Ancient Lakes
Feb 15, 2005
- Type of Outing
- Day hike
- Read More in our Hiking Guide
- Hike: Ancient Lakes
- Region: Eastern Washington -- Wenatchee
- Agency: Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
- Avg Rating: 3.96
(See yesterday's report for narrative continuity)In the morning I decided I'd seen enough of this rolling hills type of country, and I headed over the Columbia into coulee country. We saw a large coyote cross the road ahead of us while still on Durr rd. I chose Ancient lake due to my good experience last week at Dusty lake. This is a great hike. Just hike along a short road into the mouth of the coulee, and turn left anywhere. Follow any number of paths, or make your own way, it's all good. Daisy and I started out down the middle, but there were so many pricker bushes getting their evil progeny into my boots and Daisy's paws, that we turned more to the left and climbed up onto a little bench and continued on our way, far fewer of the devilish prickers up there. The lakes basin is great, plenty to see and do. We hiked up to the highest and farthest campsite and took a break there. The cliffs are interesting, with the expected columnar basalt interspersed with other rock types and formations above and below. Some of the lakes were frozen over, others were melted and home to numerous birds. I kept hearing pigeons or doves cooing in then rocks above, until a hawk circled by, then all the doves took flight and harrassed the hawk into moving on, which it did by rising lazily up in ever-expanding cirlces. It was very warm in the sun, and the thermals were great for the hawks, which I saw more of as the day progressed. We had left the car at 11, and now it was 3, so I decided some more exploring was in order, so we made our way around to the waterfall that feeds the farthest lake. The trail over is primitive, and it disappears in the rocks far short of the falls, but some careful scrambling and route-finding got me and the dog safely to the falls. Then we scrambled back, and headed over to the south wall to see another frozen lake over thataway. The trail down the canyon on that side seemed (and was) really interesting, so we went back that way. It winds it's way through some cool rock formations, then we scrambled down a level and finished the way out by just following the contours of the land through some grassy areas, eventually meeting the dirt road back to the trailhead. We got back to the car at 6 pm, a very good 7-hour hike and picnic. But once again my gaiters would have come in handy for the prickers, nasty little multi-pointed SOB's.
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