Forum Index > Trip Reports > Ancient Lakes & Dusty Lake & Columbia River Loop -10/22/2017
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FredV
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FredV
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PostMon Oct 23, 2017 3:42 pm 
Loop hike in the Quincy Wildlife Area. The loop included stops at Ancient Lakes & Dusty Lake & Columbia River. This route was about 10 miles. It is a different type of pretty and a good destination when the weather on the west side sucks.
We used the trip report from "ragman and rodman" for beta with an addition of the side trail going down to the Columbia River. See interactive map of route below. http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?q=https://sites.google.com/site/vogelfiles/maps/AncientDustyLakesActuals.gpx&t=t2 A 3D animation of the route http://doarama.com/view/1702732 During the playback you can zoom, scroll, tilt, control speed of the video.

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flatsqwerl
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PostMon Oct 23, 2017 3:59 pm 
FredV, see any snakes? what were the temps like?

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FredV
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PostMon Oct 23, 2017 4:05 pm 
No snakes, actually not much of any wildlife. Was expecting maybe deer or coyote. Temps were is the 50's and windy. The full sun made it feel warmer.

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texasbb
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texasbb
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PostMon Oct 23, 2017 5:45 pm 
It's an interesting place. Good for an overnighter, too (best to bring your own water). I've never been in the fall...the flow of the main falls looks similar to the times I've been in the spring. I think it's windy there a lot. My group had damage to three of five tents a couple years ago. Thanks for sharing. And I'll add my perennial pedantry by pointing out that it's Ancient Lake (singular), not Lakes. I only bring this up because it's interesting that all those little pools were once one big lake. You can still see the high bathtub ring in your seventh picture. smile.gif

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kitya
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PostMon Oct 23, 2017 6:54 pm 
texasbb wrote:
all those little pools were once one big lake
Sorry, but I think this is not technically true. - There was a huge one big lake long-long time ago there. - Eventually climate changed and big lake completely dried out. There were no pools left, just the desert. - Recently, when humans settled the area and started damaging the desert by irrigating it, excess irrigation water started sipping through the rocks and created this modern little pools. So while a huge lake was there, modern little pools don't really have anything in common with the original lake except same location.

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texasbb
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PostMon Oct 23, 2017 9:29 pm 
That's pretty much what I said, albeit with a bit more detail--thank you. The place is named for the big lake (singular) that was there. Now there are just pools in the same place, but they are not the "lakes" many people think are referred to by the often mistakenly pluralized name. Again, my only reason for bringing this up is that the interesting history/geology is often missed because people think they're seeing the Ancient Lake(s). (I was one of those people for a long time until I noticed the name on a map and investigated.) EDIT: Hopefully to enhance, not hijack, FredV's thread, I'll add that the existing pools are indeed part of a once-larger lake, but not the "ancient" one. The same irrigation-caused seepage that fills the pools today apparently caused a much bigger lake when the irrigation project first started. I'm assuming the 1950s-era lake is the source of the high bathtub ring you can see today. I also assume the real "ancient" lake was a temporal thing much like Lake Lewis, Dry Falls, etc. Interesting stuff! One of the best summaries I've seen is here. Thanks again, FredV, for your report.

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DadFly
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PostTue Oct 24, 2017 1:06 pm 
Most excellent sources! Thank you.

"May you live in interesting times"
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tigermn
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PostWed Oct 25, 2017 8:29 am 
Was just thinking about heading over there. I tried to loop it much as you show but never really found a way to get from Dusty to Ancient. Looked like a cliff. I admit I didn't look terribly hard. Is there a trail or did you just scramble it? I also discovered the side trip to the columbia river which is kind of cool and generally less traveled.

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texasbb
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texasbb
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PostWed Oct 25, 2017 3:17 pm 
tigermn wrote:
Was just thinking about heading over there. I tried to loop it much as you show but never really found a way to get from Dusty to Ancient. Looked like a cliff. I admit I didn't look terribly hard. Is there a trail or did you just scramble it?
There's a notch in the ridge just above Dusty Lake. Move to the right (east) of it at lake level and scramble up the loose slope to the base of the columnar basalt wall. It's an easy stroll from there along the base of the wall to the notch. Cross through and you'll see a foot path that heads down toward one of the the pools on the Ancient Lake side. See here.

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