Benton: Hanford Reach, History and Wine
Accommodation in Benton
Benton combines impressive river landscapes, vivid history, and Prosser’s wine and culinary culture. For your travel planning, you can choose between nature experiences along the Columbia River, museums with regional themes, and activities centered around wine and cuisine. This also allows you to tailor your search for a suitable vacation rental or holiday home to the aspect of your trip that matters most to you.
Hanford Reach and the Shrub-Steppe Landscape
The Hanford Reach National Monument preserves more than 196,000 acres of open desert shrubland of the shrub-steppe and the White Bluffs escarpment. Hanford Reach is also the last remaining free-flowing, non-tidally influenced section of the Columbia River in the United States. This combination of river and arid landscape defines the character of the destination.
The wildlife also makes this section of the river remarkable: Hanford Reach is an important fall migration route for Chinook salmon, while sturgeon measuring up to 3.05 meters in length still live in the deep waters. If you would like to make your stay active, you can plan a paddling trip. It typically lasts four to six hours, although wind and water levels can significantly affect the duration.
Trails for Different Day Plans
The White Bluffs Rhythmites Trail begins at the White Bluffs Ferry Landing. The moderately difficult trail is 1.7 to 3.0 miles each way. This specific distance information helps you plan a hiking day realistically without tying the outing to a fixed walking time.
Another option is the Badger Mountain Centennial Preserve, which currently has just over eight miles of developed trails. Crow Butte Park has six miles of shoreline. This creates a range of different landscape impressions side by side: inland trails, the open river environment, and a park whose defining feature is its shoreline.
History to See and Experience
The REACH Museum presents the natural and human history of the Tri-Cities and their surroundings. Its changing and permanent exhibitions cover topics such as the Manhattan Project, the Cold War, Indigenous peoples, and catastrophic Ice Age floods. An outdoor learning area complements the exhibitions with hands-on, interactive activities about irrigated agriculture, hop cultivation, native animals, native plants, and landscape formation.
B Reactor was completed in September 1944 and was the world’s first large-scale reactor for plutonium production. The interior of B Reactor and the reactor face are currently accessible as part of public tours. The Hanford B Reactor tour includes a 75-minute guided walk. At the Candy Mountain Trail, a small monument also commemorates the history of the Hanford Site. A boulder there marks the maximum height reached by former Lake Lewis during the Ice Age floods.
The Prosser Historical Museum also has its own focus areas. It contains three distinct exhibition areas. The Front Room explores the early history of life in Prosser and the surrounding area; another exhibition area explains Prosser’s natural shrub-steppe landscape.
Wine and Cuisine in Prosser
For a pleasure-oriented trip, the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center offers educational and class events as well as culinary experiences and wine tastings. Vintners Village is a shared wine-production and retail business park in Prosser. It features walkable facilities with wine, dining, retail, and events.
The Prosser Wine & Food Park is an agricultural and wine-focused site on the Columbia River. Planned uses include tasting rooms.
More Places for Your Travel Planning
For additional travel ideas, you can also discover Richland, Kennewick, and Prosser. Benton thus provides a versatile basis for vacation days between river landscapes, history, trails, museums, and wine.
For the higher-level travel overview: Washington.
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