Lori's Travels

The atmospheric river that had hit western Washington in recent days made its way to the Colville area by this morning, Monday. We drove southeast starting around 9 a.m. and it rained the whole way to our first stop, Mount Spokane State Park. I didn’t take any pictures because of the poor visibility and miserable conditions from rain, wind, and low-hanging clouds on the mountain. We didn’t stay long.

We hoped to hit two parks at once at our next stop, which was closer to the city of Spokane. The Centennial Trail and Riverside State Park overlap each other over a stretch of mileage, so we looked to take advantage of that overlap. As Dave reminisced about the years he lived in Spokane and the weather cleared, we drove to the part of Riverside Park called Bowl and Pitcher for the rock formations in the Spokane River. In that campground is a suspension bridge, the Swinging Bridge, that lets you off at the Centennial Trail. We walked to that spot and celebrated checking off the final two parks from the trip list by eating our lunch at a table next to the trail overlooking the river.

Afterwards, going into downtown Spokane, we found a reasonably priced hotel called The Centennial by Davenport that’s on the riverfront opposite from the main part of town. It was early afternoon and the weather was partly sunny and quite windy. After registering, we dropped our stuff and walked through the riverfront area where Expo ‘74 had been held, a nice park that stretches along the river.

We ambled through the park enjoying the views, then walked a few blocks into the downtown business area. Dave found a restaurant that he remembered from his youth, The Onion, where we dined on the onion rings that it’s known for, plus salads. Then we headed back across the river to the hotel.

Tomorrow will be our return trip home, straight across the state via Interstate 90.

It was sunny in Colville this morning while we ate the hotel’s breakfast and got underway. We saw a group of six Harley Davidson motorcycle riders in the breakfast room too, talking about their day of riding ahead. Our destination was northeast from Colville to one of the most remote parks, Crawford State Park, very close to the Canadian border.

Leaving the hotel about 8:30 a.m., we drove north and first visited a place along the Pend Oreille River called Peewee Falls near Boundary Dam. It was a very peaceful and pretty place about 90 minutes away that we had all to ourselves. Not very many people in this part of Washington. While we were at the falls, we saw a bird that was new to both of us, a Red-naped Sapsucker.

We then backtracked a little bit, driving through the small town of Metaline Falls to get to Crawford State Park. The weather was cloudy by then, but temperatures were still pleasant, in the 60s. In the park, we learned from a ranger where the trailhead was for a half-mile trail to the Canadian border. I wanted to do that short hike and it took us through the forest to the border, marked by a sign.

The ranger also told us that both black and grizzly bears are seen in the park, as well as cougars, elk and moose, so she recommended that we make noise as we walked so they would hear us and stay away. Dave and I talked during the entire hike to insure we were heard by any and all wildlife.

The clouds looked somewhat threatening by the time we returned from the hike, so we chose to eat our picnic lunch in the truck. There were mosquitoes that helped us make that decision too. We stayed in the park after lunch for the experience we had reserved two months prior: a free tour of the park’s Gardner Cave, which was set for 2 p.m.

The lady ranger, Sandy, who we had talked to before, led our one-hour tour. There were maybe 10 other people taking it at the same time. She gave us some background about the discovery and initial use of the cave, then she led us down into it.

We walked down metal stairs and walkways into the well-lit cave while Sandy provided very interesting geological, historical and biological information about it. When we had walked a ways and were at the end of the walkway, she turned out the lights for a few minutes so we could experience total blackness, then she turned on a black light flashlight so we could see what the various types of rock and other materials in the cave looked like in that light. It was all quite interesting and a great tour, especially for free.

After the tour ended around 3 p.m. Dave and I decided it would be best to head back to the Comfort Inn in Colville, which we had liked, rather than drive a longer distance toward Spokane and perhaps end up in some small town along the way that didn’t have a decent hotel. And it was raining steadily. So we returned on wide open Highway 20 to Colville, after which we again enjoyed the hotel’s free happy hour and a picnic dinner from the grocery store next door.

Gray skies greeted us this morning in Winthrop. After a 7 a.m. breakfast in the hotel’s lobby, we took off eastbound on Highway 20. Our first stop was Conconully State Park, northwest of Omak. It was a relatively small park next to a small lake and nothing too special. There were a group of off-road vehicle riders there shooting the breeze as we drove around the campground. We didn’t stay long in the park, instead driving back to Highway 20 and continuing east. It was a pleasant drive on a scenic road with very little traffic. This is definitely a less-populated corner of the state.

Our next stop was Curlew Lake State Park near the town of Republic. This was a nicer park, again on the shores of a lake. We walked around on a short trail, spotting a Common Loon on the lake and other birds. Three deer crossed our path not far away. After we saw them, we wondered if there was a chance of ticks being in the area. We walked back to a picnic table and before eating lunch, we checked ourselves for ticks. Sure enough, there was one on my pant leg, which I quickly flicked off. We didn’t find any others, so we enjoyed lunch. But just before exiting the park, after I had Dave take a photo of me next to the park sign, I found another one on my pant leg that had apparently come from my walk through tall grass to the sign. I flicked it off too. Yuck!

