Ancient Lakes
Central Washington
As of late June 2026, Ancient Lakes offers dry, dusty trails with no significant snow. Lakes are reported as full, with some merged together in early June. While most trails are in good condition, a boulder section near Judith Pool requires careful navigation, and a small water crossing was noted on June 5th. Some reports mention the need to hike the road from parking lots due to flooded trails in May. Parking availability seems good, though overnight campers should secure spots early. A fire burn ban is in effect. Expect windy afternoons. Bugs were minimal in April and May but were reported swarming on the trip back in late May. No snakes or snakes were commonly reported.
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Spent two overnights. Established camp sites with fire rings near most of the Coulees. Fire burn ban in place so no fires.Trails are dry and dusty.First night at Quincy lake resulted in zero sleep due...
We took this trail from the Dusty Lakes trailhead. So a five mile hike not a 12 mile hike. I’ve probably hiked this trail a dozen times and I have never seen the lakes this full. Some melded together ...
did an overnight trip here. i hiked in from the first parking lot (must park here if you want to overnight), when down by h lake and then towards ancient lakes from the trail south across quincy lake....
Went out for a one night backpacking trip, started from the Judith pool trailhead. The trail is in great shape, some muddy spots, follow alternate food pass. The Boulder section after the steep descen...
Long before modern science recognized the ancient floods, Indigenous oral traditions described massive, cataclysmic floods sweeping through the Pacific Northwest.The Salish and Kootenai people, whose ...
Such a short, flat hike to the campsite it felt like cheating. Heard Coyotes at dusk and that was incredible. Bugs were fine until the trip back in the morning when I was swarmed by a million of them...
The trail was in great condition. We got to the lower trailhead around noon on Saturday and there was plenty of parking available. The porta-potties in the parking lot were clean and had toilet paper,...
An easy one-day hike for lovers of Martian-like rock landscapes! It takes about half an hour to reach the lake, and then there are several trails around the lake if you want to extend the route. The p...
Lovely, easy starter backpack
I started from the North Trailhead and hiked to the Columbia River. Expect for the rough section by the waterfall it was an easy trail. The isn't many trail signs so bring a good nap with you. The onl...
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