THE
GORGE IN GEORGE (WASHINGTON)
After
dinner we resumed the drive to The Gorge Amphitheater
in central Washington. Shortly after we
began planning our trip Phish announced that they would be playing two nights
at The Gorge in mid-July. I was
thrilled. Phish is our favorite band,
and I’ve always wanted to see a concert there.
The Gorge is arguably the most scenic outdoor venue for live music in
the country (with all apologies to Red Rocks in Colorado). The amphitheater is situated in the high
desert east of the Cascades, on a bluff directly above the mighty Columbia
River. The timing was perfect, too. The concerts would be right in the middle of
our trip. It would be the perfect break
after 2 weeks of hiking and backpacking.
Aside
from the scenery, the great thing about The Gorge is that there is a huge
campground adjacent to the venue. Once
you arrive, there is no need to drive anywhere.
That was a big part of the appeal to us.
And yeah, we are used to camping near thousands of other people. When we saw Phish in the Everglades for the
Millennium concerts we were camping with 80,000 of our closest friends. The scale of this weekend would be a little
smaller, but organizers were still expecting around 25K.
Driving
into the camping area was a bit bewildering in the dark. There were people everywhere. Bright lights. Music.
Fireworks going off all around us.
And this was the night before the festival started!
Fortunately,
the venue is extremely well run and organized.
There were plenty of toilets, and they were cleaned on a regular basis. We had purchased the premiere camping, which
granted us a bit more space for our campsite (behind our rental car) and free
showers (which we used once). The
campsite itself was just a patch of grass.
We had brought all of our food, but cooking was a bit of a challenge
without a table. We met our immediate
neighbors shortly after we arrived. On
one side were Amanda and Dave. They had
driven up from Colorado for the shows. They
were really friendly, and Amanda seemed to know everyone there. She even gave Christy one of her homemade
“You Enjoy Myself” t-shirts, which was really generous. On the other side was a group of younger guys
from Boston. They were on a cross
country road trip. They were hiking and
camping and going to Phish concerts for the summer. I guess their trip wasn’t much different from
ours – though they had driven all the way from the East Coast.
We
arrived Thursday night. After setting up
camp and meeting the neighbors we attempted to go to sleep. That was a challenge, being in the middle of
a party with loud music and exploding fireworks all around us. The worst when Loud Steve dropped by to visit
Amanda and Dave. Actually, I’m pretty
sure his name was just Steve, but we will forever know him as Loud Steve. During their entire conversation, it sounded
like Loud Steve was sitting in our tent with us. When we met Loud Steve the next afternoon, we
were happy to tell him all about his new nickname.
The
plan was to hang out on Friday and Saturday and go to the concerts Friday and
Saturday nights. Originally I thought we
might take a mini-trip both days. Taking
Christy to Palouse Falls was at the top of my priority list. I’d been there once before, and I was eager
to go back to one of the most incredible waterfalls I’ve seen. We decided to save that for Saturday. Friday’s excursion turned out to be to a
laundromat. Unfortunately, it is hard to
make it through 4 weeks of hiking and camping without washing clothes at some
point. So, after breakfast and coffee at
our campsite Friday morning, we left the campground and drove into town.
The
town of George, Washington (really) consists of a post office and the
amphitheater. We had to drive to the
next town, Quincy, to find a laundromat.
Luckily it was brand new, and completely empty on a Saturday
morning. There was a grocery store next
door, too. I took advantage of the
opportunity to supplement our beer stock and also grabbed some Ben and
Jerry’s. The beer purchase was a real
win – Mirror Pond Pale Ale at $9 for a 6-pack.
The store back at the campground was selling 6-packs of Sierra Nevada
Pale Ale for $15. The money saved on
beer pretty well paid for the laundry.
Or at least the Ben and Jerry’s.
We
returned to the campground early that afternoon. That left us plenty of time to soak in the
sunshine and scenery, cruise Shakedown Street (where food, arts, and crafts are
sold), and tailgate. Later we walked
over to the venue and enjoyed one of the better Phish shows I’ve seen. One highlight early in the first set was a
spectacular sunset behind the stage, over the Columbia River.
On
Saturday morning we drove to Palouse Falls State
Park. It was a 90
minute drive through the central Washington country-side – an arid land
of wheat fields. As we approached the
park, it was hard to imagine that there could be a major waterfall there. First, the area was practically a
desert. It was also mostly flat, at
least until the last few miles. We did
start seeing some interesting bluffs as we drove into the park. We parked in the lot on the rim of the
Palouse River Canyon, paid the $10 entrance fee, and walked over to the
rim. From there we had our first view of
the canyon and Palouse Falls. Here, the
Palouse River drops nearly 200’.
Although water levels were much lower than they had been on my previous
visit (during April), it was still a stunning sight. As impressive as the falls are though, I
think the view down the canyon is equally scenic.
Palouse
Falls became famous back in 2009 when Tyler Bradt set
a world record by kayaking the 189’ drop.
https://youtu.be/uNXh9gXDd2Y.
My
other goal for the day was to hike to the base of the falls. My previous visit had been late in the
evening, and I didn’t have time to go down there. There is no official trail, and at the time I
wasn’t even sure how to do it. There are
200’ of cliffs between the rim and the river.
I
figured out the best route prior to our visit.
I followed the rim down canyon, away from the falls. Before long I picked up a footpath that led
steeply down to railroad tracks. I
followed them briefly, until I was at the head of a gully. There is a faint beaten path in the talus and
scree here. I followed it down the
gully. At one point
I crossed a bench that had a beaten trail heading up and down the canyon. I continued on until I reached the
river. I followed a brushy fisherman’s
path upstream from there. A few minutes
later Palouse Falls came into sight. It
is a very scenic waterfall when viewed from the canyon rim, but obtaining this
view was particularly rewarding.
There
is a large pool at the base, but I decided against swimming since I still had
to hike back out. While I was at the
base I noticed a group that was attempting a more direct descent through breaks
in the cliffs. That route looked
extremely sketchy to me. It was a steep
scree slope, without anything to hold on to.
They had a rope, but they were still moving really slow. I don’t think that is much of a short cut.
Christy
had decided to skip this hike because her ankle was bothering her. Later we discovered that she had somehow
managed to sprain it the previous evening.
I hiked back up to join her for a picnic lunch. Then we drove back to the campground to
prepare for the second concert. The show
that night was good, but not as great as the performance Friday night.
The
next morning rain was threatening, which was a bit of a surprise in the
desert. It was really windy, too, so we
packed up, bid our neighbors farewell, and drove to Yakima. We had breakfast at a restaurant there before
resuming the drive to Hood River, Oregon.
We would be spending the next few days in the Columbia River Gorge (the
“other” gorge) and on Mount Hood. After
that, the rest of our trip would be back up in Washington State.
Back to Washington trip reports.
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Please remember to Leave No Trace!