Goose Lake Plateau
This area is part of eastern Washington's channeled scabland, created by glacial floodwaters of the Pleistocene epoch. It is mostly rolling countryside with basalt outcroppings forming cliffs, mesas, box canyons, and potholes.
Many of the canyons and potholes are filled with water that has seeped from the Potholes Reservoir north of this unit. A long history of frequent range fires has turned almost all of this area into grassland, comprised mostly of Sandberg bluegrass and cheatgrass. Step onto the trail to the west of the parking area and you'll peer out onto a series of boot-built trails heading toward the cliffs and a single trail angling up the steep face of the cliffs. Pick the most trammeled path to the cliff, then hike up the single path to the top to find awe-inspiring views near and far. Miles of open grassy terrain stretch out before you. Head southwest around and through wildflower prairie areas surrounded by massive basalt pillars of the scabland. After going between two of the basalt bumps, continue southwest, following the game trail you've been on. It soon enters a narrow canyon area between two broad 50-foot-high plateaus. Hike through this narrow area for 0.5 mile, and you'll come to a broad open junction with gullies heading off in four directions. Angle up the old jeep road to the right/north. At 2.5 miles total from the trailhead, you will come to the upper plateau view down to Upper Goose Lake. Backtrack, and at the junction go south and shortly veer right/west on another old jeep track. Go 1 mile more and you'll be at Lower Goose Lake. To prove how rich in hiking routes this area is, you can hike down another old jeep road to the southeast from this junction and hit the main gravel road that heads south of the trailhead area toward Othello. Hike back up the road 1.5 miles to loop back to the trailhead.
Driving Directions:
From Vantage, drive east on Interstate 90, crossing the Columbia River and leaving the freeway at exit 137 (State Route 26). Drive SR 26 for 25.3 miles before turning left onto SR 262 toward Potholes State Park. Continue 17.7 miles from SR 26. At the far eastern end of the O'Sullivan Dam, turn right into the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge entrance signed to Soda Lake Campground and Othello (directly across the road from the massive public fishing boat launch site). Drive into the refuge, and continue past the turn to Soda Lake at 1.1 miles. Turn right at 2.2 miles, and at 2.8 miles reach the northern Crab Creek trailhead. At a junction just past the Crab Creek trailhead, keep left on the main road (don't go straight). In another mile (3.9 miles total from the O'Sullivan Road entrance) is the Frog Lake/Marsh Lake trailhead area. The parking area is on the right (west) side of road-- this trail begins to the west, behind the parking area (the trails across the road are for the Frog Lake/Marsh Loop routes). Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife permit required. Recent Trip Reports
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Flickr: http://bit.ly/goose-lake-plateau
East of Snoqualmie Pass was partly cloudy to sunny later...
Flickr: http://bit.ly/goose-lake-plateau
East of Snoqualmie Pass was partly cloudy to sunny later in the day, so it was a matter of finding some place we haven't been to. A friend recommended Goose Lake area for a rainy day hike, so that's where we ended up. The rock formation in this area was similar to the coulees west of here. Hard to imagine they were all created during the ice age floods. We arrived around 1:30 in the afternoon, just enough time to do a loop through Goose Lake and back by sunset. There were no others in the area except the gunshots we heard on the way back. Day hike
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I led a Cascadian hike to the Goose Lake Plateau today. We generally followed the route described i...
I led a Cascadian hike to the Goose Lake Plateau today. We generally followed the route described in Best Desert Hikes in Washington to Lower Goose Lake. Once past the broad open junction the old jeep track climbed out of the coulee and we walked quite a ways through rather boring grassland. This track took us to the south end of Lower Goose Lake rather than part way up the shoreline as shown on the map in the book. We made out way up the lake to a nice viewpoint for lunch. After an hour or so of lounging in the sun we headed back. I decided to vary the route by taking the coulee that heads ENE from the middle of the lake. This was a very interesting walk. Unfortunately, I didn't recognize the coulee coming down from Upper Goose Lake & we walked too far south and then turned right when we should have turned left (there are so many little coulees, buttes, amphitheaters, etc that sometimes the map isn't much help) and then (even with a GPS) we spent some 45 min or so wandering around the plateau until we finally found the coulee that took us back to the cars. Despite this little detour, everyone had a great time. The weather was sunny & warm with puffy clouds and an occasional cool breeze. We had the place to ourselves except for 3 backpackers we met on the way out. There weren't any wildflowers to speak of (just a few large-fruited desert parsleys and yellow bells), but we heard lots of meadowlarks, saw sandhill cranes, geese, & hawks in the air and deer in the grass. And with all the cliffs, canyons, & buttes, the landscape often looked like southern Utah in basalt.
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Brent and I took off to eastern wa sat-mon. We first stopped at Frenchman Coulee, then potholes area...
Brent and I took off to eastern wa sat-mon. We first stopped at Frenchman Coulee, then potholes area, palouse falls, Lyons Ferry state park, back to potholes and ended at Olmstead Place state park. I called it my mini "world tour". It was alot of fun seeing new and old areas I have explored and this time with my husband. He's finally getting my passion and coming with me now. He liked everything but the cold. I found his breaking point to be 17 degrees. I guess I'm just more used to the cold, I don't mind it so much.
The Columbia Wildlife Refuge has TONS of hiking, fishing and camping. It was wonderful to explore around in the winter when crowds are few and far between, we saw about 5 cars the whole day. You can wander for days here. Day hike
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It was a bright sunny day with temperatures in the 60's. Four of us did this hike. We drove North ...
It was a bright sunny day with temperatures in the 60's. Four of us did this hike. We drove North out of Othello on Rte 24 (Broadway) which turns into McManamon Rd. We then took Morgan Lake Rd north into the Refuge. We parked in a small area by a gated gravel road on the west side of Morgan Lake Rd. We followed the gravel road for about a mile up the canyon where we explored around the remnants of an old rock corral used at the end of the 1800's. From there we continued north on animal trails to climb the highest mesa on Goose Lake Plateau. Afterward we headed a bit further north and descended the cliff across from the Frog Lake Trail and then walked south for about a mile back to our car. The area is very green right now and you can see signs of desert parsley coming up. We saw two separate herd of white tailed deer and one marmot. Except for the Frog Lake Trail which takes off to the east from Morgan Lake Road, there are no marked trails in this area but you can roam for miles exploring mesas and canyons of the channeled scablands. I have done many hikes here and it is rare to see other hikers.
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Hike #71 in the Bauer/Nelson Best Desert Hikes guidebook. I finished up a weekend over in central WA...
Hike #71 in the Bauer/Nelson Best Desert Hikes guidebook. I finished up a weekend over in central WA with an early morning hike on a clear sunny day. Still some leftover wind from the bigger windstorm that whupped up things across central WA the day before, but not bad. This plateau and it's canyons beckon you on to explore every nook and cranny. A few old jeep tracks run through parts of the plateau and it's easy to imagine them created by old wagon wheels from a century ago. The place really has Old West written all over it. I love the wide open grasslands separating several large and small mesas, canyons rimmed with columnar basalt cliffs and further on the Upper and Lower Goose Lakes as well as Black Lk. |
 Goose Lakes Plateau basalt cliffs. Photo by M&S.
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