Trip Report
Basic Backpack - Ancient Lakes and the Columbia River
Excellent spring outing
Alina Badus
- Sat, May 10, 2025 — Sun, May 11, 2025
- Basic Backpack - Ancient Lakes and the Columbia River
- Ancient Lake
- Backpacking
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Lots of established and social trails in the area, but we had a good track that was easy to follow. Streams were flowing, but you should not take water from the streams or lakes due to agricultural runoff. Getting warm in the area, though - this is an ideal time to do the route, and I probably wouldn't want to go much later in the year.
We had an excellent overnight trip hiking from H lake to the Columbia, camping along the river, then trekking back past Ancient Lakes. Many thanks to the backpack leaders who scouted this route and generously shared the information with me!
Rattlesnakes are awake - we saw a small one just five minutes into the hike, another small one on Sunday morning, and a rather large one under a rock by Ancient Lakes. Tread carefully.
It's a gorgeous area and a fun route. Happy to share info with other leaders who might be interested in taking trips here.
See CWU Professor/Geologist Nick Zentner's "Nick on the Rocks" video for "Ancient Lakes Pothole Coulee" and a better understanding of the rock features: https://www.pbs.org/video/ancient-lakes-at-potholes-coulee-lnobqa/