Memorial Day Weekend: Sun Lakes-Dry Falls

This year I have developed a bad habit of wanting to go on a little family vacation at the last minute. Such was the case with our trip to Portland in January, our snowshoeing trip in February, our trip to the Grand Canyon in April, and now, most recently our camping trip over Memorial Day weekend. I decided that we should go camping just the Thursday night before, and we literally found the last online reservable campsite that was available for Memorial Day weekend. It was in the Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park (see map), so fate decided where we were going to go!

We decided to spend one night in Ellensburg, since we knew we would have a late start (I also had to lead a tour at the art museum that weekend). It ended up being a very fun little stay; we slept at a motel and ate dinner in a really cute cafe. I also was glad to have internet access, because I was trying to give students feedback on their essays that were due the following Tuesday!

We arrived at the Sun Lakes-Dry Falls park around lunchtime and set up our tent. We ate lunch at our site, and then went over to the Visitor's Center to learn more about the falls that used to be in this area as a result of Ice Age flooding (coming from the glacial Lake Missoula). We learned at the center that there were several periods of flooding that occurred in the Ice Age. It's impressive to think that these falls originally were four times the size of Niagra Falls! The talus rocks that have built up at the base of these cliffs did not originally exist when the falls formed; the buildup of rock has occurred with weathering and erosion.

In the early afternoon we took a hike along the Deep Lake trail (1.6 miles long). We timed it this way, so that Lucy could have a nap in the backpack (see picture below). It was really fun to go on this trail, because it was so diverse. Although we walked near the shore, sometimes the trail consisted just of piles of rocks. Other times we walked through tall grasses or higher up on cliffs. There wasn't very much shade at all, and the cliffs started to get a little bit high near the end, so we ended up turning around after walking for about a mile down the trail. Maybe one day we will go back to see what lies on top of the cliffs!

Sammy on the hike. This is just about the place where we turned around.

We tried to go swimming in Mirror Lake after our hike, but the water was a little too cold. I think we only stayed for about twenty or thirty minutes! This lake was a short two minute drive (within the park) from our campsite.

 Sam says he likes to go camping so he can eat s'mores. Maybe that's why we all go!

It was really windy during dinnertime and it was also windy during the night. We didn't think about this, but it makes sense that so much wind would blow through the campsite, since it is nestled at the base of two Ice Age cliffs. The wind just funneled through the area. We still were able to make dinner and enjoy some miniature golf at the resort located next to the campsite. I think if we came back to this area, we would want to stay in one of the resort cabins to avoid the wind!

We went boating in a pedal boat on Memorial Day morning. Lucy and I sat in the back to help distribute the weight, but I realized that left J do to most of the pedaling (although Sam helped a little bit). 

This was such a fun weekend. Lucy did great on this camping trip. It took her a while to fall asleep, but she didn't cry or flip out in the tent, so that was good. I realized that this is the first camping trip that she would even remember, even though she was the fourth camping trip she's undergone in her little life.