In a past spring we traveled to Central Washington to hike the desert lands over a two week period.    We did a circle route, camping at State Parks and doing a new hike each day.   We went through Grand Coulee then stayed at Steamboat Rock and in the next two days, we did two hikes venturing out from this lovely campground.    We drove to the mouth of Northrup Canyon to hike up the draw to a lake under lava cliffs.

The trail passed through a small forest, the only one in the county.    The whole area is part of the scablands, a volcanic plateau scoured by the successive racing Columbia River floodwaters from the breaks in the ice dams from massive Lake Missoula.    Soil, vegetation, and anything on or under the soil was washed downstream over a series of Ice Ages.    The area can be called desert lands, with low rainfall, and barren landscapes.

We hiked past an old farmstead next to a stream, now abandoned.

At the upper part of the draw we came to a small lake, ringed by basalt cliffs.

We scrambled up a route in the cliffs to look over the hills to the east.    Bitterroot was in bloom on the mostly barren rock.

On the trail we heard a familiar rattle and moved to the other side of the trail.     I ventured closer to get a photo of the rattlesnake.

The Northrup Canyon hike was one of several successive hikes in the area.   Although we did a dozen hikes, we left behind some for a return trip in another year.