Deep Lake is a picturesque feature located within Monument Coulee at Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park. This lake lies in the lower section of the vast, fifty-mile-long Grand Coulee canyon in an area carved by Ice Age floods around 15,000 years ago. One can go through Coulee City for the quickest access to the eastern part of the water.
See more trip photos here.
Deep Lake at a Glance
Access: Coulee City, Washington
Round Trip: 4 miles
Elevation Range: 1180′-1660′
Gear: none
GPS Track: available
Dog-Friendly: yes
An Unplanned Adventure Out East
We first visited Chelan Butte before continuing our excursion east to camp beside Deep Lake. This enjoyable trip marked our third time visiting this specific part of Monument Coulee. So far, we have not encountered other folks enjoying the trail.
After many years of contemplation, I have finally decided to give video editing a try. My previous filming experience has mainly been limited to creating one-minute panoramic video clips. I always felt that shooting videos was a time-consuming process, and it certainly was!
For my first video project, I opted for a much shorter hike and camping by Deep Lake. I decided to shoot some footage with the pups in the backyard about two weeks ago. The editing portion of this video project has taken up most of my available time.
See more trip photos here.
A Familiar Deep Lake at the State Park
Most of the beautiful Deep Lake nestles inside Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park. By chance, I took a much closer look at the park map for some nearby camping places. That is when I first spotted the area right outside the eastern park border.
Up until now, we have only camped four times in Eastern Washington. We have made three trips out to this lake when it was raining in the mountains. This is my favorite coulee, as we have made six trips to the Umatilla Rock side alone.
During the winter, the park service closes the main gate by Mirror Lake. Visiting Deep Lake during that time of year would add three extra miles round-trip. The added mileage plus a visit to Umatilla Rock would feel especially long.
Since we have only visited the east edge of Deep Lake, I will try to see the west end at some point. But the downside of visiting during colder months is dealing with strong wind gusts. So, I may return during the summer on a rainy day to avoid the large crowds.
See more trip photos here.
A Night by the Water and Morning Farewell
It was well after sunset when we finally arrived at the lake at the old campsite. We went to bed right after we had finished setting up our tent and eating dinner. In the past, we had arrived at the cliffs’ edge in the early afternoon.
There is a narrow footpath by the water if we were entering from the east. However, judging from the map, the official trail from the west ends at about midway. The impressive basalt cliffs lining the north shore past that point are not conducive to walking.
We would usually see the majestic hawks swirling high up overhead on our past trips. However, the closest we were seeing wildlife was hearing the howling coyotes before sunrise. In the morning, the dogs and I walked down to the water so they could get in a few laps.
Despite being in the shade after sunrise, a warm weekend meant that the weather would soon heat up faster than usual. Naturally, we took our time and stayed in the area until past eight o’clock! It took three hours to get back to the car, but it would have taken two hours max without shooting videos.
See more trip photos here.