Steamboat Rock State Park, Washington

 Saturday7th October 2023

We had a smooth drive to Washington State though I was a bit worried as we drove through the first miles of the state all we saw was grass and wheat fields for miles. This may be a boring stop I thought. Then we turned north and entered such a different environment. Cliffs, rocks and a huge reservoir. 

Yeah, another reservoir. If I had the inclination I should count how many lakes with dams we have stayed at so far and also the "record" each holds. 

https://www.parks.wa.gov/590/Steamboat-Rock

Rising 800 feet and spanning 600 acres, Steamboat Rock will impress the most seasoned of travelers.

Carved by Ice Age floods into a dramatic, lake-dotted canyon, Steamboat Rock State Park’s landscape dates back at least 13,000 years. Known as "scabland," the area appears barren, but it is teeming with shy (and not-so-shy) wildlife, spring flowers and sagebrush.

Our site was beautiful, a generous distance to our neighbors and an amazing view of the lake with a small sand beach area. There was a great trail following the lake and joining the four camp loops. We had gorgeous Fall weather and there were a lot of kids zipping along the path on bikes, electric scooters and skateboards. The trees were an amazing color and we loved watching them though we were very lucky to see them at their height as a few days later rain and winds would denude a lot of them and by the end of our two weeks most were bare.

Walking around enjoying the Fall colors I was surprised at how fast the season had changed from Summer to Fall. Had it really changed fast? Back in New Jersey I would have been watching the big oak tree in our garden and the changes each day would have been barely noticeable but with traveling I do not have that constant view. When we left on November 6th we hadn't began clearing leaves.

Seeing neighbors at the park with decorative pumpkins on their picnic tables reminded me that Halloween was approaching.  This will be the last holiday of our first twelve months on the road. Our first holiday was November 11th, Veteran's Day followed by Thanksgiving in Tennessee. 

The day we arrived

A few days later

The first week there were swarms of aphids (no see ums in USA or midges in UK) they did not bite but were very unpleasant.

After getting them in our eyes we began using our head nets!

Great view of Yem

One day Morgan and I went exploring and walked around the side of Steamboat and found a great trail to a small secluded beach. I took John when he finished work and we went back each day to sit, do our New York Times quizzes and decompress.

Do you see us?

With the time difference the sunset was at 6pm so our evening's routine changed. As John was beginning work at either 5.30am or 6am he would end around 4pm and we would take a walk before it was too dark then return to make dinner. It will be yuk when the clocks change on November 5th and it will be dark at 5pm.