Ancient Lake Hike
Friday, Liddy and I found ourselves on a ramble to Ancient Lake, near Quincy, Washington.
The Coulee is typical of this arid countryside. Lots of sage and dry grass. Rattlesnake country, but we didn’t see any.
As I mention in the caption, this small cascade was a pleasant surprise as we approached that large lava block.
It wasn’t quite as exciting when we got further around and were able to see it full on the cliff face.
I imagine this stream dries up in summer.
I don’t think I will be finding out as this is a quite inhospitable location in the summertime. As you can see from the landscape above, there is absolutely no shade anywhere here and the water is full of chemicals from the orchards above the coulee, so bring your own.
Ancient Lake, at the east end of the coulee was our destination. I had learned about the waterfalls sometime in the past when I was first looking at hikes in this area.
This shot is the one I like best from the day. A nice close up of the three waterfalls plunging down the cliffs into the lake.
Liddy had to go wading, and I enjoyed sitting on the side of the lake and enjoying the morning. There were several Canada Geese being vocal, and on the way out we came across a large white egret.
Liddy and I hiked the narrow path along the north side of the lake. It gets quite narrow in places and there is a thriving patch of Poison Ivy that we had to walk through. Fortunately, it wasn’t such an obstacle that we came in contact with the stuff.
I have not so fond memories of my first encounter with this pretty plant. It was a huge vine that my fly-fishing line became entangled in. I didn’t recognize the plant so didn’t know to cut my losses and run. Several tortured weeks followed that evening fishing the Okanagan River.
The trees and shrubs were full of small birds. A number of red-winged blackbirds as well as the smaller sparrows and finches.
It was a good hike to break in my new backpack and learn that the boots I had recently purchased were a little bit small. Sore toes when we arrived back at the car.
Nice! Hehe I remember your last encounter with poison ivy, glad you skipped it this time 😍
I don’t think I will ever forget the gallons of calamine lotion 🤣