Steamboat with the Nelsons

124 miles northwest of Poat Falls is one of our favorite camping locations. We like to visit during the shoulder season.  Steamboat Rock State Park is a very nice, well-kept, campground with a lot of outdoor fun available.  We were traveling with Steve and Jodi, our next-door neighbors. Looking for a campout, we reserved the two campsites as soon as we could make reservations. Our reservations gave us three nights in the park.

Steamboat Rock on Banks Lake.

The weather during our stay was as spring-like as you could ask for. We had sunshine, wind, and rain, which kept the stay interesting. We rode bikes our first day, then enjoyed nice walks as the weather rolled through.

 

The baby geese were abundant.

We still can't get a good selfie. LOL

This turkey had no fear at our campsite.

Turkey vultures

Return to Steamboat Rock

After ten straight days of cleaning and polishing the exterior of the truck camper, we were ready hit the road again. Wax on, wax off is getting harder to do, but the camper really needed the attention and protection of a good waxing.

With our shiny camper, we drove west through Spokane and Airway Heights, our sights set on Steamboat Rock State Park. We had a rendezvous with our Westport, WA friends, Don and Caroline. We haven't visited with them for overva year and it has been a few years since we all were camping together. 

Our site at Steamboat.

We drove Highway 2 through the wheatlands of northwestern Washington. There were a few sprinkles of rain on the windshield, but no downpours to worry about. The drive was easy, except for one small misshap. As we rolled on down the road we could see something moving way out in front of the truck in the middle of the highway. As we got closer, I could make out a female duck on the center line of the road. I moved closer to the edge of the road. I then started to make out a male duck running next to the female. The hen started to fly which confused the male. He lifted off and flew right into the path of our truck hitting just above the passenger side window. The hen flew away unscathed. The drake was not so lucky and smacked the truck.  It surprised and saddened both Linda and I. If the drake had just lifted off to follow the hen, we would have driven right by. But you know men, they have to go their own way. Bad choice!  We stopped at the rest area a mile down the road and I looked for damage. It made a loud, sickening sound when it hit, but all was well for the truck and camper. Not so well for the drake. Or Linda.

We arrived at the campground a little before 2:00 PM, found our site and settled in. Don and Caroline had arrived the day prior and were already set up and waiting for us.  A friend of the Samulsons, another Linda, was also camping at Steamboat and she came over to their site to chat.

We all spent the rest of the day talking and getting caught up. Caroline fixed a great meal of tortilla soup. I started up our new gas campfire and everyone had a great evening.

Tuesday was a very nice day with bluebird skies, so everyone just hung out and enjoyed the warmth. We fixed chicken fajitas and everyone stuffed themselves.

Wednesday the forecast called for partly cloudy skies, so Caroline and I decided to do the hike/climb up to the top of Steamboat Rock.  We loaded up some water and snacks and told everyone we would see them in a couple hours. Linda laughed, knowing that it would take longer, and told us to keep them posted on our progress. 

On the climb up, we met up with a couple hikers coming down. As they got closer, I thought I recognized one of them. As we passed, I said "Is your name Bob?" At that point he looked at me closer and said "Squirt, is that you?"  Bob and I ran many runs together as Hashers. We hadn't seen each other for about four years. We made introductions and chatted a bit. We said our good byes and off they hiked. Bob called my name and I looked up just in time to get a full moon as he departed. Man, I miss all my Hashing buddies!

Our camper from the base of Steamboat Rock.

We did the hike and got the great views of Banks Lake from the edge of the cliffs. The sun was great and there was a nice warm breeze up on top. The final adventure of the hike was to climb down the trail we had come up. It was steep and a bit slippery from the gravel. We took our time in descending.

We got back down and noted our time. It took us just over 3 hours. Once again I said to everyone, "That is much steeper then I remembered!"  Linda laughed again and rolled her eyes.

Evenings dinner was prepaired by Caroline and we had a wonderful spaghetti dinner. We again talked until dark and then went to bed.

Thursday we woke up to rain and wind. It showered most of the day. I was out walking and met Bob and his wife Barb and they invited me to their trailor. I called Linda and she joined us. Bob and Barb are recently retired and are new to the retirement camping gig. We talked about their plans and we gave them info on how we travel. It was a fun conversation and we really enjoyed our time together.

Back at the camper we watched the rain and caught up on some reading.

