Hiker in Umtanum Creek Canyon - stock photo

East of the Cascade Mountains, Washington’s climate is arid and the terrain is desert-like. Summertime temperatures can exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit in regions such as the Yakima Valley and the Columbia River Plateau. This is an area of rolling hills and flatlands. During the last Ice Age, 18,000 to 13,000 years ago, floods flowed across this land, causing massive erosion and leaving carved basalt canyons, waterfalls and coulees known as the Channeled Scablands. The senior woman hiker on the trail was photographed at Umtanum Creek Canyon in the L. T. Murray State Wildlife Recreation Area between Ellensburg and Yakima, Washington State, USA.