Arrived on Monday 10/18 at 9:45am and the parking lot was wide open. As a matter of fact I was the only hiker while I was there. Having said that I see why I was the only one there, this trail is pretty boring. There are some great views regardless but it wasn’t worth the 3.5 hour drive in my opinion. There’s a good amount of scree in this trail so make sure you have good hi-top hiking boots because I definitely rolled my ankles a few times (no injury). Luckily did not run into any venomous critters but they’re out there. Also the trail can get real faint at certain points so I HIGHLY RECOMMEND A MAP! AllTrails offline map did not help for I got sent for a loop twice. Once near the farthest north corner when you start to head west and the SW end of the trail.

Hiked the full loop after visiting Grand Coulee Dam on an usually wet morning and windy day. The views are just spectacular and the hike/walk at the top was almost empty - we passed maybe 5 people. We all thoroughly enjoyed this hike and I highly recommend it; be aware that although this hike is rated “easy”, there is definitely some scrambling to be done, and the descent from the plateau requires caution.

The state park and campgrounds look great and weren’t full on this August Monday - looks like a really fun place to stay. We also brought our electric vehicle and needed to charge so we could easily get back to Manson - the park rangers gave us an assigned RV site so we could charge for free at 8kW/hour - we got about 70 miles of charge during the 2 hour loop.

A great afternoon hike before the days get too hot. Even though the day use area on the lake below was crowded, the rock provided lots of solitude. A bit of a scramble up and down the main climb, but nothing that needed more than a bit of careful footwork. Clear views from the top off to the horizon.

This was the perfect day for this hike. It was not too hot (mid-60s) with some cloud cover but not enough to obscure the 360 degree views at the top of the butte. The Cascade Range was visible. We took the left and right trails and explored the entire area. It was a fantastic way to spend the day.

We hiked this one with our four kids - ranging from 14 to age 9 - and our dog. The kids did fine with it. They actually did better with the steep, rocky sections and scrambles than we, their parents, did. We were much slower than they were. I probably wouldn't have been comfortable with this hike when they were much younger because of how challenging the ascent/descent is and how close the trail goes next to the cliff, but it was fine for my older kids. 

Steamboat Rock hangs dominantly over the campsites of this boat-culture State Park. Clearly people climb up to it's plateau but it isn't what people are here for. It is unusual for us to stay at a formal campground, especially one filled with boaters. It was entertaining to watch the teenagers filling their time zipping around on skateboards or whatnot.

We walked to the trailhead from our campsite which was a real treat. Immediately the wildflowers and dense sagebrush gave us olfactory overload. The occasional blooming purple sage is my favorite. The route ascends through  a steep break in the eastern wall of the rampart. It has been augmented but is still quite loose and gravely. A pair of treking poles will be helpful for many. We chose to loop counterclockwise around the relatively flat rocky top. Fantastic views of Banks Lake and the Greater Grand Coulee are fantastic. Closer at hand were dozens of different wildflowers to entertain us. The trail follows the edge of the rock, quite closely at times, allowing for precipitous views to the lake 700' below.