hike to northrup canyon

I have really enjoyed spending the last few months exploring lots of places around Eastern Washington, but now that the weather is getting warmer, I am excited to be getting outside and exploring some places in my new big backyard, Grant County.  The past two weekends I have gone on two different and very beautiful hikes, both about an hour from our home in Moses Lake: Northrup Canyon and Ancient Lakes.  I intended to write about both hikes in this posting, but both were so wonderful I decided they should each get their own entry.  Below is my summary of the trip to Northrup Canyon.  Be sure to check back next week to hear about Ancient Lakes!

I took the hike to Northrup Canyon on April 15, and was joined by my friend Janet, who drove in from Seattle for a short escape from the perpetual west-side rain.  We left Moses Lake about ten in the morning, and spent the next hour or so on the road cruising through the coulees, until we finally reached our destination, less than ten miles from the enormous Grand Coulee Dam.  If you are not familiar with the term, “coulee” it generally means “a deep ravine.”  In Eastern Washington, “coulee” refers specifically to the deep canyons gouged in the bedrock by the Columbia River as it forged its path to the coast eons ago. 

The dramatic views along the road made the drive itself worth the trip to Northrup Canyon.   We snaked around the cliffs that form the edges of the coulees, and at every turn it seemed we would gasp and say “isn’t that beautiful!”  The multicolored rocks soared alternately over dry valley floors or bodies of water such as Banks Lake.  Due to the recent rains in this area, the sage brush and other plants gave a fuzzy, light green hue to normally-dry fields and plains.  As we reached Steamboat Rock, only a few miles from our destination, we could really see why it was so named.  In the middle of Banks Lake, Steamboat Rock rises like a giant river liner, such as the one in “Show Boat.”  Northrup Canyon is actually part of the Steamboat Rock State Park Recreation Area, which contains many other hikes and outdoor activities, but those we would save for another day.

We reached the Northrup Canyon trailhead a little before noon, and were lucky to have the trail practically to ourselves.  There were no more than four cars in the parking area on this beautiful Sunday.  It was quite different from my recent hiking experiences in the Cascade Mountains, where our little group found ourselves enjoying the outdoors with 500 of our closest friends.  A sign at the trailhead gave some background information about the site.  Northrup Canyon had once been the site of the homestead of John Warden Northrup, who planted the first orchard in this area.  Although the canyon’s location is now quite remote, at that time, the Northrup family was not short of visitors.  Since Northrup Canyon lay on the old stagecoach line between Almira and Bridgeport, the Northrups often had travelers passing through.  The Northrup homestead was also home to a large makeshift camp of people during the harvest time, all of whom helped pick the vegetables and fruit, and were paid in kind for their help.

Another distinction that Northrup Canyon holds is that it is the site of Grant County’s only forest.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Washington, the “Evergreen State,” has an entire county with only one forest in a little patch of land.  The forest is quite lovely, if small.  It consists of typical Eastern Washington evergreens, lodgepole and ponderosa pines, as well as some aspen and willow closer in the wetter ground near Northrup Creek.  We reached the trees after walking only about a quarter of a mile, and left them after we covered about the same amount of ground.  We didn’t mind leaving the shelter of the trees, however, because at once the view opened up we were treated to gorgeous vistas of the surrounding granite and basalt canyon walls, the colors of which varied from rusty red to chocolate brown to deep black. 

We continued along the well-maintained and generally level trail through meadows along the canyon floor until we reached an abandoned farmhouse, all that remains of the Northrup homestead.  If you are looking to do a relatively short and easy hike, this would be a good point to turn around and go back to the trailhead.  We decided to go on past the farm house, as we had heard that the remaining trail was beautiful, if challenging.  So we climbed up along the side of the old house and continued to the trail’s terminus at Northrup Lake.

The trail after the farm house became more like a true hike, becoming steeper, rockier and narrower as we climbed toward the top of the canyon walls.  The rugged trail was still gorgeous, though.  We re-entered stands of ponderosas interspersed with granite and basalt boulders.  If you ever go to Northrup Canyon and hike your way to the lake, be sure to bring your sturdy hiking shoes, lots of water, and a camera.  It is amazing the different views the trail affords even with a little gain in elevation.  Being more out of shape than Janet, I was stopping more frequently than I’d like to admit.  But at least I had the excuse of another gorgeous vista to photograph.   It really was spectacular to take in the sweeping views of the greening canyon floor, the distant cliffs near Banks Lake and the crystal clear blue sky.

