The Grand Coulee Canyon

July 26 – 28, 2026.

Standing on the edge of a craggy rock face over the water, he looked around, surveying the lake below. A narrow section of a 50-mile-long canyon, the water below was full of kayakers, swimmers, paddleboarders, and small powerboats. We were hiking along the lake’s edge when we saw the man above us on the cliff ahead. Another man stood behind him with a towel slung over his shoulder. Then, with a spring, propelling him upwards and outwards, the first man plunged down 30 feet into the startlingly blue lake.

We climbed the rocky trail to a small platform where the jumper had just been. We took in the view and talked to the man with the towel. His brother was the jumper. The man with the towel had driven him out to the lake that morning for his first visit in 20 years. The man, dripping wet in his swim trunks, rejoined his brother and told us his first jump that day was from a 45-foot cliff, but that one scared the shit out of him. As he stood on the edge again contemplating another jump, I noticed his ankle monitor. And I thought what a beautiful place this would be to return to after a long time, and what a feeling of freedom it must be to free-fall and be immersed in such expansive blue waters.

We were uncertain about where to go once we crossed into Washington State. The closest and most interesting thing I found in the Lonely Planet book I was reading was Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park, just a couple of hours’ drive from Washington’s eastern border.

It was an excellent place to start.

The park is part of the Grand Coulee Canyon, and one of the stops along the National Parks’ Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail. The park was carved by torrents of water some 13,000 years ago. A waterfall four (or 10, according to Wikipedia) times the size of Niagara Falls used to stream into the park’s Dry Falls Lake. This waterfall is gone now, but a cliff measuring 400 feet high and 3.5 miles wide remains. Below it is a desert landscape dotted by lakes, rocks, and scrubby vegetation.

The boat ramp for Dry Falls Lake.

Part of the 400-foot, 3.5-mile-wide cliff around Dry Falls Lake. The visitor center which was closed, sits atop this cliff out of the picture on the left.

Canyon walls.

Unfortunately, one of the park’s highlights, the visitor center, was closed when we visited. This visitor center sits atop the cliff that surrounds Dry Falls Lake. The view must be stunning.

We drove all over unimproved roads to reach the lake, which we couldn’t see for all the vegetation. You can kayak on the lake, but sadly we are currently kayakless. We hiked a trail instead and had a nice view over Peach Lake. And finished our day at the popular Deep Lake.

Peach Lake.

Peach Lake.

Rock formation near Deep Lake.

Deep Lake.

Deep Lake.

Up the road from the park, we camped a few days near the bottom of Banks Lake. The view of the lake up the canyon was stunning.

From our camping spot, we headed up the Grand Coulee Canyon to the nearby Steamboat Rock State Park located in Banks Lake. This park takes its name from a basalt butte that rises 800 feet above Banks. On our drive to the park, we started seeing smoke from wildfires.  Within weeks, these fires would multiply and grow, covering almost the whole state with smoke.

Here we did a short hike across the island. We saw lots of wildlife: deer, wild turkeys, and birds. You can climb the butte, but we weren’t quite up for anything that strenuous.

Cliff face at Steamboat Rock State Park.

Steamboat Rock from the trail.

Northern Flicker on the trail at Steamboat Rock.

Rocky Mountain Mule Deer.

Our trail across the island.

View of Banks Lake.

View of Steamboat Rock.

We ended our tour of the Grand Coulee Canyon at the Grand Coulee Dam. Constructed between 1933 and 1942, it stands 550 feet tall and 5,223 feet long. At the visitor center, we watched a 45-minute-long film about building the dam. The coolest thing I learned about the dam was that after its completion in 1943, the federal government hired Woody Guthrie to write 26 songs about it.

We had hoped to take a tour of the dam, but they only offer the tour on weekends. The dam also offers a nightly laser light show, but we couldn’t hang out that long. We needed to head off and find a good place to sleep for the night before the next leg of our Washington adventure along the North Cascades Highway.

The Grand Coulee Dam from Crown viewpoint.

The visitor center at the Grand Coulee Dam.

One of the displays at the visitor center.