Author: jake idaho

I am retiring after working forty years in the parks and recreation field. I have lived and played in the Inland Pacific Northwest for the past 18 years and would like to share some of the best outdoor experiences I have discovered and hopefully many more ones in the near future.

Biking the Milwaukee Road along the St. Joe River

Over the past year I have explored several sections of America’s only abandoned transcontinental railroad. Parts of the Milwaukee Road have been converted in to bike trails, parts have been lost to time and some sections are now public roadways. Forty plus miles of the old railbed between St. Maries and Avery along the St. Joe River in Idaho is the latter. Today I checked out a ten mike stretch between Marble Creek and Calder along with checking out a couple of historic sites.

Before my ride I drove all the way to Avery, 48 miles up the road to visit the old depot in that town.

Next to the historic depot there is a restored railcar from the glory days of the railroads passenger service when the Hiawatha, for which the famous bike trail is named, ran from Chicago to Seattle. This is a lounge car.

From Avery to Marble Creek, the old railbed is now a paved road with a fifty-five mile per hour speed limit, no shoulders and plenty of logging truck traffic. I opted to drive back thirteen miles to the bridge at Marble Creek. A sign let me know that I might not make it to Calder from here.

At Marble Creek a gravel road splits off from the main highway just before the paved road crosses the St. Joe River. From this point the railbed has been turned into a lightly used local road. Pretty much the only development along this ten mile stretch is vacation properties on the river bank and the old railroad is how they are accessed.

At the Goat Rock Cut, I was treated to an exceptional view of the river.

I saw a lot more drift boats floating down the river than I did vehicles on the railbed. This seems to be a very popular stretch of water for fishermen to enjoy this pastime.

Several small bridges crossing small side creeks graced the old railbed. It appeared the wooden structures dated from the days this was an active rail line.

The bridges have been planked to support vehicle traffic but the condition of the surface varied. I walked my bike across a couple of them so as to not taking a chance on bending a rim of hitting a protruding nail.

About four and a half miles in I came across the only tunnel on this stretch of the old railroad. It was short and straight.

The local roadway was surprisingly wide being a former railroad. I’m guessing some sections used to be double tracked.

This is the Big Creek Bridge.

The road surface was okay for fat tired bikes with only a few short sections of loose gravel. That being said it’s still a lot harder pedaling on gravel than it is on pavement.

Seven and a half miles in I came across a construction site. Here is where they’re replacing the Elk Creek Bridge and here is where I turned around. I didn’t see a sign that said bridge closed except for bicycles.

They are a lot of views of the St. Joe River along the road.

The St. Joe River is a popular draw for all kinds of outdoor enthusiast.

I made it back to my car and drove around the detour to Calder, the only town of any kind between Avery and St. Maries. They do have a small store but I found out it is closed on Mondays. Calder is across the river from the main highway and is accessed by it’s own narrow bridge.

I got back on my bike and pedaled west to a closed bridge. The railroad was obviously double tracked here. I have read reviews where the riders have dismounted and carried their bikes across. I did not. The old railbed on the far side was completely weed covered anyway.

Seven miles west of Calder the main road again crossed the St. Joe and so did the old railbed. I had to check out this impressive bridge before calling it a day. I drove a couple of miles east back towards Calder also but the road surface there was extremely rough.

I always wanted to check out this section of the Milwaukee Road on bike but truth be told the view would have been the same from inside my car. I’ve ridden and walked several sections of the Palouse Cascade Trail which is Washington State’s section of the old rail line.

Next time I’ll ride the forest service road from the lower end of the Hiawatha Trail at Pearson to Avery. I did that years ago and remember it as being very scenic.

Hawk Creek Falls

Today I drove about an hour and a half west to Lake Roosevelt to check out a water fall I heard about. I found it and much more. Hawk Creek Falls is part of the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area. Lake Roosevelt is the name of the reservoir created by the Grand Coulee Dam over twenty miles downstream.

Hawk Creek Falls is a few miles past Fort Spokane and the historical site that includes remnants of the former military post. This building is the post’s stables. If time allows, I highly recommend a brief stop here on the way to Hawk Creek.

