{"id":3465,"date":"2016-09-11T08:10:34","date_gmt":"2016-09-11T14:10:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=3465"},"modified":"2019-03-16T10:16:41","modified_gmt":"2019-03-16T16:16:41","slug":"dry-falls-crossing-the-columbia-river-wa-8-19-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=3465","title":{"rendered":"Dry Falls & Crossing the Columbia River, WA (8-19-12)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 12 of Lupe’s 2012 Dingo Vacation to the West Coast.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lupe and SPHP went down to Howard Lake early in the morning before Lanis was up.\u00a0 The lake was calm and quiet.\u00a0 Even the fishermen weren’t up yet.\u00a0 Perfect!\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP took the single track trail heading S along the E shore.<\/p>\n

Lupe saw ducks floating peacefully on the lake.\u00a0 She crossed a tiny inlet stream.\u00a0 Near the S end of the lake, the trail\u00a0left the shoreline and went back into the cedar forest.\u00a0 A large crane was spooked by SPHP’s approach,\u00a0and flew away with a great flapping of wings.\u00a0 Lupe found a few early-rising squirrels.\u00a0 SPHP did as much as possible to discourage her from barking at this early hour.<\/p>\n

Looking back to the N, it was possible to see some of the higher mountains to the NW\u00a0Lupe had seen the evening before on the mysterious Great Northern Mountain Trail No. 117.\u00a0 At the very S end of the lake, Lupe crossed another small inlet stream, shortly before reaching the broad cedar-lined trail on the W side of the lake.<\/p>\n

By the time Lupe and SPHP had completed their circumnavigation of Howard Lake, Lanis was stirring.\u00a0 It was time to break camp, and continue W.\u00a0 Lupe was soon on her way.\u00a0 NW of Libby,\u00a0a\u00a0huge beautiful river, the Kootenai, flowed NW paralleling Hwy 2.\u00a0 Near Troy; Lanis, Lupe and SPHP turned S on Hwy 56 in order to go\u00a0see the Ross Creek Scenic Area Giant Cedars<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The turn for the Giant Cedars off Hwy 56 was 0.5 mile\u00a0S of Bull Lake.\u00a0 The side road ended at a trailhead 4 miles from the highway.\u00a0 Lupe, Lanis and SPHP all took the 1 mile loop trail through the towering forest.\u00a0 A small creek meandered through the area, and the trail crossed it several times.\u00a0 The ancient\u00a0western red cedars\u00a0had huge trunks.\u00a0 Ferns and moss grew between the monstrous trees.\u00a0 The forest felt prehistoric, like a dinosaur could come crashing along at any time.\u00a0 Lupe hadn’t been allowed to go on the Trail of the Cedars in Glacier National Park, but the Ross Creek Scenic Area Giant Cedars had to be just as impressive.<\/p>\n

Lupe’s travels continued.\u00a0 Hwy 200 took her W into Idaho for the 1st time.\u00a0 Idaho became the 4th Lupe state!\u00a0 Soon huge Lake Pend Oreille was in view SW of the highway.\u00a0 At the N end of Pend Oreille, 3 bears ran across the road, right in broad daylight.\u00a0 They were gone in a flash.\u00a0 At Sandpoint, Lupe got back on Hwy 2 again.\u00a0 Washington became the 5th Lupe state.\u00a0 The American Dingo’s empire was expanding rapidly!<\/p>\n

Hwy 2 took Lupe through Spokane, and then out onto barren plains in eastern Washington state.\u00a0 The area is probably quite pretty at other times of the year, but in late August it felt like a desert.\u00a0 It had been 95\u00b0F back in Sandpoint, ID, and it wasn’t any less out here.\u00a0 The sun beat down mercilessly.<\/p>\n

The Element was air conditioned, of course.\u00a0 Lupe rode in comfort past yellow wheat fields, and many black fields that had burned or been plowed under.\u00a0 Dust devils whirled across the desolate landscape.\u00a0 Far to the N, mountains were on the horizon.\u00a0\u00a0To the S, there was nothing.<\/p>\n

SPHP had bought a fried chicken at Safeway in Spokane.\u00a0 The plan had been to eat it at a city park in one of the little towns along the way.\u00a0 However, there didn’t seem to be any parks.\u00a0 Lupe passed through Deep Creek, Reardon and Davenport, and found nothing.\u00a0 On the way to\u00a0Creston, there\u00a0was a forlorn rest area with a couple of picnic tables.\u00a0 Lupe, Lanis and SPHP devoured the chicken there, but there wasn’t a green blade of grass anywhere.\u00a0 The place was like an oven.<\/p>\n

