Beginner backpacking trips near Richland, WA

Sand Lake

A short walk north on the Pacific Crest Trail from White Pass to a shallow, sandy-bottomed lake on the Tumac Plateau. It is the gentlest real backpack on this list: under three miles each way on an easy grade, with Deer Lake at about two miles as a turnaround if the group is tired. The lake's level rises and falls, which keeps the meadow wildflowers healthy and the mosquitoes plentiful, so late August and September are kinder than July. Sites here are informal rather than developed, so pick a durable spot well back from the water.

Dusty Lake

The bigger, quieter sibling of Ancient Lakes, at the head of the south alcove of Potholes Coulee outside Quincy. Only 350 feet of gain over six miles makes it one of the easiest overnights in the state, and because it is desert it comes into season in March, when the Cascades are still buried in snow. The trade-off is exposure: almost no shade, no drinkable water, and ticks and rattlesnakes once it warms up. The state is weighing a camping ban across this part of the Quincy Lakes unit starting in 2027, so confirm the current rules before you plan a night here.

Oregon Butte

The closest true wilderness backpack to the Tri-Cities: six miles round trip from the Teepee trailhead to a fire lookout with a 360-degree view over the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness. There are established campsites along the way and a spring below the lookout, which matters in the Blue Mountains, where water up high is scarce. The hard part is the approach, a long gravel forest road that stays snowed in well into June. The lookout is still staffed in summer, so treat it as someone's workplace when you get there.

Sheep Lake to Sourdough Gap

Probably the best first night out within about three hours of the Tri-Cities: 1.8 gentle miles up the Pacific Crest Trail from Chinook Pass to a small subalpine lake, with an optional 1.4-mile climb to a gap looking out over Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens. Because the trailhead sits high and the walk is short, you can leave in the afternoon and still have camp set before dark. The cost of all that is company: the PCT lot fills in the morning on summer weekends and the lake basin gets busy. Chinook Pass is closed by snow until late spring, and the wildflowers peak in July and August.

Dewey Lake

Shares the Chinook Pass trailhead with Sheep Lake but runs south on the PCT around Naches Peak, topping out at 1.7 miles before dropping 700 feet to a lake ringed with campsites. Timing makes or breaks this one: early season means avalanche-chute crossings and famously bad mosquitoes, while late July through September brings flowers, ripe huckleberries and water warm enough to swim in. Remember that the 700-foot descent to the lake is the climb you finish the trip on. Dogs are allowed on the PCT here but not on the Mount Rainier National Park trail at the junction.

Towell Falls

A scablands walk on an old ranch road along Rock Creek at Escure Ranch, ending at a set of waterfalls that genuinely roar in late winter and early spring. It is the flattest trip here, needs no pass, and has primitive campsites with fire rings and picnic tables at the trailhead itself, which makes it a forgiving place to shake down new gear before you carry it anywhere serious. Expect cattle, mountain bikers and horses on the trail, and hunting in the fall. Go in March or April: by midsummer the falls are thin and the open ground is hot.

Walupt Lake and Walupt Creek

A flat forest walk from the Walupt Lake campground along the lakeshore and up to Walupt Creek, ending at the Pacific Crest Trail 4.4 miles in. It is short on views, which is exactly why it stays quiet, and the gentle grade plus a natural turnaround at the creek makes it a sensible trip with kids. You fill out a free Goat Rocks wilderness permit in the first hundred yards. The creek crossing is bridged by logs and can be a dangerous ford in spring high water, and the campground is a long way in on gravel.

Nannie Ridge to Sheep Lake

The steep option, and the one that feels most like real mountains: about 1,850 feet of climbing in the first 2.5 miles to the ridge crest below Nannie Peak, then two easier miles to a small alpine lake on the Pacific Crest Trail. August is the month, when the huckleberries along the lower trail are ripe and the meadows are in flower. Parking is free and the overnight wilderness permit is a free self-issue at the trail board. Do not underestimate that first climb with a full pack. This Sheep Lake is in the Goat Rocks, not the better-known one at Chinook Pass.

Swamp Lake

A William O. Douglas Wilderness lake that is much better than its name, popular with anglers and backpackers, on a mostly flat approach that climbs gently past the wilderness boundary. The obstacle comes early: a ford of the Bumping River in the first half mile that is genuinely dangerous during spring melt or after heavy rain. Starting from the Bumping Lake trailhead instead adds 3.85 miles each way but skips the ford entirely. Mosquitoes are severe in early summer, and the shoreline is a restoration area, so pitch your tent 100 feet back from the water.

Ancient Lakes

The classic eastern Washington first backpack: a coulee floor ringed by 200- to 300-foot basalt walls with a 160-foot waterfall dropping into it, in the Ice Age flood landscape that made the geologist J Harlen Bretz famous. The 12-mile figure covers the whole trail network; most people walk two to three miles in from one of the trailheads and camp near the lakes. It is a spring and late-fall trip, with no shade, no drinkable water, and heat, ticks and rattlesnakes the rest of the year. WDFW has proposed closing the area to camping starting January 1, 2027 over human waste and campfire damage, with public comment open until October 30, so check the current rules before you count on a night here.

Dumbbell Lake

A lollipop loop across the Tumac Plateau past seven named lakes and any number of unnamed ponds and marshes, on gentle grades the whole way despite the mileage. This is the trip for a second or third outing, when you want two nights and easy water rather than a hard climb; the Hard rating comes from distance, not steepness. There are established campsites, and the route is tame enough for kids who can walk the miles. The price of all that water is mosquitoes, which are legendary here until late summer.

Tucannon River - Rattlesnake Loop

The Blue Mountains' step up to a real multi-day trip, starting low along the Tucannon River where water and shade are easy and then climbing to the open ridges of the Mount Misery trail. It is described as an easy one- or two-night backpack, but that is still 21 miles, and springs up high are few, so plan your camps around water rather than mileage. Spring brings rare sulphur lupine, columbine and hillsides of buckwheat, and dawn and dusk are the best chances at the resident elk herds. Leaving a bike or a second car at Panjab Creek campground saves the road walk that closes the circuit.