A short road leads to a small campground. Here Hawk Creek is only a creek during the winter/spring drawdown of Lake Roosevelt. In the summer this is a bay of the lake.

Just upstream of the campground, the creek passes through a small short basalt canyon.

At the end of the canyon is a beautiful little waterfall that supposedly flows year round.

From the campground a short roadway leads to a parking lot for hiking trails. On the way to it I caught a glimpse of a cave in a basalt canyon wall above me.

Even though there really isn’t a trail to it i just had to check it out. A really steep informal path lead from the parking area to the cliff. It was more of a climb than it looked at first.

On the way up the views of Hawk Creek opened up. What appeared to be a small canyon connected the creek to a bay of Lake Roosevelt. Up here the vegetation was mostly open grasslands.

The last part of the climb up to the cliff face was extremely steep and involved some hand crawling. The lichens were a nice bonus.

When I made it to the cave, I went to the back and enjoyed the view back out. Like most caves in basalt cliffs it was short and didn’t lead to the underworld.

It did make for a nice frame for the epic scenery below.

While up here I checked out the views. It looked like their might be other small caves on nearby bluffs but by now I knew the distance to these cliffs was a lot further than it looked and the topography much steeper. Also the faint trail I had followed to this point pretty much disappeared.

I made my way back to the parking lot and then took the real trail. The first part of the trail meandered through an open ponderosa pine forest and climbed over a small saddle that divided the uplands from a small ridge that screened the canyon part of Hawk Creek.

Looking back towards the waterfall I could see the valley of the creek kind of as it was before the dam flooded it.

When I made it past the saddle I had a nice view back up the canyon I bypassed. During summer pool stage boaters can head up this waterway to a small boat ramp at the same place I was parked.

The trail kind of ended at the beginning of a beautiful beach. It looked almost like the coast of Oregon.

I wasn’t expecting a beach hike but that’s what I got, at least for about a mile or so. It looked almost like dune grass growing along the shoreline.

Even through there’s no elevation gain along the lake, the hiking is harder than it looks due to the soft sand and noticeable cross slope. The beach wrapped around a couple of distinct headlands offering a variety of views.

It definitely looked like the tide was out but here instead of twice a day the water rises and falls once a year.

Eventually I did come to an end point. A headland of basalt blocked further progress along the shoreline. From here I had a view of the main body of the lake, the part that once was the Columbia River.

The return trip was just as nice and interesting. In places the terraces made by the receding water were obvious.

A waterfalls, a cave and a beach. This hike had all three. I’m not sure what my favorite was but Hawk Creek is truly a gem in the middle of Washington.

If you want to explore this area I would recommend sticking to the springtime. When the water level rises most of the beach hike would be impassible and like much of Central Washington it can get awfully hot in the summer and the shade is limited.

Palisades Park and Indian Canyon, Spokane Washington

For todays outdoor activities, I opted to check out Palisades Park on the west side of Spokane. It is an easy drive to get to and an easy hike. A group called the Friends of Palisades Park supports the city’s efforts to preserve and improve this site.

At the top of the bluffs, a small parking lot servicing the site is located up Greenwood Road from Government Way. There is overflow parking across the road.

Palisades Park is a natural area owned and managed by Spokane, the second largest city in Washington and is located on the edge of a bluff overlooking the city.

This hike is mostly about enjoying the city views and the views of the surrounding region. The main trail is an old scenic road that runs right along the edge of the bluffs for about a mile and a half. The first part of the hike has extensive views towards the east overlooking downtown.

The old park drive is no longer open to vehicles. Being flat and having a good surface makes it for easy walking or bicycling.

After a turn towards the west the view changes. Now you’re overlooking north Spokane and Spokane Falls community College. The brick buildings below are remnants of old Fort Wright. Across the valley snow capped Mount Spokane is a local landmark. This is the final week of ski season up there.

Looking down the bluff I saw one of those ubiquitous abandoned vehicles that seem be be in all the natural areas around the city. At least this one has an interesting paint job.

It is the beginning of wildflower season here. Only a couple of varieties are in bloom so far.

A mile and a half in I came to the end of the old park road and a promise of more access and trails in the near future. I see they have plans for an extension to be built by “others”.

It looked like “others” have been busy. I followed this beginning of a trail for a few hundred feet before it ended.

