Palouse Cascade Trail, Rock Lake and Pine Creek, a return trip.

Today I repeated an adventure from last summer. The hike from Hole in the Ground Road to the end of the trail is relatively short but extremely scenic. Best of all being an old railroad grade it is flat.

Less than a mile from the starting point is a bridge over Pine Creek and the site of a derailment before the rail line was abandoned. Two old rail cars were left here as they were too damaged to repair and moving them would have cost money. The Palouse Cascade Trail crosses Washington State from the Idaho line to the outskirts of Seattle. The trail is the Washington portion of a former transcontinental railroad known as the Milwaukee Road.

The trail follows Pine Creek from Rosalia to Rock Lake. Along the way it joins with the creek that drains Bonnie Lake, Rock Lake’s sister to the north with which it shares a canyon, the aptly named Hole in the Ground.

About two miles in we came to this old railroad tunnel. The tunnel is in excellent shape and you can get through it without using flash lights, barely.

This is the first of two tunnels along this stretch of the trail. The second is beyond the point the trail is closed. I have hiked through it many years ago before the state closed off the bridge that accessed it. The second tunnel is in much worse shape and I remember having to climb over rock fall at the far end of it.

Not long after the tunnel Rock Lake comes into view. The views of the lake steadily improve the further you push on. The far side of the canyon the lake is in is very impressive with multiple benches shaped by multiple catastrophic flood events clearly visible.

At this point the trail is hundreds of feet above the lake. Rock Lake is the largest natural lake in Eastern Washington.

The landscape the trail passes through dominated by basalt cliffs. The primary vegetation consists of open Ponderosa pine forests.

Rock Lake is a fascinating body of water. In places it is over four hundred feet deep and surrounded by shear cliffs. Boaters are strongly cautioned as it it subjected to strong winds, submerged rock pinnacles and has almost no safe landing places along the shoreline.

Just before the trail is blocked off at three and a half miles in you will be treated to awesome views of the north half of the lake.

At this bridge the trail is blocked by a chain-link fence and is well posted. The decking on this bridge is extremely rotten and the funds to rebuild it are simply not available at this time. Not too far around the bend is the second tunnel which would require extensive work to make it safe for trail users. A shorter section of the trail starting on the south end of the lake is likewise blocked by a deteriorating bridge. Additionally a section of the rail easement between these two closed bridges has reverted back to private ownership and is closed for public use.

This is one of my favorite easy hikes in Eastern Washington. The round trip is only seven miles and the grade is flat. Trail users are asked to register with Washington State Parks as the trail has extremely remote sections and no amenities. You can do so here. On this day we passed five other folks enjoying this slice of Free State America.

East from the crossing with Hole in the Ground Road, the trail continues to Malden and eventually Rosalia. Between Malden and here, several old rail bridges are still closed due to the damage they suffered from s wildfire five years ago.