Rockery project
The 500-Foot Rockery Wall in Ronald
More than 500 feet of boulder rockery along a steep switchback drive above Lake Cle Elum. Less than a month after we finished, record rain hit, and the wall held.
Ronald sits on the road up to Lake Cle Elum, and plenty of lots up here are steep. This one has a switchback gravel driveway climbing the hillside to the home, with a cut slope along it, and the owners dealt with flooding every year. Between September and November 2025, we built one of our largest rock walls: a boulder rockery more than 500 feet long and about 4 feet tall.
The problem
A cut slope above a driveway wants to come down. Rain and snowmelt wash soil off the face, and on a steep drive, moving water picks up speed and takes gravel with it. On this property, the flooding came back every year.
The plan
The fix had to handle both the slope and the water:
- A rockery more than 500 feet long and about 4 feet tall, holding the cut slope along the drive below the home.
- Regrading the driveway.
- A deeper drainage ditch, sized for the fall and winter rain.
A rockery suits a job like this. Big boulders, set well, lock together and hold the hill, and the look fits the rock and timber around Lake Cle Elum.
The build
We marked out the wall line in September; you can see it in the before photo. Then we set the wall boulder by boulder, following the drive as it switches back up the hill. Our own operators graded the driveway and dug the deeper ditch as part of the same project. The drone photos show the whole run of the wall, with Lake Cle Elum in the valley below.
The test came early
Less than a month after we finished, record rainfall hit. Flash-flood waterfalls poured over the hillside.
The wall held.
For a property that had flooded every year, that was the whole point. The water came down the hill the way it always had, but this time there was a wall holding the slope and a deeper ditch ready for it.
If your place has a steep drive, or a cut bank that sheds dirt every spring, it’s worth a look before next season. For a wall built before a home went up, see our rock wall and site prep project.
Got a slope that won’t stay put, or water that shows up every spring? Book a free design consult or call 509-260-3659. Brandon will walk it with you and talk through what would hold.
Free design consult
Start with a walk around your property
Brandon will walk the property with you, listen to what you have in mind and talk through what will work on your slope, soil and snow. The consult is free.