Returning the way I came I had a nice city view with a bend of the Spokane River included. Just across the river at the top of the river band I could clearly see the Spokane River Centennial Trail. In the far distance is Mica Peak Idaho, AKA Signal Point.

I did come across a couple of these guys trying to hitch a ride (and get a free meal). I guess it’s officially tick season in the Inland Northwest. At least this only lasts a couple of weeks, not like Florida were it’s 365 days a year.

The old park road crossed over a small seasonal creek on this arch. It made for a pretty view. In a couple of weeks it should be dry.

Inland from the bluff side of the old park road, the vegetation was mostly an open Ponderosa pine forest interspaced with seasonal wetland ponds.

After walking three miles I made it back to the trailhead crossed Greenwood Road and took a non-descript trail down into Indian Canyon, another natural area owned and maintained by the City of Spokane’s Parks Department.

Indian Canyon has a trail system. The highlight of this natural area is Mystic Falls at the bottom of a narrow steep canyon.

The view from the top is limited and finding a way to the base was a challenge.

It took a couple of tries I finally found a way. The base of the falls was kind of crowded and after a couple of minutes I wanted to get the heck out of there. One lady insisted on standing right in front of the falls preventing anyone from getting a good photo of it for the longest time.

From the canyon, I made my way back to the top of the buff through an open pine forest with scattered basalt boulders.

Palisades Park and Indian Canyon combined make for a nice place to explore. The contrast between the natural areas and the nearby cityscape is a change a pace from most of my outdoor adventures.

Ancient Lakes in the Quincy Lakes Wildlife Management Area

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.

Escure Ranch and the Rock Creek Recreation Area, Hiking to Towell Falls.

I made the two and a half hour drive , a large part of which was on gravel roads to one of the most remote places in Eastern Washington. The Escure Ranch is in the Channeled Scablands about thirteen miles south of the town of Sprague.

On the way to the trailhead, I passed by this grain elevator in the middle of nowhere. The trail next to it is the old railbed for the Milwaukee Railroad which is now managed by the state of Washington as the Palouse Cascade Trail, I trail I explored last year. There is a trailhead just east of the lonely grain elevator but it is for the Palouse Cascade Trail, not Escure Ranch. You still need to drive a few more miles , mostly on rough potholed roads.

I crossed over Rock Creek on a small bridge. Rock Creek is the out flow for Rock Lake and Bonnie Lake to the northeast and empties into the Palouse River to the south. This time of year it has a substantial flow. By late summer this waterway will dwindle to a trickle.

These signs, the only ones on the way in, let me know I only had another mile and a half to get to the real trailhead. Allow for half an hour for this final part of the drive as you dodge potholes and slow roll over gullies.

Just past the trailhead and parking area a bridge over Rock Creek provides access to the old ranch buildings. Another trail continues on the far side of the complex to Wall Lake and Breeden Falls but that’s not where I was heading today. I did spend a few minutes checking out the old buildings.

The trail followed the creek downstream through basalt rock formations and grasslands. The few small trees on the site were confined to the stream banks. The area is a semi-desert.

The Channeled Scablands presents a stark landscape. Here you can truly be alone.

My car was the only vehicle in the parking lot when I started my hike. Four hours later when I returned it was still the only vehicle. The Escure Ranch is 14,000 acres and I was the only human on it that day.

I was far enough out there that I was out of sight of anything manmade other than the trail and out of hearing distance from anything other than the sound of the wind and the coyotes howling.

The trail veered away from the creek and followed a small canyon flanked by impressive basalt cliffs. A group of ravens perched on the rim watched me mostly in silence. Odd behavior for normally very vocal birds. I guess I was far enough below them that they weren’t particularly concerned.

After passing the high bluffs, I came to a place with a view towards the south. The creek was back within sight and through the gap in the coulee I had a fleeting glimpse of the Blue Mountains in the distance.

After about three and a half miles I made it to the waterfall. Not the most impressive fall I’ve seen this week, but it was still a nice place to stop for a while.

The hike itself was very easy. There were only a couple of small hills to climb and then descend along the way.

