Sailing and Trekking on and round Lake Roosevelt, Washington State, U.S.A.
Besides enjoying a trek through the mountains I’ve a passion for sailing. As noted in some of the images I’ve shared on Summit Post there often is opportunities to combine the two recreations. Over the years I’ve discovered that sailing, trekking and firefighting (my career) share many of the same skill sets to become accomplished in the respective fields. The ability to read maps and charts, to navigate in hazardous environments combined with a highly tuned sense of weather, and an understanding of the meteorological interaction with landscapes and waterways all fit the profile. There is also a determination to accomplish a task, oft times through intricate planning, occasionally in adverse environments, sometimes one boot step at a time. Here is a look at one intermix between sailing and trekking…
Combining Recreations of Sailing, Trekking, Kaykaing and Wildlife viewing...
The vessels are anchored in The Palisades of Lake Roosevelt off of the Colville Indian Reservation. This is on the lower portion of the lake in an area known as The Basalt Reaches. Note the small cluster of Big Horn Sheep gathered on the nearby ledge watching the watchers on the boats.
Hope the trekkers and climbers amongst us will tolerate a break over to some water action where we catch this pair of kayakers in the Hawk Creek fjord, under the basalt cliffs. Image is by my partner Catherine Brown.
Big Rocks ~ Small Boats, Lake Roosevelt, the Columbia River...
Intermixing the world of rock and boats, here is a profile, from the north, of Whitestone Rock with over a 600 foot vertical rise off the lake surface. This landscape is the northern reach of Washington State’s Scablands created by the Missoula Floods.
Castle Rock, part of the eastern shoreline within the Middle Reach of Lake Roosevelt is on the Spokane Indian Reservation. There is a deep cleft into the rock on it’s southern face, deep enough we can take the skiff into it between plunging rock arms and find a small dive ledge in the inner chamber.
Big Horn Beach...
The topography of this area on the northern shore in the lower portion of the lake is formed primarily by a combination of massif granite cliffs, the lower slopes having been exposed by the great Missoula Floods. On the southern shore of the lower lake is an opposing a mixture basalt in both columnar and vertical faced mounds. Both rock types in this area tend to be clean and stable, thus the climbing and bouldering is quite nice.
Catherine, seen here, has reached the crest of the first ridgeline rising above Big Horn Beach. Rattlesnakes, raccoons, bobcats, bears and big horns all share these rocky shores with osprey, eagles and herons. Waterfowl include Canadian geese, merganser ducks and loons. After a good hike throw a hook and line overboard and you might enjoy a fresh caught Kokanee, walleye, trout or smallmouth bass for dinner.
Scrambling and Rambling about...
Catherine caught me enjoying my 60th birthday with a little scramble on a clean granite face as we headed for a ridgeline to overlook our anchorage in Big Horn Beach.
Poised on the edge the first ridge overlooking what historically had been known as Castle Cove, so named by the early explorers of the Columbia River for the ‘castle-like’ crags and cliffs in this bend of the river (now Lake Roosevelt). This bend houses one of the outlaying villages of the Spokane Indians before the impoundment of the Columbia River waters behind Grand Coulee Dam.
Waterfalls of Lake Roosevelt...
The Pacific Northwest is known for waterfalls. Cascading waters in all shapes and sizes are to be found in the Olympic Mountains, the Cascade Range, and the B. C. Coastal Range. What might not be as well known is the more arid eastern forests of the NW also have a number of scenic waterfalls. There are at least six falls that cascade into or near Lake Roosevelt. Here is a look at a few of them…
In this composition of images we have three waterfalls (left to right) Quillasascut Falls, Nez Perce Creek Falls, and Nine Mile Falls. There is nothing like a cold waterfall after a hot day’s trek to provide refreshment to the body and spirit, as seen in the first image by Catherine Brown. The second falls is rather unique in that rather than plunging over a rock ledge the water in Nez Perce Creek tends to roll over the basalt mounds, forming liquid ‘fans’. In the last image Nine Mile Falls is more of a rock to rock affair dropping directly into Roosevelt Lake. Catherine is rowing the skiff over to explore, and photograph the falls.
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