On our last family trip to Grand Coulee, we brought along our inflatable boats and paddled around Banks Lake. We launched from the north end of the camping grounds into the pristine 35 mile long lake. We started off paddling together, but eventually broke off to explore whatever caught our interest.

I made for the north part of the lake to explore the islets. The weather was so nice that I wound up pulling ashore on one of the islets and taking a bit of a swim in the warm water. When I grew tired of paddling around the islets, I made for Steamboat Rock, a basalt butte that was first used as a landmark by Native American tribes.