Hiking in this empty landscape might not be for everyone but I love the change from the forested mountains closer to my home. Late winter and early spring is the time to explore the scablands as it gets awfully hot with no shade in the summer, the few streams are flowing and the snakes aren’t as active. Anyway the mountains are still mostly covered in snow this early in the season.

Rock Creek was a welcomed sight on the way back. At one point at least three groups of coyotes were yelping behind, beside and in front of my path. It was fun to listen to them for a few minutes.

I spent about four hours covering approximately seven miles. This hike was more about the journey than the destination. The solitude is overwhelming and gives one a chance to reflect on a lot things.

Other than the very long drive to get here, I highly recommend this hike. Next time I might explore some of the other trails on the ranch.

Saguaro National Park, hiking the Hugh Norris and Sendero-Esperanza Trails in the west unit.

Saguaro National Park is divided in to two distinct areas, one east and one west of Tucson. I drove to the west unit and the Painted Hills visitor center via Gates Pass and Kinney Road.

My first stop was at the trailhead for the Hugh Norris Trail.

The Hugh Norris Trail climbs to the top of a ridge utilizing a series of switchbacks and well made stair steps gaining over 800 feet in the first half of a mile.

The steep climb through a wilderness of rocks and cactus eventually provides you with nice views to the west.

At the first saddle the view to the north opens up.

Over twenty miles away you can see the observatories on Kitt Peak and Baboquivari Peak another fifteen miles to the south of that.

Past the saddle the trail continues climbing the ridge after a brief descent as it follows the north face of an impressive cliff face.

The trail is very well made. There’s over one thousand steps like these on the first mile as it gains most of the elevation on the way to the Sendero-Esperanza Trail junction.

After the climb the Hugh Laurie Trail flattens out a little as it follows near the top of the ridge towards Wasson Peak, the highest point on the west unit of Saguaro National Park at a little over 4600 feet above sea level. Hardly a sky island but it is a very achievable goal for a hike.

The Hugh Norris Trail mostly stays on the north side of the ridge but a a few saddles they’re awesome views to the south. Here you can see the Santa Rita Mountains forty miles away with Mount Wrightson at 9,453 feet above sea level being the highest point visible from the Tucson area. Madera Canyon is at the base of that mountain.

At the point I decided to turn around I could clearly see the trail as it continued to climb towards the summit of Wasson Peak.

At the saddle I enjoyed the view of some of the Tucson Mountains much of which are in Pima County’s Tucson Mountain Park and saw the path of the Sendero-Esperanza Trail heading south towards the Kings Canyon Trailhead.

The view towards the north featured Prophecy Wash and the Pictured Rocks area.

On the way up I had a feeling I was being watched. Turned out it was a cactus wearing sunglasses with a flattop and big ears.

So I returned the way I came stopping at this pretty pile of rocks and then counted the one thousand steps back to the parking lot.

A few days later I returned to the west unit of Saguaro National Park to check out the trails out of the Kings Canyon Trailhead. I started out on the Kings Canyon Trail which appeared to be an old road servicing the mines that used to dot the area. This trail paralleled and climbed above the wash.

About a mile in the trail descended to the dry wash and presented me with choices. I could continue on the Kings Canyon Trail towards Wasson Peak or I could turn left on the Sendero-Esperanza Trail. I choose the latter.

Another half mile in I saw the tailings pile for the Gould Mine.

Other than the mine shaft and tailings pile this was the only manmade structure left at the old mine site.

The shaft was covered by a stout barricade to prevent carless hikers from plummeting to their death. I dropped a couple of small rocks through the mess and would guess they dropped at least thirty feet before hitting anything.

Beyond the mine the trail started climbing up the ridge in earnest. I noticed a couple of other tailing piles well off the trail and at this black rock the road ended and the trail continued on a single track and started switch backing up to the top of the ridge.

When I reached the top of the ridge the view looked awfully familiar. Here the Sendero-Esperanza Trail crossed the Hugh Norris Trail close to where I had turned around a few days previously.

I followed the trail east to my previous hikes end point and looked back towards Wasson Peak. Some other time. I noticed that the yucca type plants only grew on the north side of the ridge top. I guess they need a little shade.

