Umatilla Rock/Boy Scout Trails: Sun Lakes/Dry Falls State Park, WA

We are here in Eastern Washington because we don’t want to lose the hiking mo-jo we had acquired on our 7-month road trip. 

We will have three days of hiking, then go on to the Tri-Cities to do the Inland Empire Bike Ride with Jules—another step in our preparation for the Seattle to Portland  (STP) ride.  Last week we did a ride with him called the Brews Cruise.  Started at a brewery, rest stop at a brewery, ended at a brewery. 

Given that we are not dedicated beer drinkers we gave away half of our beer coupons.  We were popular.

The ride was fun.

Next day we headed for Eastern Washington.  We had a reservation in the RV section at Dry Falls State Park, but were allowed to look around the campground to see if there was a spot we liked better.  We found one—no hookups, but we don’t need hookups.  Our solar panel keeps us all charged up, and so as long as we can get water we are fine.  So we have a very nice place at the end of a cul-de-sac, with nobody close.  And saved money, which is always good.

 

Quail and other birds run through our site and up on the hill behind us.  Deer run through our back yard, and so do groundhogs and snakes.  Very pleasant.

The first hike we took was the Umatilla Rock/Boy Scout Trai.  The hike begins at the campground.  It goes a mile and a half on the Boy Scout Trail, which isn’t too special but is a nice trail through the coulee. 

Know what a coulee is?  I didn’t.  It is a big dry ravine.  This one was formed by a huge waterfall (many times larger than Niagara Falls) sometime around the last ice age.

After we hiked to the end of the Boy Scout Trail we came to the trailhead for the Umatilla Rock trail.  It is a loop trail.  We decided to do it clockwise, although wish we had done it counter clockwise, as I will explain.

The Umatilla rock is a huge monument in the middle of the coulee.  Many years ago it was an island in the sea of water when the huge bluffs on all sides were a giganteous waterfall. 

 

 

Going clockwise, we walked by several small lakes to a place where the map indicated we were to double back, and then take a steep incline over the Umatilla Rock, which we did.  

 

 

 

 

It was odd in that up until this point the trail (and the Boy Scout Trail) were extremely clearly marked.  Even color coded! 

But here the trail markers stopped.  All we could see was the faint outline of a trail heading over the Umatilla Rock through a gap.  Because there were no markers, because the map indicated that was where we were to go, and because other hikers had obviously gone there, so did we.  The trail map led us through this gap, which from here doesn't look too bad.

But up close it was wicked--more of a scramble than a hike.  Steep, with loose dirt and rocks.  When we got to the little notch in the rock and started down, I did it on my butt.  Last thing in the world I wanted to do was to slip and twist my already tender knee.  I scooted down the other side like I was on a park slide.  

 

 

 

 

No markers along the way up, at the top, or on the way down. 

But at the bottom of where we got down we saw another trail marker, suggesting we had gone the “correct” way.  The view on the other side was terrific:

According to the map, at this point we were to head west back to the trail head.  It looked to be about a mile.  But at this trail marker we could see the faint outline of a trail heading east.  Looking at the map, it appeared that if we went a quarter mile or so we could scoot around the east side of Umatilla Rock and get back to where we had, perhaps foolishly, tried to climb over it.  So we followed this trail, and found we were correct.

However, this ½ mile trail back to where we had climbed through the gap was not an official trail—there were no markers.

But we don’t know why anyone would design a trail for the Umatilla Rock that took you over such treacherous ground.  The hike to that point would have been classified as “Easy” but the climb up and down would be, as mentioned, more of a scramble than a hike—not for anyone inexperienced and who didn’t have trekking poles. 

So, our recommendation is that you follow the trail counter clockwise instead of clockwise as we did.  When you reach a marker showing a steep trail up over the notch, ignore it.  Instead, keep going east on the faintly marked trail and you will go around the Umatilla rock (instead of over it) and end up in the same place.  Then go to the bathroom (literally) and you will pick up the trail going west.  This trail is behind the bathroom, so don’t get fooled and take the trail in the front of it—that’s the one that goes to the notch.

Do it like this:

 

 

 (Another in our I-really-know-how-to-take-a-girl-out-to-lunch photos)?  When you get to the point of the arrow in the above photo there will be a bathroom.  We ate lunch there, but you could do other things I guess.  In my defense, it was the only shade on the planet, I think.  Anyway, pick up the trail on the other side of it:

We saw some beautiful, and unusual, country today.  We also saw a rattle snake that crossed right in front of our path.  It coiled up on the other side, so we gave it wide berth.  It shook its rattle angrily at us.  But maybe it was trying to say “go counter clockwise!”