We packed up early and drove home Friday morning.

A Fun Three Days

What we do best!

Linda and I took the camper and drove through Spokane and followed Highway 2 northwest over to one of our favorite fall campgrounds at Steamboat Rock State Park. There we met Jacquie and Grant who drove down from Penticton BC.

Our campsites were next to each other and we both had great views of Banks Lake. We spent three days sitting in the sun, talking reading, hiking, and eating. It was such a great time and the weather was fantastic.

The climb up the first slope of Steamboat Rock.

On Monday we hiked/climbed up on to the top of Steamboat Rock and then walked around most of the trail leading around the edge of the rock. In total, we hiked over five miles and got a chance to see all the panoramas provided by this basalt butte. Our hike took us close to the edge of the 800-foot rock faces as we followed a trail paralleling the edge.

The skies started out clear, but as we hiked the clouds moved in and the skies were threatening rain by the time we got back to our campers.

Each year, Linda tries to roll rocks off the 800 ft. edge.

During our stay we had a nice time talking and playing cards each night. Catching up on all that has taken place since our last gathering back in Melaque, Mexico kept the conversations going.

On Wednesday we packed up and said our goodbyes. Jacquie and Grant headed back to Penticton and Linda and I drove southeast to Ellenburgh WA, where we met up with Steve and Jodi our neighbors.

Hiking the basalt rim.

Jerusalem Cricket, in the house! Well, you know.

Looking down at our campsite.

Fall colors of Steamboat Rock State Park.

We are not the only ones enjoying the sun!

Dams and All That

Chief Joseph Dam overlook.

Bridgeport State Park is a very nice small park located on the Columbia River, just outside of Bridgeport, Washington. This park is about 152 miles from Post Falls and takes about 3.5 hours via US 2 W and WA-174 W. We have driven most of the roads on previous trips and so our trip over to the park was a nice drive; uneventful but pleasant.

Grant and Jacquie at Grand Coulee overlook.

We arrived around 1:00 PM and set up in our site, #1. Within an hour Grant and Jacquie arrived and once again we were together for a bit of an adventure. We spent the first evening talking and laughing, ate dinner and then played several games of Skip Bo.

The next morning we loaded into Stinky Jeep and drove past Chief Joseph Dam. The weather was clear and very hot. You might say it was a hot dam day. 

The city of Grand Coulee and the dam.

At the Chief Joseph Dam information pull-out we read the signs at the overlook. It was interesting to read about how the dam was constructed. On to Grand Coulee, where we drove to the overlook and took some photos. 

We took some time to explore the dam visitor center where we watched a movie and explored.  It was very interesting and we learned quite a bit about the history of the lands around Coulee City and the building of the dam.

Creating rivers.

Part of our day's plan was to visit the dam and then drive down to Steamboat Rock and hike to the top of the basalt cliffs. Once we parked at Steamboat and started our hike, we noted the time and how hot it was and decided it might be in our best interest to cancel our climb and go try a different hike. The Northrup Canyon hike had potential to be in the shade part of the hike, so we drove there.

Peek-a-boo!

Northrup Canyon was about six miles back in the direction of Electric City We hiked the upper trail for about a three-mile round trip. The climb was in the shade all the way to an area of switch backs and we made that point our turn around. The hike gave us some great vistas looking back at Steamboat Rock and Banks Lake.

By the time we got back to the Jeep we were all famished and so we drove into Grand Coulee to the Pepper Jack Bar and Grill. We chose this place to eat based on several things. One, it was a Bar and Grill; two it was old, and three it was for sale.  How can you go wrong? We had a very good meal. Everyone got their fill of flavorful restaurant food, served by a nice lady in an air-conditioned old Bar and Grill.

Before and after our Steamboat Rock hike.

It was rather late when we drove back to the park so we decided not to have our planned meal and changed to an easier-to-prepare selection. After dinner, we played Skip Bo and of course, I started smarting off about the US beating Canada in the Skip Bo Championship. Everyone ignored me, but I could feel that the competition was elevated. We went to bed with the series tied 3 games to 3.

Tons of old cans from the dam builders camps.

View from the Northrup Canyon hike.

The Sun is Still Shining!

It’s Monday morning and Linda said to me, “I think this will be our last trip in the camper this year.” I looked at her and shook my head. It’s only October and we have until the end of November to get out and enjoy camping.  This is our annual Steamboat Rock State Park camping trip and I will guarantee that we will get out camping again before we head to Mexico.