Here I killed half an hour enjoying the view in solitude. On the way back at the intersection of the two trails I met a nice group of hikers from Wisconsin and we traded information on other local hiking spots. Sometimes you meet the nicest folks on the trail. I hiked this trail based on a recommendation from a couple of hikers I talked to at Sabino Canyon.

On the hike back down I took time to appreciate the small views. Due to the extreme drought in the Tucson area very few plants are flowering. These Ocotillos are the exception.

At the mine site I took the alternative route to the trailhead via the Gould Mine Trail. It quickly descended below the old mine site and this was the view looking back.

Near the trailhead the trail crossed the dry wash a final time.

These two hikes to the same ridge were a great way to start exploring the west side of Saguaro National Park. Between the two I covered about ten miles and gained over one thousand feet twice. It was a decent workout. Next time, if there is one, I’ll focus on making it to the top of Wasson Peak.

Saguaro National Park, hiking from the Loma Alta Trailhead in the east unit.

Circumstance brought me back to the Tucson area for an extended stay again. I used the opportunity to check out more places to hike. Southern Arizona and with the Saguaro Desert and the sky islands offers a multitude of places to stretch ones legs.

On previous trips to Saguaro National Park, I hiked the Tanque Verde Ridge Trail and the Loma Verde Trail both of which are accessed from the park loop drive. In the 1990’s the park was expanded by the addition of a couple of ranches on the south end of the park. This addition is accessed from the Loma Alta Trailhead off of Old Spanish Trail in the Rincon Valley. The valley takes its name from this prominent mountain, one of Arizona’s sky islands .

The main trail is an old ranch road. This road bisects the addition to the National Park and is three miles long making for a six mile round trip. For the area the trail is relatively level with only one medium size hill about half way through it.

The prickly pears come in purple as well as the standard green. The purple ones are used extensively in landscaping for the color contrast.

Near the beginning of the trail a one mile long spur, the Ridgeview Trail heads towards the base of Tanque Verde Ridge. This trail climbs nearly 400 feet to an overlook. The trail gives you a different perspective of the rock domes on the Tanque Verde Trail.

The trail seems flatter than it is on the way up. It’s only when you look back to the south that you realize that the reason your more tired than you should be is that you have climbed up a couple of hundred feet.

Near the end of the trail you are treated to a nice view of Rincon Mountain. This local landmark east of Tucson is over 8400 feet above sea level. On this day a little snow was visible near the summit from the previous nights rain event. The Tucson area has been experiencing an extreme drought over this winter and the light rainfall was welcomed.

A couple of puddles remained on the large slab of rock near the end of this trail. I hiked this area three times during my stay in Tucson and this was the only time it was cloudy.

After the two mile detour I was back on the main trail known as the Camp Hope Trail. This former ranch road connected two cattle watering stations. The main trail is also open to mountain biking and horses.

The first abandoned watering station is called Deer Camp and was formerly part of the Rocking K Ranch. These stations were established partially to provide get the widely scattered cattle a place to gather to make it easier to round them up.

At the one hill on the Camp Hope Trail erosion has uncovered the remains of juniper logs used to stabilize the old road.

I was told that this section of the national park has some of the largest saguaros around. Some of these guys were pretty impressive.

This is the largest one I came across. When I walked up to it, the top of my head (6 foot even) came only half way from the base to the bottom of the first arm. I’m guessing this guy was pushing forty feet tall and had at least twenty arms.

Two and a half miles in the Camp Hope Trail crosses the Arizona Trail. On one of my visits, I pushed north on this trail about one mile. This trail can be used to access Mica Mountain. A hike to this mountain, the highest point on the national park at 8,668 feet above sea level. This trek is an extreme hike involving a multiday 26 mile long round trip with a six thousand foot elevation gain. It is not on my bucket list.

Along the way I found evidence that something eats prickly pears. I’m assuming a desert tortoise with a mouth of steel.

Less than a quarter of a mile from were the trail exits the national park the remains of the second watering station, Camp Hope are found.

Camp Hope was on the X-9 Ranch before the National Park Service acquired the the property. The old wind mill blades made for a nice photo op.

At the park boundary a gate prevents cattle from wandering in. The hiking trail, The Arizona Trail continues on easements on private ranch lands.