As we climbed further, we saw a lot of big birds of prey waiting for their next meal to scurry over the canyon floor.  Most were too far up to identify, but we did see one majestic bald eagle circling overhead.  The other large, dark shapes circling above were a reminder for me to invest in a pair of binoculars and a good bird book.  According to the hike’s write-up on the Washington Trails Association website, many owls also take shelter in this wood.  We did not spot any owls, as they tend to be elusive, especially in the daylight.  We did, however, see evidence of their residence with the many owl “pellets” scattered along the trail.  At least we hope they were owl pellets and not our second guess: mountain lion poop.  

We continued up the rocky trail, up and up, until it seemed that we were nearly level with the other side of the canyon.  From here it was even easier to see the soaring birds and the vistas of the other coulees and the forest.  Thankfully for my lungs and thighs, the trail evened out after a while, going through a meadow of long, still-yellow grass from which poked a few early wildflowers.  I have heard that later in the spring this trail is quite spectacular for flowers.  I may have to return in a couple weeks and see how it looks when it’s even greener.  

After passing through the meadow, we hiked over another small, grassy hill and caught sight of Northrup Lake.  Truthfully, it seemed more like a pond, just a small but tranquil pool surrounded alternately by rocky boulders and marshy grass.    The lake was so calm that it perfectly reflected the surrounding hills, except when the surface was interrupted by the frequently jumping fish.  If my dad had been there, he would have known what type of fish was likely to be in that lake, but I have spent most of my life avoiding fishing trips and so couldn’t even venture a guess.  Whatever the fish were, they were small and hungry!  There must have been some good bugs out there for the fishies to munch on.

Speaking of munching, the lake was the perfect place for Janet and me to sit and enjoy our lunch, a hodgepodge of fruit, nuts, crackers, cheese, cookies and hard candies.  The large, warm rocks surrounding the lake were a perfect spot to rest, eat and enjoy the view.  The sun felt so nice, it was hard to turn around and hike back to the car.

Luckily, the hike back was just as gorgeous going out as coming in, and actually it seemed almost like doing an entirely new hike, since all the beautiful views seemed new and different going along the trail in the opposite direction.  We returned to the car tired but feeling accomplished and full of some much-needed vitamin D from the sun. 

The drive back to Moses Lake was quieter than our drive up, as we were now feeling a bit drained by the sun and the physical exertion.  However, we did manage to make a couple short stops on our way home.  First stop was a for some photo ops along Banks Lake.  Banks Lake had previously also been a dry canyon, but is now a reservoir formed by two dams on either end of the Grand Coulee.  Built as part of the Columbia Basin Project, Banks Lake is 27 miles long and is a popular recreation spot in northeastern Washington, where tourists can fish, hike, camp and do a number of other activities.  The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife provides excellent detailed information about Banks Lake on their website.

Our next stop on the way home was Dry Falls.  As you may have guessed from the name, Dry Falls was once the site of a waterfall, the world’s largest, in fact.  At 3.5 miles long, in its time it was more than three times the size of Niagra Falls.  Dry Falls resulted from the mass of rushing water caused by the collapse of Glacier Lake Missoula at the end of the Ice Age.   From the viewpoint along Highway 17, you can see the cliffs where the waterfall once flowed.  We would have liked to check out the visitor’s center and explore some more, but it was getting late so we just took the opportunity to get a few photos and then were on our way.  More information about the very-interesting history of Dry Falls and Lake Missoula can be found at gonorthwest.com, or by watching the movie Ice Age: The Meltdown. 

After leaving Dry Falls, it took us another 45 minutes to reach Moses Lake, and by that time Janet and I were really ready for a rest.  Unfortunately, Janet still had the long drive back to Seattle ahead of her, but luckily she made it back home safely.  After I showered the dusty trail away and put on my non-hiking clothes, Steve and I relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful sunny evening with a glass of wine on the balcony.  I couldn’t have asked for a better Sunday afternoon and evening!