Steamboat Rock has been our favorite fall, end of the season, camping adventure.  We usually make the trip over here around Halloween, but this year we have scheduled a bit of surgery for our dog, Kobi around that time.  Kobi has a lump on his back near his butt and we feel we need to give our vet another $500.  Oh, I guess we need to take care of the little mutt, but he is starting to run up quite the tab. He’ll have to do a lot of face licking and acting cute to pay for this.

We drove over to the park on Monday. The weather was misty and foggy all the way over. We entered the area.  Linda and I thought we knew the routine so we picked a spot and as I set up, Linda went over to the usual area to pay. She was back in a short time carrying the check and registration card. We no longer paid there, we had to walk up to the park entry and pay via our credit card. So we walked over and Linda called using the “Yellow” phone. After several minutes and quite a bit of conversation, she hung up and said, “Let’s go, we can’t check in until 2:30 PM.”  We were a bit confused and frustrated. It was now 1:30 PM and we had to walk back to our rig, about a 1/2 mile away, and then come back and call again at 2:30 PM.

Off we walked.  After a few minutes, the park ranger drove up.  We talked for a bit and asked about the process suggesting that they put a note up as you drove in stating that you couldn’t register until 2:30 PM.  He laughed and told us that all we have to do was drop our check into the box at the park entry pay station. He also said that all spots were first come, first serve.  We smiled and reiterated that it was very confusing and he agreed. Off he drove and Linda walked back and dropped our registration check into the box.

The mist had gone and the fog had burned off leaving us to lounge around in the warm sun.  We read and played with Kobi as deer and turkeys sauntered through our campsite.

Tuesday morning Linda and Kobi went for a walk. After their adventure, Linda was soaking up the morning sun and Kobi got stung on the paw by a couple yellow jackets.  It was tragic! At least to Kobi and Linda it was. Kobi was shaking his paw and licking it so we confined him to his leash and Linda and I went for a long hike around the area.  One of my goals was to climb up to the top of Steamboat Rock while we were here.  We have done it many times, but this time it would be with new knees and I wanted to see if they have healed enough to make it to the top.  Today’s climb was postponed due to me having to use the restroom and there is no pot on the top. I’ll make it up tomorrow!

We hiked on and went down to the east end of the park.  The water in Banks Lake is very low, the lowest level of all our visits.  The shores made for great walking and sightseeing so we followed them around to the east face of Steamboat Rock. There were two red tail hawks floating on the air currents above us and just off the huge rock faces.  Suddenly we heard a commotion and looked up to spot one of the hawks attacking a nesting pair of birds.  It was so high up on the cliff face that we couldn’t identify the birds that were attacked, but we could see the hawk as it sat at the nest after the attack.  I took a picture with my camera's telephoto, but just as I got ready for my second shot the battery went dead. So much for my National Geographic Moment!

Back at the camper Kobi was still favoring his paw, but it looked like things would be OK by morning. We sat in the sun, looked at maps and planned our future trips. We took a walk to the west campground area. On the lawn in the middle of everything were 30 turkeys and 22 deer, none of which were afraid of us. Once the sun, set we went inside, fixed dinner and played cribbage. The series is now tied at two apiece. We decided that we can’t go home in the morning because we are now in a best of five series.

We packed up the camper and headed out to Electric Avenue; I mean Electric City and turned North.

We decided to take a different route home, one that we had never driven and one that could lead us to another night's camping.  After driving through Grand Coulee and Coulee City we followed Highway 153 to split on to #13 Cache Creek Road where we drove easterly. This took us over a pass to Highway 21 and ended at Republic WA. We followed Highway 20 southeast and went over Sherman Pass ending on Highway 25 at Kettle Falls. We followed Lake Roosevelt’s eastern shore until we found Gifford Campground.

Gifford was right on the lake and we were one of four rigs using its campsites. There must have been 80 sites available so all of the RVs were spread out and individual camps were very private. Our site looked west over the lake. It was very pretty. About a quarter mile down lake was a free ferry that operated during the day.  It crossed over the lake about every half hour and seemed to always be loaded with vehicles.

We left Gifford and drove the scenic highway south. At Davenport, we turned east and drove through Spokane and on to home.