On a clear cool spring day, I made the two and a half hour drive to check out the Quincy Lakes Wildlife Management Area near unsurprisingly the town of Quincy Washington. As there’s still a lot of snow in the mountains close to home, I opted to spend the day hiking in the Channeled Scablands of Eastern Washington. It was my first time visiting to this particular place. I’m glad I did as the scenery was epic.
The road to the wildlife management area is a non-descript gravel trail marked only with a fishing access sign. Several trailheads are spaced along the gravel park road. There was pretty much no signage at them and the entrances to the trails weren’t really obvious so I picked one and headed cross country towards the west and what I believed would be the edge of a canyon. There were neat rock formations and wild flowers along the way. Being managed by the State of Washington a Discover Pass is required.
Half a mile in I came to an opening and followed the trail down this small side canyon towards an open basin.
The view opened up. The floor of the basin was a couple hundred feet below. Looking towards the west I never saw the mighty Columbia River as it was still hidden in it’s own gorge, but across it I could see the foothills of the Cascades still with patches of snow on them.
At the edge of a basalt cliff I enjoyed the view of several small pothole lakes below. This striking landscape is widely believed to have been formed by catastrophic ice age floods that scoured the region down to the bedrock and carved gigantic canyons as cascaded towards the Columbia River.
Across the basin I could see what looked like a substantial waterfall. The trail I was on didn’t head that way so I continued towards the west on a bench below an impressive rock wall.
When the lava cooled, it fractured in hexagonal patterns creating the classic basalt columns that dominate the region.
The ridge I was paralleling turned out to be Potholes Coulee Rib, I thin blade of rock that separated to distinct basins. Spur trails lead to two notched or gaps in the otherwise solid wall of rock so I checked out both of them.
After scrambling up the slope, I got a peek at another lake . This turned out to be Dusty Lake.
This is the kind of place that makes you stop and really soak up the view for half an hour or so.
Apparently some of the cliffs I was on are popular with rock climbers.
While enjoying the view of Dusty Lake I could hear the sound of waterfalls feeding this lake as well but I could not see them.
Not far from the second gap in Potholes Coulee Rib the trail passed close to an interesting looking cave. Generally these caves in basalt rock walls are only overhangs from rocks that collapsed under an arch and don’t provide access to the underworld. Anyway there might be rattlesnakes hibernating inside.
I wanted to check out some other trails in the park so I returned the way I came except this time followed the trail all the way back to the parking area.
I drove south a short distance until I came across a trailhead marked for Dusty Lake. There was some signage about fishing rules and regulations so I figured this lake was popular with anglers. The trail was well made and even had a guard rail on the steepest part.
At the beginning of the trail there was an outstanding view of Dusty Lake in the distance with smaller pools of water in the foreground that were fed by a creek.
The trail followed the creek and several cascades it created on its way down towards the basin.
The basin on the south side of Pothole Coulee Rib only contained one lake but it was much larger than the several lakes on the north side of the rib.
I had one more trail to check out so I called it good and returned to the parking area.
The first trailhead as you enter the park is for the Ancient Lakes Trail so I stopped there on my way out.
The trail followed a side canyon towards the northern basin. A larger creek paralleled the trail.
Soon the views opened up. Below me was Josephine Pool, a small body of water high above the basin created by the creek.
Beyond Josephine Pool the creek continued. Looking back towards the east this impressive rock formation stood guard over the pond.
Below the pool the first water fall came into view. April is definitely the time of year to see waterfalls especially in the Channeled Scablands. This part of Washington is a semi-desert and almost no rain will fall in the area between June and October.
Further down the trail I finally came to the waterfall I could see from the far side of the basin on my first hike of the day. It had an upper and a lower fall.
The trail ended at the top of the lower falls. It was a long way down to the lake. I called it a day and headed back to my car.
Ancient Lakes State Park had the best scenery of any place I’ve been in the Channeled Scablands. I spent six hours on three different hikes there but still didn’t want to leave.
I brought this walking stick out of retirement this year. It was made for me as a gift twenty four years ago for my birthday by a friend and co-worker. Thanks Sherry Ann.
The five hours of driving to get there and back would put this one at the limit of my day trips. Any farther and I would have had to spend the night.
