Best Desert Hikes: Washington by Alan Bauer

Author:Alan Bauer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780898869293
Publisher: Mountaineers Books

A bucket of rusted, unused railroad spikes along the Milwaukee Railroad trail

45 WHITE BLUFFS–NORTH SLOPE

Round trip 8 miles

Hiking time 4 to 5 hours

Difficulty Easy

Starting elevation 400 feet

High point 700 feet

Best season Year-round

Maps Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Priest Rapids

Contact Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

Permits/passes Discover Pass required

From Ellensburg, drive east on Interstate 90 to Vantage and across the Columbia River. Immediately after crossing the river, turn right (south) at exit 137 onto State Route 26 and continue 0.9 mile to a junction with SR 243. Turn right onto SR 243 and drive 14.3 miles, then turn left (east) onto the Mattawa Highway/SR 24 Cutoff Road (signed as “24SW”). Drive 13.8 miles along this straight road to its junction with SR 24. Turn left onto SR 24. Just past milepost 63, turn right onto the dirt road signed “Wahluke National Wildlife Refuge” and guarded with a huge solar-powered gate system, which closes at night. Drive 4.0 miles to an intersection, turn right and head down the hill 1.3 miles to a pullout area by large trees. Park here and walk up toward the faint trail you will see on the slopes north of the parking pullout. The parking area is closed from 2 hours after dusk until 2 hours before sunrise.

The mighty Columbia River has been called the Heart of the West. Lewis and Clark and their famous Corps of Discovery journeyed along the wild waters of the Columbia nearly two hundred years ago as they sought to open the West to U.S. expansion. The river is filled with the waters from millions of acres of wilderness, but humans long ago tamed this massive river—at least most of it. Purely through serendipity, the lonely Hanford Reach is the last free-flowing stretch of the Columbia River. This section was undammed simply because the sensitive nature of the work being done at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation prevented such massive projects as a dam from being completed within its borders.

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