My Journey into the "Forbidden Zone"

From the Grand Coulee Dam, I followed a "Blue Highway" (WA 155) south towards Wenatchee, WA, my planned overnight stop. Its a rather interesting path as it is bordered by huge basalt lava flows, much like the Columbia River basin.

It was then I saw this very interesting sight just ahead along the road. (See photo above) It looked very bizarre, almost like a fantasy landscape from a pulp novel cover. The photograph really doesn't do it justice. The juxtaposition of visual elements just got to me. That meant I had to explore more.

So I drove around the shore of Banks Lake and discovered Steamboat Rock State Park. Close to one side of the park is a bit of the lake called the Devil's Punchbowl. Wow...first the Devils Tower and now his Punchbowl. How lucky I am! The name of the park comes from Steamboat Rock. (DUH). This is a massive butte of basalt that dominates the landscape. It covers about 600* acres and is about 800 feet high, from the lake. When I saw it, it reminded me of the scenes in the Planet of the Apes movies, of the "Forbidden Zone". Its not often you see a huge lake in the middle of an arid desert. All I needed to view was some gorilla skins draped over St. Andrews crosses at the summit ridge to convince me I had dropped into one of those movies.

Now that photo is a bit deceiving.

First, it really doesn't show how big it really is. It's quite far from where my car is parked. A person standing at the top of the cliff would only be a couple pixels big. Second, just behind me (facing away from that butte) are perfectly groomed, green, fully modern campsites with running water. How weird is that? They also have a boat launch and other amenities. The campsites were about 2/3's full. It was gorgeous! (see the park website link). When I decide to take my tent out on a camping trip, this is one place now on my list. If you want a camping stop that is a bit unusual, this is a place to go.

Now as a kid, I would have loved to have visited such a place. I really would have felt I was on another planet. The long drive alone would have added to the illusion, especially if I had napped on the way there, and woke up as we arrived.

The neighboring campers probably would have wondered why I was running around and making chimp noises, though.