I enjoyed hiking the south end of the east unit of Saguaro National Park. These trails are much quieter than those found closer to the visitor center and the saguaros are much bigger here. The relatively flatter hiking makes for a nice break from climbing steep ridges on my over hikes.

After checking out this hike, I decided to head to the west unit of the national park next.

Fishtrap Lake, Hiking the south loop trail.

For todays winter hike, I headed southwest of Spokane to the BLM’s Fishtrap Lake Recreation Area. A hour drive brought me to the trailhead for this hike. I had hiked the north loop a couple of years ago and there is some overlap.

The trail starts out going through what looks like an endless expanse of semi-desert steppe. You can measure the sight line in miles, not feet. Beneath the thin grasses the ground is pretty much basalt rocks. Not much else can grow out here.

After a mile I was able to turn around and see my car in the distance. I imagine some folks give up on this hike after half an hour due to lack of scenery.

On the way to the lake I passed several small iced over ponds. When I hiked this site in the spring of 2022 there was a lot of swampy ground and it was hard to keep my feet dry.

After half an hour you start passing by walls of basalt.

The trail descends through an area of scattered pines and rock outcroppings as you get closer to the lake.

When I made it to the shore near the southwest end of the lake, I wasn’t all that surprised to find it covered in a thick layer of ice. A lot of the ice was black (clear) ice that forms when it’s calm and the lake freezes in a hurry. It is the safest ice to walk on.

Next I followed the western shore to the northeast. I thought this basalt monolith looked a lot like a pill box.

I came across this kolk crater. I had to look up what that is and found out these features are the holes left over from vortex’s caused by gigantic flood events. Apparently they are found throughout the Channeled Scablands.

After detouring around the crater I was back to following the shoreline on rocky bluffs about thirty feet above the ice. Fishtrap Lake is about two miles long but only about one to two hundred feet wide and less than thirty feet deep.

At a gully the trail descended down to lake level and I enjoyed the view to the far shore. I got a good look at the ice and it looked to be over four inches thick. The entire basin reverberated with the distinctive sound of the ice cracking under the immense pressure.

Where the trail deviated inland, it passed beneath another wall of basalt through pines and dense stands of aspen trees. It looked like a wildfire had burned through the area a few years ago. There were a lot of surviving pines which means it wasn’t as hot as some others in the area.

Here I stopped to enjoy the view as it was time to call it good. The lake goes another half mile before it ends at a small resort and is fed from a creek that connects to Hog Lake.

On the way back, I took this photo of a very pretty headland. You can see the shadows are starting to lengthen. This looks like a fun lake to kayak as well.

After finishing a four hour hike, I made a quick detour to the Folsom Farm interpretive site.

On my previous trip to the Fishtrap Lake Recreation Area, I hiked out to the waterfall on the northeast end of Hog Lake. There are lots of places to explore out here. FYI, if you want to see a waterfall don’t wait for summer, the creek will be dry by then.

Fishtrap Lake is just off Interstate 90 about 30 miles west of Spokane. The 9000 acre site has miles of trails, two boat ramps on two lakes, a waterfall and several trailheads. I’ve read mixed reviews on the hiking here, but I highly recommend it, especially for winter and cool early season hiking.

Coffee Pot Lake and Twin Lakes in the Channeled Scablands.

For todays winter hike(s), I visited the Lake Creek Coulee north of Odessa and southwest of Davenport, in other words in the middle of nowhere. The Bureau of Land Management (the real BLM) is responsible for thousands of acres of semi-desert steppe in the area around the coulee including a couple of recreation areas on striking scabland lakes.

To get to this hidden gem I had to drive over two hours west through farmland that looks a lot like Kansas. The areas of central Washington that were not scoured to bedrock by the ice age floods are some of the most productive agricultural lands in the country. Out here you can drive for hours without hardly ever seeing a car or another human.

My first stop was Coffee Pot Lake, a large scabland lake with a small campground and boat ramp just off of the paved road.

From the parking lot I was able to take a short walk over a small headland for a view of the main body of the lake. There were thousands of wild geese all along the shore and in the middle of the open water. I was surprised that most of the lake was ice free. It turned out the lake is deep, eighty feet in some spots and wider than most scabland lakes.

