Wall Lake - Eastern WA
Dec 5, 2009 |
Tanya's back from Japan! We got together for yet another Eastern Washington "desert" hike. This time the plan was to head to Wall Lake. I picked up Tanya, Brian and Kimme at Tanya's house and we headed west on a slippery I-90 to the Sprague exit. From Sprague we followed pavement for a ways before getting onto a smooth gravel road. We followed the directions in the desert hikes books. Where the book says to start hiking from is where the smooth gravel ends and a rough road starts. Contrary to what the book says, the rough road is doable with something short of four wheel drive yet tougher than a Yaris. At least when the ground is not wet. We had the Tundra and wound up following the road/trail all the way to Wall Lake. My first thought was "oh well, so much for hiking" but we decided to head out into the grasses and get in several miles of exploring anyway.
I'm glad we did. For the most part there are some nicely worn cow trails to follow through the little canyons and around the basalt mesas. The area still had lots of character even in the winter. We made a large clockwise loop and eventually found ourselves on the southeast end of the lake. It's easy to see where the name "Wall Lake" comes from. The water is surrounded by sheer basalt cliffs with a 40 foot white band around the bottom - like a dirty tub ring.
We continued around the lake then back to the truck. From the lake, rather than following the crappy rough road all the way back to the smooth one, we took a left turn at the first permissible junction, going through two cattle gates along an old railroad bed. This stretch was narrow but smooth and led to a great road just a mile or so from the lake. An excellent time saver. |
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