[frankm3]

Saturday morning Zoe and I headed out over the pass for our first hike in Eastern WA- the Ancient Lakes by Quincy. After a stop in Cle Elum for some coffee, and at the McDonalds in Quincy, we made it to the trailhead by a little after 11am. There are two trailheads, an 'upper' and a 'lower', listed in the '55 hikes in Central WA' book, I used the lower access, which is a gated, dusty, 4WD road through sagebrush. The hike begins at this gated parking with partial views the Columbia Gorge, and you begin moving into Basalt escarpments/ cliff faces which are really impressive. Lots of birds had nested here, which made the walk even more enjoyable listening to their serenade. In no time, it seems, you're there! That's the fastest 4 miles I've ever walked, I think the book is wrong. I picked a campsite near the westernmost lake, near an old grove of beaver-chewed cottonwoods and set up camp. We spent the afternoon hiking around, taking photos of flowers, etc., and exploring the area a bit. Got to see a lot of raptors soaring overhead, and the area was popular with lots of ducks/ geese as well. One of the more interesting phenomena I observed was getting to hear some ducks on 'final approach' as they flew right overhead. I was amazed that you could literally hear the air disturbance they create as they lost speed to land on the lake. It was pretty neat, I had never been someplace so close and so quiet to get to hear that. The other memorable part of the trip was the full moon, with a giant aura-like ring around it too. The moonlight was so bright, I could see my shadow all night, and it never got truly dark at all. I was able to go on a night hike wihout a flashlight and see just fine. The scenery of the basalt canyon walls became even more spectacular. I got to meet my neighbors who were camped out a bit closer to the parking area. We spent a good bit of time talking, they were super nice folks. They saw a rattler when they were scrambling around some rocks filling their canteens. We all had a good laugh over a group of kids and dads that hiked in looking more like refugees from a natural disaster than anyone going on an overnight camping trip. I heard the ice sloshing in the cooler long before I ever saw them. This was a great, easy overnighter. Thanks for recommending this trip Quark! I didn't get up to Electric City, etc., but now that "Channeled Scablands" is my new favorite geologic word, I am going to try and use it as much as possible. When I got home last night a friend called, who asked me what I did this weekend "I went hiking in the CHANNELED SCABLANDS", I told him. He was impressed (and from Ohio), and asked if there were vultures circling the whole time. Here are a couple photos of the scenery and a couple flower photos. One is a Mule's Ear (yes?) and the other is Phlox. A couple of general scenic views too. This place is really impressive just from the expansiveness of the views and the quiet!

headed into ancient lakes

reflections in ancient lake

view from above lake toward columbia

mule's ears

phlox

[Quark]

Sounds like you had a great trip; inside yourself as well as outside. Its interesting you noticed the incredible silence of the place, too. Many folks don't, or can't. The silence is one thing that draws me to the coulees of central Washington. Another is the cloud-scapes. There's nothing better than the cloud formations out there. Polarized sunglasses enhance 'em. Another thing I like about Ancient Lakes is the long narrow lake, Susan Lake, I think is the name - that's the one where the millions of birds like best. I watched the ducks do their water ski landing routine, take off, circle the lake, and zoom in again. They were playing! I forgot to tell you about another book; Cataclysms on the Columbia by John Allen & Marjorie Burns. Not only does it give the geological story, it gives the Harlan Bretz story, and how he was struggled to get geologists to listen to his flood idea in the face of decades of ridicule. But he was vindicated in his life time, something many scientists weren't lucky enough to do. Nice photos, too!

[Scrooge]

Silence? In Potholes Coulee? ....... In your memory. I was on Babcock Bench last Saturday, along with two or thre hundred other people. The Ancient Lakes has been one of my favorite places for a long time, but I pretty much swore off going again. It's just been too thoroughly discovered. People everywhere: fishermen and horsemen and hikers and you-name-its. Campers and RV's and horse trailers and pickups and ....... golly, even people with SUV's and minivans, not to mention boat trailers and Cadillacs and Hondas. People everywhere you look, in every nook and cranny. ........ Greenlake East. No thanks. ....................Bah. Humbug. ps - It's about four miles to Dusty Lake. Only a scant two miles to the Ancient Lakes. If you come down from the top it's no more than half a mile, and if you use the horse trail you can get to the camping area pretty easily. ...... I suppose you could actually get there from either of the other trails down, too, but the scramble around the lakes is tough enough to make the longer, lower access preferable.

[Quark]

I always hear from other people about the crowds at Ancient Lakes, but I have always had it to myself. Even at Easter weekend a few years ago, I was alone except an occasional local with a fishing pole. I always hike in from U Road, not the other side where all the people are.

[kiliki]

Do any of y'all know if leashed dogs are ok there? I can't seem to find out online at the State site.

[frankm3]

Yes to everything all of you said. Scrooge, I can see what you are saying about this place being a bit noisy if you hit that part of channeled scabland country at the wrong time! In fact, I tend to think I was immensely lucky in that regard, both coming and going. The trailhead where I parked had only 3 other cars and 2 horse trailers. I remembered right when I arrived back at the lakes, there were some folks off shooting somewhere which made a ton of racket, and there were several groups of day hikers, etc., and groups of people on horses to where it was a bit populated and noisy. At about 5:00pm, though, the place suddenly became deserted except for me and 2-3 other groups of campers that were all pretty far apart- far enough for us to not impact one another, I never heard any of them anyway. The next morning when I was leaving, a group of guys with mountain bikes and unleashed, incessantly barking (which carried for miles it seemed) dogs arrived . I was just putting my gear in the truck and muttering "thank god I'm leaving" to myself. I say all that as a dog owner, of course- Zoe is really well behaved and it took SO little training ...anyway. What probably bothered me as much about the guys with the dogs loose and running around was the fact that we're in rattlesnake country, and dogs tend to be pretty dumb about stuff like that when left to their own devices. So Kiliki, to answer your question, I brought Zoe with me, in retrospect, whether or not it was entirely legal is something I did not check. I figured since there were several other hikes in the Best Hikes w/Dogs book on State WRA lands that it wasn't an issue. Let me know if you want me to scan/ e-mail you the hike description from 55 hikes in Central WA, I got maps online at http://www.topozone.com , it's in the Babcock Ridge USGS quad map. Thanks again Quark! That was a great trip! I am interested in going back to Northrup Canyon/ Lake, they mention the lake is open for '24 hour access' but make no mention of camping being allowed back there or not on the State Parks website.

[Alan Bauer]

Dogs are generally allowed in all WDFW lands---some are tricky but that is mainly the USDFW lands like Columbia NWR where dogs are not allowed....except for hunting But as you stated it is absolutely the most idiotic thing to do once the rattlesnakes are out in letting an unleashed dog on the roam in any area of the Columbia Basin. Yes, there is a way to train dogs to avoid rattlesnakes---but I assure you that I would give you my falling apart rig if you could find one of them. Ranchers? Yes, you'll find them there. But not on fisherman places or yahoo used areas. Sadly, the most likely place a dog will be bit is the nose/face and it will quickly paralyze them if not kill them when fully injected with venom there. Sigh.... My dog hikes out there with me often...but once May rolls around and I'm roaming for flowers even though I leash her, she isn't coming along. I only want to watch for myself since I know how...she does not.

[kiliki]

Thanks for that info, Alan.