After checking out the day use area, I drove back up the entrance road to a small parking area that accessed the trail above the bluffs on the north side of the lake.

The unmarked trail started out as a double track that looked like it was used for cattle operations. It stayed away from the shear cliffs that bordered the lake at first. Mostly it meandered through sage brush and the tall grass.

A small basalt ridge covered in green lichen paralleled the trail to the north screening the trail from the paved road north of the site.

About half a mile in a short spur brought me to the edge of the cliffs above the lake. It was about two hundred feet straight down from this point. The surface of the lake was covered by thousands of geese all making a thunderous racket with their incessant honking.

To the west down the coulee another lake was separated from Coffee Pot by a low isthmus of dry land. The lower lake is actually seasonally part of Coffee Pot and much sallower.

I continued west off trail along the cliffs using cattle paths and finding openings in the sage brush.

A mile in I came to my turn around point above the isthmus from here I could see the lower lake was indeed frozen as was the far west end of the main lake. I got to watch a coyote hunting below me. He was too far away to get a decent photo of.

On the way back I came across this skull of some unfortunate animal. It is the circle of life.

On the way back I took the spur to the cliff again to soak in the views. Some of these basalt cliffs are beyond vertical. Coffee Pot Lake is listed at over 800 acres making it one of the bigger lakes in the scablands.

Looking back to the west the scene looked like it could have been from the high Artic summer with the dramatic cliffs, patches of ice, little vegetation and thousands of screaming birds.

So after walking maybe three miles along the cliffs, I returned to the parking area and drove a few miles to another BLM recreational site, this time on Twin Lakes.

A long gravel road eventually descended back in to Lake Creek Coulee to a site with a small camp ground, fishing dock and day use parking between two smaller but beautiful lakes.

Time was getting short so I parked and checked out both lakes. Both of them were frozen solid.

A small creek connected the lakes right at the day use area. It was the only open water around.

I checked out the lower lake first. According to topo maps it is very shallow maxing out at about ten feet deep. It was still very pretty. I tossed a couple of small rocks out on the smooth black ice to see how far they would slide.

Some day soon I would like to come back with my kayaks. Both of these lakes looked well worth exploring.

By now I only had a hour or so in my time budget to explore so I crossed a makeshift foot bridge over the connecting creek and followed a trail on the south side of the upper lake. Across the way was a small waterfall that created its own small area of open water. I could hear the sound of the falling water as it hit the lake.

The trail looked like it could have been a little better maintained as it skirted a small ice covered pond. Fortunately it is easy to go off trail in the scablands as long as it’s cold enough to keep the rattlers in their dens.

According to my research the upper lake is quite a bit deeper with a hole around sixty feet deep. At the northeast end of the lake they’re a couple of mature ponderosa pines to break up the grasslands.

Before I called it a day I stopped for one last photo of the upper lake. This is when I saw the first other people in my entire trip. I man and his son set up camp and then set up an ice fishing tent on the ice. They say black ice is the safest to walk on but still sixty feet is a long way down.

I spent more time driving to and from the lakes than i did hiking today. It was still well worth the effort. I had no idea these lakes existed until I researched locations for winter hikes in the Inland Northwest. When I make it back a camping trip and kayaking will be on the agenda. If you want to go shoot for early spring when its still cool and the snakes aren’t active.

The Columbia Plateau Trail, Amber Lake and an impressive embankment.

For todays hike, I headed an hour or so through and past Spokane to check out the Columbia Plateau Trail, specifically the section from the Amber Lake trailhead towards the north.

Last year I took a short hike on the Columbia Plateau Trail from the end of the pavement outside of Cheney Washington into the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge. At the time I felt like I didn’t have enough photos or information on this trail to make a post. The unpaved part of the trail started at a trailhead off of Cheney Spangle Road.

The first mile of the trail passes through farm and ranch land before crossing under Cheney Plaza Road and entering the wildlife refuge.

Turnbull Wildlife Refuge is about 23,000 acres and covers a portion of the channeled scablands, a geological area in Eastern Washington created by ice age floods that stripped the soil away and left numerous narrow lakes in coulees. The section I hiked passed by several small lakes and through low cuts blasted through the basalt.

