Weekender: Tri-Cities
Tri-Cities offers dry escape for west-siders
By Rebecca Agiewich
Photo at right: Rosie MacDonald in Yakima River Delta. Photo by Rebecca Agiewich
The only two things I knew about the Tri-Cities were that they were home to Kennewick Man, the famous skeleton and to Hanford, the nuclear power plant. However, after being told the Tri-Cities (Kennewick, Richland, and Pasco) offered great biking, kayaking, and hiking, along with 300 sunny days a year, my fiancé and I careened out of rainy Seattle to experience it for ourselves.
Five hours later we arrived in Richland on a May day to characteristic eastern Washington blue skies and temperatures in the 80s. After our first glass of locally produced wine on the deck of Anthony’s Restaurant, with the Columbia River shimmering nearby and the sun on our shoulders, we were almost ready to ditch our overpriced condo in Seattle.
The Sacajawea Heritage Trail
On the Heritage Trail near Pasco. Photo by Rebecca Agiewich
The Tri-Cities is a thriving urban area with much to delight the history buff, the wine lover, the wildlife enthusiast and the outdoor recreationalist.
First on our itinerary was a bike trip on the fantastic Sacajawea Heritage Trail, a flat, paved 23-mile trail that takes you on a tour of Richland, Kennewick and Pasco along the shores of the Columbia River. This trail follows the route that Lewis and Clark took, and provides interpretive signs about the history, culture, and geology of the Tri-Cities.
Our leisurely pedal started in Richland, just a few yards from the Red Lion Hotel that served as home base. As we made our way southeast along the Columbia through Richland, we were struck by how many people were out enjoying the well-maintained waterfront parks.
In Kennewick, we admired the stately Regional Veteran’s Memorial at Columbia Park, with its soaring granite columns dedicated to Tri-Cities’ fallen soldiers. We cycled north over the Blue Bridge with dizzying views of the river, and into Pasco, where the bike trail threaded its way between playing fields and the Columbia. Finally, we rode back to Richland on one of the “Twin Bridges” of Interstate 182 with its own bike and pedestrian lane.
Kayaking the Yakima River Delta
The next day, I joined members of the local kayaking community on their regular Sunday paddle. These weekly paddles are led by Rosie MacDonald, who runs Columbia Kayak Adventures in Richland. All are welcome, and if you don’t come equipped with your own kayak, you can rent one from the shop. After MacDonald set me up in a Necky “Eliza,” (a smaller boat designed especially for female paddlers) six of us launched our kayaks on the nearby Yakima River Delta.
The calm waters and narrow channels in this delta are rich with wildlife, including great blue heron, hawks and osprey. On this particular day, startled carp made their presence known by thrashing in the reeds, and a beaver, stealthy by comparison, glided by us in the shallows. Best of all, the desert sun shone and warmed my Vitamin-D deprived body.
Besides leading the weekly paddle, Columbia Kayak Adventures teaches classes and leads tours to a variety of paddling destinations. One of their advanced tours takes paddlers on an all-day trip to the spectacular Hanford Reach National Monument.
This pristine area was preserved making it the only free-flowing, non-tidal stretch left in the United States. It also shelters the largest remaining tract of sagebrush grassland in the country. Wildlife abounds in Hanford Reach, including mule deer, coyote, river otter, bald eagles, and black-crowned night herons.
See it all from Badger Mountain
A hiker walks her dog on Badger Mountain. Photo courtesy of Tri-Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau
We finished off our trip with a hike up Badger Mountain in Richland. This short but steep trail winds up open hillsides scented with sage and provides a panoramic view of the Tri-Cities area and the Columbia River. In the spring these hillsides burst with wildflowers like larkspur, balsamroot, fleabane, and many other species.
Though we shared the trail with many others during our hike, the trail never felt crowded. Instead we felt a sense of freedom in these wide-open, sunny spaces that we rarely feel in the city or even in the Cascades with their forests and peaks. We took our time going down, sniffing the sagebrush, taking pictures of our shadows, and savoring our last few minutes in this beautiful place.
Rebecca Agiewich is a frequent contributor to Outdoors NW magazine.
If you go:
Tri-Cities Visitor & Convention Bureau
Red Lion Hotel Richland Hanford House
Greenie’s – bike and kayak rentals in Richland, near the Sacajawea Heritage Trail.
Columbia River Journeys – jet boat tours of the Hanford Reach
Atomic Ale Brewpub & Eatery – the first brewpub in the Tri-Cities features handcrafted brews that celebrate the area’s history, including Half-Life Hefeweizen, Reactor Core Red, and International Proton Pale Ale. Richland.
