recently been on top of were.
On my way out I made one more stop to see a pretty little waterfall. They are winding down this time of year but this one was still pretty nice. I bet it’s real impressive during melt off.
Newberry Volcanic National Monument was a cool place to explore. I’m glad I had a backup plan for Crater Lake but it would have been nice to have clear skies here as well. Still clouds are a lot better than smoke. I finished the day by sitting in a traffic jam that closed the freeway back to Bend for two hours. Probably not my best day on a road trip ever.
I left Bend early the next morning and took the long way home. I headed east on US 26 out of Redmond to see the John Jay Fossil Beds. My first stop was the Painted Hills Unit.
The Painted Hills outside of the hamlet of Mitchell is a colorful series of clay hills that are famous both for their striking appearance and also as the site of huge deposits of fossils. Here they are mostly fossils of plants.
I walked several short trails covering maybe a mile and a half to enjoy the view points and read the interpretive signage.
After about an hour and a half I left and headed towards my next stop.
After checking out the visitor center on the advice of the host, I drove a couple of miles south and checked out the Blue Basin.
These eroded deposits of blue/green clay contain the fossils of mostly mammals from prehistoric times. The striking color made the place feel otherworldly.
The round trip on this trail was about a mile and a half.
Eastern Oregon is a big place. Including my short hikes it took me over thirteen hours to get home. At least most of the drive was scenic and lonely.
So my three day trip cost me two nights in an affordable motel and about a hundred dollars in gasoline. I got to see a lot of places I never had before which is a good thing. Crater Lake was disappointing. I had planned to make a lengthy stand alone post about the National Park. Hopefully the next National Park I visit won’t be covered in wildfire smoke.
I took a seven hour drive to the high desert country of central Oregon to spend a couple of nights and explore. On my way to Bend, I stopped at Smith Rock State Park.
This wonderful park is located a couple of miles east of US 97 near the town of Terrebonne about twenty miles north of Bend. I paid the five dollar admission and started walking.
The Misery Ridge Trail is across the river the Crooked River from the parking areas and visitor center. This part of the park is crowded with sightseers.
I walked the loop counter clockwise and would highly recommend that direction. The hike begins with a series of steep switchbacks that soon get you away from most of the crowd. To your left are some shear rock walls that are a Mecca for rock climbers.
And to your right and soon way below you is the river that almost encircles the rocks. The switchbacks are challenging and wooden steps help you in s0me of the steepest sections.
It only takes six tenths of a mile to gain the little over seven hundred feet of elevation to the top. The vegetation on the summit consists of sparse desert shrubs and large juniper trees.
The views from the top are outstanding. You can see the distant Cascade Mountains to the west and appreciate the stunning rock formations below you.
I stayed up here a while to enjoy the view. It was sunny and for the time of year, reasonably cool. Signs at the trailhead warn hikers to bring plenty of water and I did. You can get dehydrated here in a hurry.
A short walk further and you begin the descent on the other side of the ridge next to a prominent rock pillar called Monkey Face.
Here’s the view of this rock from below. It’s pretty clear how it came to acquire such an unusual name. There are rock climbing routes up this feature as well.
Soon you find yourself next to the Crooked River on the far side of Misery Ridge from the trailhead. It is a photogenic stream.
You get to follow the river for a couple of miles back to the starting point which is a great way to wind down after getting your heart pumping crossing over the ridge. Here you can still see Monkey Face just left of center.
The River Trail has a new view around every bend.
At one point you can hear a decent size waterfall across the river but can only get a fleeting view of it through the trees covering the far cliff side. What you can see is awfully nice too.
About half way back to the trailhead I saw a couple of raptors circling overhead. It took me a minute to realize that they were a pair of Golden Eagles. They’re bigger than Bald Eagles.
The rocks are fascinating. The park has dozens of rock wall climbing routes.
And here are a couple of folks trying out one of them.
It took me almost three hours to complete the 3.6 mile loop with a total elevation gain of 908 feet. A lot of that time was spent just stopping to enjoy the views. There are other trails in the park that I would have loved to had time to check out.
I even got to see a couple of lizards. We don’t get them much in the Idaho Panhandle.
I made one last short walk to an overlook on the east side of the canyon to get another perspective.
I enjoyed hiking in Smith Rock State Park. The State of Oregon does a nice job of maintaining this beautiful site. I don’t know if I’ll ever make it out this way again but if I do I’d gladly hike this route again.
Smith Rock State Park turned out to be the highlight of my three day Oregon Road trip and the only adventure along the way worthy of it’s own post. You can check out the rest of the trip here.
