Easy Saturday Hike to Frenchman Coulee

Explore the Channeled Scablands of Eastern Washington
*Located 40 miles east of Ellensburg, on the same exit as the Gorge Amphitheatre*
While Vantage draws rock climbers with its challenging cliffs, nearby Frenchman Coulee and Echo Basin offers a gentler alternative for hikers seeking stunning scenery without the need for ropes and harnesses.

Echo Basin Rim Trail
This trail packs a scenic punch, offering breathtaking views of the iconic columnar basalt formations and seasonal waterfalls. The path is perfect for a leisurely stroll, taking in the beauty of the coulee without breaking a sweat.

Trail details:

• Distance: Approximately 4.1 miles roundtrip
• Elevation gain: Approximately 571 ft of elevation gain
• Difficulty: Easy

Nearly all the elevation gain is at the beginning of the hike as we climb on top of the famous Sunshine Wall, we'll stop at the unique entrance both climbers and hikers have to take in order to reach the base of the basalt cliffs, before we continue on alongside the Echo Basin Rim. Keep an eye out for Petrified Wood along the trail, before we reach the giant sand dune that we'll be hiking down(alternative path is available), after the dune, its just a short hike out to the cars.

One of the most unique landscapes in our State:
During the last ice age 10,000 to 20,000 years ago, part of a glacier blocked the Clark Fork River in northern Idaho that normally flowed into Washington near what is now Spokane. This created an ice dam that caused the river to form a lake in western Montana. This lake eventually grew to cover 3,000 square miles, containing as much water as Lake Erie and Lake Ontario combined. Then the ice dam collapsed. The water from the lake was released and created one of the largest mega floods in the history of the world. Frenchman Coulee and Echo Basin formed as a result from these repeated mega floods.