[pula58]

I have some good hiking books that cover central WA, but most of the described trips are day hikes. I'm looking for a good idea source for one-night and/or two-night backpacking trips. For 2 nights we'd require that there be a drinkable (with boiling) water source, but for one-nighter's we could carry in our water. Any good ideas? books? Specific trip suggestions? addendum: I forgot to mention that I am particularly looking for winter trips without a lot of snow, and/or late autumn, early spring when the weather is nasty on the West side. Thanks!

[2manyhobbies]

I have been looking at going up the Entiat River and from there hiking into the Glacier Peak wilderness. If you are considering north central WA. I would look at trails into the Pasayten wilderness.

Sunny pass, Pasayten wilderness.

[pula58]

Thanks! I forgot to mention that I am particularly looking for winter trips without a lot of snow, and/or late autumn, early spring when the weather is nasty on the West side.

[Sculpin]

This has come up before. I have three recommendations: 1, The Colockum State Wildlife Area. 2. Ancient Lakes, Dusty Lakes and beyond. 3. Goose Lake Plateau. All these places have water. One issue though is that much of the water is polluted with ag chemicals. It's no doubt safe enough to drink for a couple days but you wouldn't want to drink it all the time. Ancient/Dusty is the only place folks backpack, not including weirdos like me.

[pula58]

Sculpin, yes, we got the idea of going to coluckum from you, and loved it (Tarpiscan area). Ancient lakes - check. Goose lakes- Never been, I saw a thread here a short time ago that mentioned the prevalence of crime at the Goose Lake area. Kinda scared us.

[treeswarper]

There's Douglas Creek. There might be snow up on top though, and wind. The creek is probably tainted with ag chemicals that wash in from the wheat fields. I wouldn't drink it but maybe you can find snow and I seem to remember some springs along the creek. Be prepared for wind. But that same wind can scour the snow off the ground and make walking easier. I haven't officially hiked it, but rode my horse in that part of the coulee as a kid and fished the creek. All this before it was "discovered".

[Joseph]

[treeswarper]

[Gwen]

You might look into the Juniper Dunes Wilderness. It's dry, so you'd have to carry water, but it could be a really interesting and different trip. I've been wanting to check it out myself. I think D Insco went in there once; might pm him for details. Permit required, but I think you just call the Spokane BLM office to get that.

[Sculpin]

[pula58]

[pula58]

[Joseph]

[pianodirt]

I came across a water filter thread elsewhere (I think backpackinglight.com) that had a couple very knowledgeable people answering. The short of it is you can effectively filter out pesticides and herbicides using granulated active carbon, which you can buy inexpensively at a pet store and make your own filter. Water just needs a short contact time to be purified. BUT, the only way to filter out synthetic fertilizers is through reverse osmosis or distillation. And since we're talking about agricultural run-off here, I doubt you'd find water that only had the 'cides' and not fertilizer. I don't know the health risks of drinking fertilizers, but I'd rather not risk it. It's been years since I've been to Ancient Lakes. But my memory is the water was just choking with underwater plants and upstream it's full of bright green algae, very thick mats of it. Fertilizer run-off to be sure. There were however LOTS of pretty little sunfish in at least one of the lakes, but I'd have to be starving to think of eating one of those.

[maurella]

I think an area that might be of interest to you is the Telford Scablands, which is south of US2 between Wilbur and Creston. BLM owns significant pieces of it and it is not agricultural except for some cattle grazing. There are numerous pothole and coulee lakes, I think of natural, not seepage from irrigation elsewhere. There is a BLM campground at Twin Lakes which looks to me like one could use for a trailhead.