I will always be a mountain lover. A lover of abundant lush greens, a lover of tall pines and peaks that go for miles and miles in the setting sun. But there is a soft spot in my heart reserved solely for warm deserts, for ancient canyons and the aroma of magical wild sage.
We arrived in the middle of the night as per usual when it comes to our adventures, and when we awoke the next morning I was so pleased to see we off roaded to the perfect camping spot! Surrounded by beautiful beautiful sage as far as the eye could see. It smelled heavenly and you bet your ass I went home with a bag full of them! You can see them in the two pictures above, even Amala was super intrigued by their strong fresh smell!
There were these interestingly shaped canyons to our left, which is where we began our exploration for the day. The sun shown brightly and it felt good to be so damn warm in September, being here in Washington State. It was rainy and gloomy Autumn back West over the mountains, where we called home in a deep corner of thick woods. We found a bunch of random fire pits scattered across the canyon tops and deep bowls, people definitely knew what was up with this awesome spot!
David decided this little canyon behind him absolutely had to be climbed. He maneuvered himself up the side of that thing with ease
We hiked along until we came upon this deep cut out bowl, which turned out to be an ancient dried up river bed (pretty large by the way) that would've once led to a high waterfall. The desert floor beneath it was expansive, and it was so interesting to see how big this bowl actually was. Crazy to think it was once full, fed by a magnificent waterfall.
The river bed was full of colorful flowers, sage, a lot of warm white sand and even some burnt trees/other desert plants from a wild fire that spread through here some time ago!
If you look closely you can see David up there in the canyon!
We made our way back to the adventure vehicle to prepare for the rest of the day before the sunset! We emptied out the rest of our firewood as Amala explored our surroundings. David got to chopping while I scavenged for flat, wide stones to build a deep fire pit that would block strong winds.
Before it got too dark we hiked back up to the canyon tops so we could experience a lovely desert sunset.
DAY 2 OF DESERT GETAWAY
To the right of our campsite were these tall canyon pillars, all different sizes but all perfectly aligned. They were covered in small white patches that we assumed could only be leftover chalk from rock climbers.
It makes me chuckle when people say that desert landscapes are boring, or that they aren't colorful. These pillars alike all the surrounding canyons were stained with bright greens, and the land was a million different shades of tan, white, and yellow. Rich colors. It's all very warm and inviting, asking you to sink into its essence.
We took the pleasure of exploring them, basking in the shade they provided once we crossed over to their opposite side. While Amala and I relaxed, David took the opportunity to free climb up some of the canyon walls.
DAY 3 OF DESERT GETAWAY
We spent the next morning down by the Columbia River to cool off and let Amala swim around. Little did we know we'd come across a bunch of beautiful Washington common opal!! It was amazing to see how different opals look in accordance to their surroundings. These were shades of red, tan, yellow, even blue and purple with shiny opal parts if we got lucky! Being raw and straight from the Earth, they weren't what one would expect when thinking "opal" but man were they beautiful! Especially when marveled at right after coming out of the water. We took off our shoes and went right in, enjoying the cool crisp water as we turned over stone after stone and dug until we found a handful of these gems.
We later made our way towards some higher canyons where we saw a waterfall a day before. Despite it being on the opposite side of the canyon bowl, it seemed you could walk right up to the waterfall, so we knew we had to adventure down there and check it out!
Where we'd begin our hike down and across the expansive valley. If you look closely you can even see the waterfall we were making our way towards!
This was one of the most incredible waterfalls I've ever seen, and I believe it's one I've been closest to. I could've literally stood right underneath it if I had wanted, but even sitting next to it I was already getting soaked. Which might I add, I'm not complaining about. The water felt so good, so refreshing. Especially after climbing down a canyon, and then climbing up slippery rocks so we could sit with this beauty. We found more common opal coming from the falls, as well as this rusted old little go cart haha! No idea how the hell such a thing wound up falling into the desert, but I'm sure it had to do with some upset owner chucking it over the waterfall.
Please, could you share where?
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