Gingko Petrified Forest State Park, Backcountry Trail

Our last hike in March was Gingko Petrified Forest State Park area. Not sure about the backcountry trail part, it was more like all over the place wandering through the munched down sage brush and scrambling over loose rock. Where we started to hike took us to a spot that we were looking down a canyon wall to the area we intended to originally be, but reading directions and getting the correct location for the trail head were a slight problem for my wee mind. So we crested the top of a nice hill and looked down into a canyon and thought, Nope we are not going down and across that vast chunk of land to get close to the Columbia River, then back up around the canyon to return to our vehicle. So off the hill we went to the vehicle, drove down the road to the actually trail head to start hiking again. From the gate we headed to the right towards the Columbia River. Walked through boulder fields and wandered through sage brush. Lots of elk signs but no sightings, a few flowers starting to bloom. We were just a tad early for the the big flower show. Headed out towards the Columbia River and stood in the wind and enjoyed the views. Had great views both directions, the water was still down quiet a ways due to the cracked dam. On our return we followed a trail that led us to getting stopped by a Ranger. First run in with a Ranger....EVER.....apparently we crossed some private land. After apologizing all over the place, he ask if there was any signs up on top stating that it was private, nope, signs seem to be a big problem around here. Things are not marked the best. I highly recommended to him, if he wanted to stop traffic from coming off the top that someone post signs at the top where it looks like a trail. Very nice Ranger, he let us go with just a nice warning,I think he was watching more for folks trying to get to the sandy beaches on the river. It was a interesting hike, from there we headed up the road and toured the interpretive trails with the petrified wood in cages, checked the Museum out that was closed. The Museum has their petrified wood out where you can touch it and get close to it. On our way back home we took a side road to go see the Frenchman Coulee, wow beautiful place. Very very active with climbers. I would highly recommend just driving down to see the vertical columns of basalt, beautiful rock formation.

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