In the area excavated I notice this striking radial design around a small hole. Once you see one of these, you can’t un-see them. These were created by blasting the rocks so the basalt could be more easily removed. Once I saw it, I noticed dozens more through out the cuts.

This line, The Spokane Portland and Seattle was built in 1905 and operated for eighty plus years. The 130 miles between Spokane and Pasco are now owned by the State of Washington and maintained as a public trail.

That was last summer. Today I was looking for a place for a winter hike with limited or no snow and open scenery so I could stay in the sunshine, so I decided to check out another section of this trail.

It took me over a hour to drive to the Amber Lake Trailhead. All of the trailheads require the Discover Pass to use so I used mine. In addition to providing access to the trail there is also a place to launch kayaks or canoes on this pretty little lake.

Like most lakes in the Channeled Scablands, Amber Lake is long and narrow and oriented from the northeast to the southwest in the direction the ancient flood waters presumably flowed. Being late January the lake as to be expected was iced over.

Near the northeast end of the lake, the old railroad bed ran through a cut right next to it.

Soil and rock from the cut was used to create an embankment along part of the lake shore.

Beyond Amber Lake the rail bed curved towards another of these cuts through the basalt. Scattered Ponderosa Pines were the dominate tree species along the trail.

That and birch trees. What looked like frost was actually the last of Decembers snow that had not yet melted in the shade of the rock walls.

Around a bend was a tunnel, kind of. This is a recent addition to avoid crossing one of the only paved roadways in the area, Mullinex Road.

Even in a newer and very remote tunnel, the lowlife vandals have been hard at work degrading the experience for everyone. Thanks scumbags! Even though it wasn’t an original railroad tunnel it was still kind of neat to walk through.

Past the tunnel the cuts through the basalt got a little bigger. You have to be impressed with the work it took to make this railroad a hundred and twenty years ago.

This rock wall shows how the cooling lava created basalt columns. A patch of ice at the bottom is a seepage of ground water.

Between the cuts through the basalt the trail passed by numerous small ponds all frozen.

Beyond the trials crossing with Stirling Road the old railbed ran on top of a small embankment between wetlands. This is were I called it good and turned around.

Once back at the parking lot I took a short walk to get a good look at the part of the lake southwest of the trailhead. I decided to make one more detour before I made the drive home.

Just seven miles or so southeast the Columbia Plateau Trail kind of ends at Williams Lake Road just inside Lincoln County. I’ve always found the correlation between trees and the Spokane County line kind of interesting. Spokane County gets drier the further east you head but has Ponderosa Pines right up to the county line. As soon as you cross into Lincoln or Adams counties there are almost no trees.

South of Lake Williams Road the trail reverts to a rough surface of old railroad ballast and isn’t really suitable for even fat tired bikes. In fact its kind of hard to walk on. Only real adventures explore the eighty mile long section from here to Franklin County. Also I understand that several road crossings and high trestle bridges are closed and their are no practical detours around them.

However just across the road from the trailhead there was this epic piece of early twentieth century engineering. This was the largest railroad embankment I’ve ever came across and I couldn’t resist checking it out.

It was well over a mile across a coulee I couldn’t find the name of on this massive earthen berm. It is difficult to impart the scale of this marvel. Quick math gave me a ball park guess that upwards of half a million cubic yards of rock and dirt were used to create it.

Halfway across I could see the barren terraces were I’m guessing all of this fill came from over a hundred and twenty years ago. I’m guessing this embankment was over seventy feet above the coulee floor and tapered from thirty feet wide at the top to well over a hundred feet wide at the bottom.

Looking up the coulee I could see Down Lake with Mica Peak Washington in the far distance almost forty miles away.

After forty five minutes I made it to the other side of the coulee. Now there was nothing left to do but return to the trailhead. The sun was getting pretty low on the horizon and the scablands are lonely country.

I took a last look at this giant causeway and called it a day. I would call both the section of the trail southeast of Amber Lake and the massive embankment hidden gems in the Inland Northwest. It is an epic landscape indeed.

Exploring old abandoned railroads is one of my favorite things to do. This rail trail eventually crosses over the Palouse Cascade Trail anther thirty miles or so to the southwest. I guess I have more places to check out next spring.