Thursday 8/24/00
Day 7: Ellensburg, Sun Lakes, Grand Coulee Dam
I left Chehalis early in the morning and drove south on I-5 about ten miles where I turned east on highway 12. This would take me in between Mt Rainier and Mt St Helens. It was foggy early this morning and wasn't able to see much but it was expected to be a nice day later this afternoon. I passed Mayfield Lake, Riffe Lake and and thru the logging town of Morton. Morton is alwasy a goo dplace to stop and get supplies if yougoing south thoward St Helens.
We continue east on highway 12 and will follow the Cowlitz River and go over White Pass. There are several back roads around here that have many waterfalls, camp areas and trails to walk on. We didn't stop as it was still foggy out and continued toward Yakima. We passed Rimrock Lake and eventualy came to Yakima. The fog had lifted once we were on the other side of the Caascades as we turned north on State 821 and took the Yakima Canyon Road. This was the first time we've taken this road which follows the Yakima River with rolling hills for the next twenty-seven miles. There were quite a few fisherman out this morning and pretty quiet, only a couple cars passing us the other way.
I finally stopped at Ellensburg
to drive around as I was getting tired of driving on the highway. Cook Canyon
Rd. looked like an interesting gravel road that would be a shortcut to Wenatchee
over Colokum Pass. As it turned into gravel I came to a wire gate over the road
that was to keep the cows inside. There was a sign that asked that people to
please close it as they continued to drive on.. The road had a creek on the
right side of it with also medow areas for pitching tent and camping. There
were a couple groups camping here with both of them bringing trailers with hoses
to take on trails. I drove for about twenty miles and then came to a Y intersection.
I made the wrong turn and came to a dead end and was also running into snow.
I turned around and decided to go back to Ellensburg
rather than take Cook Canyon Rd further as this would go thru higher elevation
on gravel road. They were also rebuilding the road with new rock, which I didn't
want to continue as it looked like they had had some washouts during the winter.
I drove back onto pavement and took the Old Vantage Rd east and would stop at the Ginkgo Petrified Forest around 6:00pm. The park building was closed but you could still walk along the trail and look at the petrified wood. The Ginkgo is a tree that used to grow are in a humid swampy area before the ice age. It's hard to imagine that Vantage used to be in a forested area as it is now coverd by a desert enviorment. The tour itself wasn't real impressive when I saw that the wood was caged in so humans would not damage it. You couldn't get a real good view of the wood and I left after about fifteen minutes.
I
drove thru Vantage, past the Columbia River and continued on I-90 for about
ten miles before turning N on state 283. This would be farming area with Ephrata
and Soap Lake being two small towns located here. At Soap Lake I went north
on 17 and here the scenary starts changing into more canyons and large basalt
rock on both sides of the valley. There are also many lakes as I first drove
by Soap
Lake which is a couple miles long. Next would be Lenora, Alkai, Blue and
Park lakes. There were boats in all of these lakes as I drove by. The last three
lakes are right next to the road and many vehicles would park on the side to
fish and camp overight
Sun
Lakes State Park is next as there are many things to do in this vicinity
with fishing, camping, waterfalls and trails to take in this large park. I stopped
at Dry Falls Junction to
view the Dry Falls Lake in the circular valley that had camping available. It
is suggested that this was one of the largest waterfalls in the world right
after the ice age when the Columbia River was much larger. The view is impressive
if you can imagine a waterfall that used to be here millions of years ago. Park
Lake is also in the state park area as this is where most of the camping facilities
are. There are eight more smaller lakes within the park that is accessable by
road or trails.
I
next drove to Summer Falls State
Park, which is east of the Sun Lakes State park. This was a quiet little
place that had a nice picnic area. It is kind of in the middle of nowhere and
not near any main highway. There was only one other couple here around 8:00
as I took some pictures. The falls only has water flowing during the spring
and summer time as it is irrigation water runoff that forms the waterfalls.
There is also a reminder not to swim in this lake as there is a plaque here
explaining the drowning of three kids by getting lost in whirlpools in the lake.
There are trails that let you wallk around Billy Clapp Lake. I will come back
here for a picnic some day but there is no overnight camping allowed..
I still wasn't tired,. so I decided to drive N on highway 155 along Bank Lake until coming to Grand Coulee city. I drove around here as this is a nice clean town that stretches from the base of the dam to the hills overlooking the valley. Electric City is also a smaller town just a couple miles away from the dam. There is a new casino that has just been built in the last couple years. It is located on the north side of the dam and seems to be doing good busines at least on Friday nights. Rather than gamble, I was hungry and went back in town to eat at the Rockin' Robin Drive-In. This place was like the old diners as you could have outside service and they were playing 60's music over the intercom. I had a large hamburger and root beer shake as both were good and reminded me how they used to be. I was also hearing Sonny & Cher and the Supremes on the intercom as it made you feel like you were in another decade. You must try this place for a meal if you come into town
I drove back towards the Sun Lake area afterward because I wanted to see the Lake Lenora Caves in the morning. I was going to sleep here if I felt comfortable as the parking lot was 1/2 mile off the highway. I parked around 10:00 and put my sleeping bag outside as it was a clear warm night and the stars were bright becasue there are very few towns in the area. I woke up in the middle of the night as I heard somebody walking close to the truck. It sounded like a father and son, but I had never heard a car and couldn't imagine anybody walking here. They almost stepped on me when I asked them what time it was. They said it was 1:30, I said thanks and I never heard from them again as they continued to walk past me. I fell back asleep five minutes later.
I drove 450 miles today and 2000 total