Highway 20 east of Curlew Lake took us over Sherman Pass at 5575 feet. We saw a few wildfire areas along the way, both older ones and more recent. On the way down from the pass, we were stopped so a large herd of cattle could go by. They were being herded by several men and women on horseback. It was quite the sight and sound experience!

We crossed the Columbia River at Kettle Falls and continued driving into the city of Colville. We decided to stay at the Comfort Inn there and discovered it was a great choice when we heard the registration clerk say there was a free happy hour from 4-6 p.m. in the lobby with beer, wine and snacks. Jackpot!

Dave’s truck had been spattered with cow manure after driving where the cattle herd had been, so we went to a car wash in town to clean it off. Then we picked up some cold dinner things from the grocery store next to the hotel and took advantage of the hotel happy hour offer, which even included my favorite hard apple cider as a drink.

The clouds that had been present all day finally cleared off and the sun came out after we ate our cold dinner. And great news came in the evening when I got a call from a ranger at Alta Lake State Park saying my camera had been turned in to the office there and they were willing to mail it to me at home. A very good day!

Another sunny day dawned in Chelan this morning. After enjoying the hotel breakfast, we hit the road to see three state parks. We ended the day with four more parks under our belts but on the negative side, I lost my camera. So the photos you’ll see in today’s post are Dave’s.

We began by going north along the western edge of Lake Chelan to visit Lake Chelan State Park and Twenty-five Mile Creek State Park. Both were very nice lakeside parks with docks. Twenty-five Mile Creek Park had an impressive concrete breakwater protecting a small marina from waves coming from the north. They must get some powerful north winds and waves there!

The creek is named that because it marks the approximate halfway point of Lake Chelan’s 50-mile length. And the western lake front road ends just a little beyond this point. We turned south, back to the city of Chelan., where we stopped at the Safeway store to pick up some groceries for lunch and dinner.

Then we headed to Alta Lake State Park near Pateros. There we found a beautiful small lake nestled in the bowl of rocky peaks all around. It was birdy too, including several American Coots each with a cute chick following behind. But it was here, somewhere, that I left my small digital camera behind. I was too focused on the birds and not enough on my gear, which included my binoculars, cell phone, hat, backpack and the camera. I didn’t discover the loss until 35 miles later at the fourth park of the day.

We drove through the Methow Valley, through Twisp and Winthrop, and noticed that Pearrygin Lake State Park was just a couple miles beyond Winthrop, so we decided to add that park to the day’s visits. When we stopped to take a photo of me and the park sign, I discovered that I no longer had my camera and also decided it wasn’t worth going back for because the 35-mile drive had been tiring and the Alta Lake park rangers didn’t answer the phone so I couldn’t verify that it had been turned in as lost. So it’s just lost (after serving me well for many years) and I’ll need to use my phone’s camera for the rest of the trip.

We returned to Winthrop and decided to stay in the Abby Creek Inn at the edge of town, next to the Methow River. It was a pleasant 73 degrees there in the afternoon. Our dinner was made up from the various grocery items we had picked up in Chelan.

Last night we decided to go off-script from our itinerary today since we had visited two more state parks yesterday than planned. We decided to make today a no-park day and instead take the Lady of the Lake ship on Lake Chelan to the far north end of the lake and see the tiny town of Stehekin. So after breakfast at the hotel, we drove the short distance to the dock and bought ourselves tickets for a day tour to Stehekin and back that left at 8:30 a.m. It was a beautifully sunny morning, although cool and windy.

A smaller and faster boat then the Lady of the Lake was scheduled to run today, named the Lady Express. It was a 2.5 hour ride north to Stehekin with several stops along the way to pick up and drop off passengers. There was great Eastern Washington scenery along the way.

Once at Stehekin, a town of about 85 people that swells in the summer season, we took a short bus tour to Rainbow Falls about 3 miles from the dock.

There’s not too much in Stehekin: a general store, post office, lodge, national park office, and then some houses in the woods, some of which are rentals for tourists. The bus drove past all those, dropped a few people off at a bakery and gift shop, then stopped at the waterfall. We had 15 minutes to take it in, then the bus returned us to the bakery where we had another 15-minute stop where we could buy food, drinks or gifts. Dave and I ate the lunch snacks we had brought along while sitting in the sunshine there. Then the bus drove us back to the dock to reboard the Lady Express for our return. We spent a total of 90 minutes in Stehekin.

The return boat ride was a little faster, since we only made one intermediate stop along the way. We were back in Chelan before 3:30. The temperature had warmed up to nearly 70 degrees and the wind had ceased, so it was a pleasant afternoon. We picked up a couple dinner items at the local Safeway and went back to the same hotel where we had been last night.

Tomorrow we’ll be back to the planned state park itinerary.