Of course, at Creston there was a pretty nice little park, but with the chicken already\u00a0gone, there was no longer a reason to stop.\u00a0 Lupe continued W.\u00a0 Past Coulee City, Lanis turned SW on Hwy 17.\u00a0 Soon Lupe came to\u00a0a most amazing sight\u00a0– Dry Falls.\u00a0 Lanis and SPHP had never even heard of Dry Falls before, but there was a\u00a0parking area and a little visitor center right next to Hwy 17.\u00a0 Lupe, Lanis and SPHP stopped to take in the scene.<\/p>\n

\"Dry<\/a>
Dry Falls is thought by some to have been the site of the mightiest waterfall ever known. At the end of the last ice age, it is estimated there were recurring floods here with a volume of water 10 times that of all the rivers in the world combined!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the opposite side of a chain link fence were sheer 400 foot cliffs down to a broad canyon below.\u00a0 As the name implies, there is no giant waterfall at Dry Falls now, but the huge canyon downstream\u00a0is\u00a0thought to have been carved\u00a0by recurring flooding on a cataclysmic scale at the end of the last ice age.\u00a0 A volume of water 10 times that of all the rivers now in the world combined plunged over\u00a0a precipice 5 times as wide as Niagara Falls.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The canyon below Dry Falls.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hwy 17 eventually\u00a0sloped down into the canyon several miles downstream\u00a0of Dry Falls, and went past a series of lakes.\u00a0 At Sun Lakes State Park, lots of people were actively boating, swimming and camping.\u00a0 Of all the lakes, Lenore Lake was the largest.\u00a0 Hwy 17 went for miles\u00a0along its E shore.<\/p>\n

\"Lenore<\/a>
Lenore Lake is the largest lake in the Dry Falls canyon, but is miles downstream from the falls. This photo looks back upstream toward the N.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lenore<\/a>
Lenore Lake in the canyon downstream of Dry Falls. Photo looks S (downstream).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The entire canyon below Dry Falls was close to 20 miles long.\u00a0\u00a0Along the way, the\u00a0canyon walls\u00a0slowly became\u00a0less impressive, gradually fading away completely before reaching Soap Lake.<\/p>\n

From Soap Lake; Lupe, Lanis and SPHP took Hwy 283 SW to I-90.\u00a0 Pretty soon, Lupe\u00a0came to\u00a0another river gorge, that of the mighty Columbia River.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe crossed the Columbia River on this I-90 bridge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Columbia River.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The light started slowly fading as Lupe, Lanis and SPHP rolled on W of the Columbia River.\u00a0 Suddenly it didn’t feel like it was too much farther to\u00a0Puget Sound and Seattle.\u00a0 Off to the N of I-90, an impressive mountain came into view in the distance.\u00a0 SPHP figured it was probably Mt. Stuart.<\/p>\n

The bright searing heat of eastern Washington state was gone.\u00a0 Clouds hung over the Wenatchee mountains ahead.\u00a0 It was much cooler and foggy as Lupe went over 3,022 ft. Snoqualmie Pass.\u00a0 Darkness fell.\u00a0 Near Lake Sammamish State Park; Lupe, Lanis and SPHP stopped for the night.\u00a0 Lupe was almost to Seattle.\u00a0 Tomorrow, Lupe\u00a0would see the ocean!<\/p>\n

Links:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Next Adventure<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 Prior Adventure<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Want more Lupe adventures?\u00a0\u00a0Choose\u00a0from\u00a0Lupe’s 2012 West Coast\u00a0Adventure Index<\/strong><\/span><\/a>,\u00a0Dingo Vacations Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span> or Master Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0Or subscribe free\u00a0to\u00a0new Lupe adventures<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 12 of Lupe’s 2012 Dingo Vacation to the West Coast. Lupe and SPHP went down to Howard Lake early in the morning before Lanis was up.\u00a0 The lake was calm and quiet.\u00a0 Even the fishermen weren’t up yet.\u00a0 Perfect!\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP took the single track trail heading S along the E shore. Lupe … Continue reading Dry Falls & Crossing the Columbia River, WA (8-19-12)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[429],"tags":[105,106,503,26,502,499,500,104,417,504,501],"class_list":["post-3465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2012-west-coast","tag-american-dingo","tag-carolina-dog","tag-columbia-river","tag-dingo-vacations","tag-dry-falls","tag-howard-lake","tag-idaho","tag-lupe","tag-montana","tag-ross-creek-giant-cedars","tag-washington"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/622341_10152012087050401_244580302_o.jpg?fit=1651%2C1238&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3465"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20768,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3465\/revisions\/20768"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}