Steptoe Butte State park
I have heard a lot about the park and had seen many photos in instagram, so I had been planning to visit this place and enjoy its scenery and beauty in summer. Steptoe Butte State park is 6 hrs journey from Portland and is located in Colfax, Washington State.
Palouse falls is another beautiful place and near to the park. Visiting Steptoe Butte was a part of our travel plan while visiting Glacier National Park, so we had planned to stay at Spokane valley for the night . During our journey, I was mentally making note of the cities coming on the way, so that I will remember the route for next time visit. Finally, after 4 hrs of drive from Portland, I took the Colfax exit on the highway. The route was very beautiful, it had farms on both sides of the road, so I stopped the car to see the farms, feel the air and relax for a while. We took couple of photos and then resumed our journey.
On the way, we could see acres and acres of agriculture lands, I think these were wheat crops, but it had all dried so it was yellow/brown in color. These huge vegetation land covered with some yellow or brown or green patches of crop either side of the road was a view that I might remember for long time, it was very serene just calming the mind. The Steptoe Butte state park is known for green agriculture lands but as in most of our drive we could see the crops were dried so my mind was bit anxious that we might see some very different landscapes and i might get disappointed. After driving for an hr, we saw a flight very close to the road. I have never seen a plane crossing the agriculture lands that close, my wife was able to capture couple of photos.
Finally, I took turn to the park entrance and could see some farms in green color so I was relieved. Discovery pass is required to enter into the park, i have a yearly pass so I didn't stop at the entrance and drove to the top. We had reached the park just before sunset as I had planned. I stopped on the side of the road and started taking pictures. It was beautiful as i heard from everyone, even though it is not fully green, also we could even see the wind turbines over these farms. The sunset was really beautiful and colors on the sky was unforgettable. We stayed there for almost 20mins and then continued our journey.
I will definitely visit this place again. Before I go, I will make sure to check that the farms are fully green, so that i can spend more time to see and enjoy this place.