Happy to say we're having a sneak peek of Spring today....47 degrees and sunny! This weather can totally start a "jones" for camping, but for now we'll have to be content to revisit the last one in photos. The Tucannon River in the Blue Mountains of southeastern Washington is a favorite weekend camping trip for us. It's close by, has an abundance of private camping sites and is a great place for trout fishing, hiking and horseback riding.
Unfortunately, a lot of the lower areas were burned in forest fires last summer, but if you drive up far enough, there's still plenty of forest that remains untouched.
Along the Tucannon River there's a wide assortment of wildlife. It's a hunter's paradise in the fall. There's also an historic ranger outpost and a trout hatchery you can check out. Both very cool! And if you run low on supplies, you can drive a few miles up the road to a great little store at the KOA campground. They have just about anything you can think of!
This photo was taken at The Lewis and Clark Trail State Park campground on the Touchet River near Walla Walla Washington. It's a neat little State Park with fishing and hiking as well as some cool historic information about The Lewis and Clark Expedition. Apparently they had a hard winter here and resorted to eating their dogs! Hard for us to imagine, being the doting pet parents of two!
The Lewis and Clark Trail State Park has campgrounds on both sides of Highway 12. The East campground closes in September but the west side is open year round. It's a good place to stop for a bathroom break on your way down to The Blue Mountains for skiing or snowboarding.
Lost Lake is tucked up in the foothills of Mt. Rainier. We love to kayak and fish for trout on this lake. The water lilies are abundant (pretty much surround the entire lake) and gorgeous when they're in bloom! You can hike all the way around the lake in only 40 minutes for some quick exercise before hitting the lawn chairs and cooler to listen to all the sounds of the evening.
Rimrock Lake, The Tieton River and White Pass are nearby and are also very popular places to camp. The Tieton River is listed in The Road Atlas as one of the top places to white water kayak.
We still prefer Lost Lake. It's off the beaten path and never crowded. Our kind of camping! : )
Palouse Falls. An awesome place! Anyone who's interested in the Ice Age Floods should visit! It's the only major waterfall left along the glacial flood path created 15,000 years ago.
It's hard to get the idea of how enormous these falls are from the pictures. They drop 200ft!
In 1968, 1.25 miles upstream, archeologists unearthed the remains of a 10,000 year old man.
In springtime, the snow run-off can make the falls double in volume. Spring and early summer are the best times to visit. But as you can see from our photos, they're pretty impressive in the fall as well. This year we plan to explore more of the Channel Scablands. They stretch from the Grand Coulee Dam all the way down to the Blue Mountains. And that's just in Washington State! PBS has a fascinating episode of NOVA if you're interested in this incredible event. It's called Mystery of the MegaFlood. Check it out online. It's good stuff!!
Posts
