Palouse Falls State Park – 2019

The number 1 waterfall in Washington!

This Memorial Day weekend we had the opportunity to make it out to Eastern Washington to explore a different landscape. One of the highlights was driving out to Palouse Falls.

Site Information:

Location: Palouse Falls State Park – Near Pasco Washington.

Walking Difficulty: Easy

Please Note: There are no guard rails above the falls and many people have fallen to their death. Use extreme caution.

Distance from Seattle: About 4 hours

Cost: State Park Day admission; “Free” with State Park pass

Palouse Falls State Park

When you drive into the park site, there are few parking spaces so be sure to get there early to avoid having to pay an additional $10 for overflow parking. After parking the vehicle, the falls is easily found by walking down the slope toward the canyon. There isn’t a difficult hiking trail, so this is great for anyone to visit.

There is one fence-type railing right at the falls viewpoint, but there are no other railings if you decide to go up towards the falls along the canyon ridge. There are signs pointing this out, so you should know exactly where that starts if you would rather avoid it.

We were pretty cautious, especially compared to some of the other visitors we saw at the site. Zach and I opted to stand about 10 feet away from the edge, while other visitors would climb out onto to the rocky outcroppings for “the ‘gram”. I think we still managed to get some great pictures 😉

When you look at the landscape, it doesn’t seem like there is much out in this area. It is dry and arid, and seems like a plains area. About 15 feet to the right of this picture is the giant canyon with a sheer drop, but the landscape is very unassuming to such dramatic views. This made the canyon and falls all the more jaw-dropping.

There are actually a few miles of trails at this park, but as we had done our insanely sunny 12 mile hike a couple weeks ago we opted out of more dry hiking for that day. There were also areas where you could go off the trail and get close to the river in the canyon, but again, due to safety I do not recommend this. It was only a couple hundred feet UP from the falls, so there is a dramatic end if you fall in the river.

 

This was a nice stop and a fun place to see, especially being out in Eastern Washington for the first time. I don’t know if I would drive four hours just to see the falls, but if you are in that area or on that side of the state, it is worth the detour.

As always, thank you for sharing along in our little adventures!

Much Love.

Chelsea