Dusty Lake & Ancient Lakes Spring Hike

 We drove to Eastern Washington to the Quincy Lakes Wildlife Area for a Spring Hike today. We spent a full day hiking into two coulees, combining the Dusty Lake Hike (6 miles rt) and the Ancient Lakes Hike (4 miles rt). There are a lot of different trails within the coulees, old jeep trail, bike trails, narrow foot paths, etc. We did lots of wandering and hiked for more than 10 miles.

 Here we are following an old jeep trail toward the coulee where Dusty Lake is found.

 We followed the wide path up to Dusty Lake near the end of the coulee.

 We found a pleasant place near Dusty Lake to enjoy the view, watch the fish jump and enjoy a variety of birds.

 Even on a cloudy day, there were great reflections in the lake.

 We followed a narrower trail near the cliffs on the north side of this coulee on our way out.

 And hiked up the small rise to the coulee holding the Ancient Lakes.

 We followed the narrow trail through a boulder field near the cliffs on the south side of this other coulee (they were the opposite of the cliffs of the Dusty Lake side).










Panorama looking toward the end of this coulee, with views of some of the Ancient Lakes, there were 5 lakes today.

 There were several trails among the lakes, it was fun to see the views of the lakes from different angles.

There was a nice waterfall in the northeast corner of the coulee holding the ancient lakes.

There is a boot track around the lake leading up to the falls.

More views of the Ancient Lakes:

We hiked back to the car along a trail that followed near the cliffs on the north side of this coulee. There was a large boulder by the trail with a waterfall coming off the cliffs behind us.

Some of the many wildflowers we saw on our hike today:

Hummocks Trail & Boundary Trail #1 to Johnston Ridge on Mt St Helens

We woke up early and drove down to Mt St Helens this morning. We stopped at the Elk Rock Viewpoint to watch the sunrise over Mt Adams and Mt St Helens before driving to where the gate is closed for the winter on Hwy 504 near Coldwater Lake.

We were able to park at the Hummocks Trailhead. From the west end of the parking lot the Hummocks Trail goes for 2 miles before joining Boundary Trail #1 up to Loowit Viewpoint, Johnston Ridge and beyond. From the east end of the parking lot you can hike for 1/2 mile before joining Boundary Trail #1. Or you can just do the 2-1/2 mile Hummocks Trail Loop. We did the 2 mile Hummocks Trail, then hiked up to Johnston Ridge via Boundary Trail, then returned back and did the 1/2 mile Hummocks Trail section back to the parking lot. This was an 11 mile round trip with 2000 ft in elevation gain. There was no snow on the trail.

View of Mt St Helens from the parking lot, before we started hiking.

There are lots of ponds among the hummocks. I enjoyed this peek at Mt St Helens through the deciduous trees.

We were rewarded in choosing the 2 mile section of the Hummocks Trail, by soon encountering elk on the trail. There were 3 large bucks, who quickly ran up the ridge, before I could grab my phone, and were gone before I could zoom in. They were majestic!

There were lots of birds out flying and singing today. We saw canadian geese, and ducks and other water fowl in the many ponds among the Hummocks.

As the sun began to rise, we saw the light shine off of Mt St Helens.

There were lots of elk to be seen this morning, they were great at camouflaging themselves in the trees.

Looking down the Toutle River to the west.

Looking up the Toutle River to the east, and Mt St Helens.

After a pleasant 2 mile hike, with some ups and downs, we joined the junction with Boundary Trail No 1.

The Boundary Trail continues through the debris fields for a short ways, with more elk sightings!

The trail then steeply climbs up hill. We found one area with a rock slide, that was easily crossed.

There were 3 other areas, were small rock slides had made the trail steep and narrow. These sections were "soft" and the loose rock continued to slide down hill.

Before reaching Loowit Viewpoint, there is a great view looking toward Mt St Helens and Mt Adams.

 A great place to eat a snack and take photos!

 At Johnston Ridge, you can look directly into the crater. In the summer, you can drive up here, but we enjoyed our winter hike today!

Close up shot of the dome inside the crater. We did see steam rising out of the dome today. Hard to believe I was standing up on the south rim of the crater last July looking down on the dome.








 We saw some interesting cloud formations over Mt Adams.

On the hike back down, we saw a twisted, dried up stump that looked like a deer or a mule.

Looking down on the Hummocks, where our hike began today.

 The sky was turning dark in the early afternoon, as we hiked out.

View of Coldwater Lake, before descending back to the Hummocks Trail.