Ancient & Dusty Lakes Trip Report

It’s that time of year when we’re all itching to get up into the mountains, but the high country is still buried in snow, and our “regular” winter trails are feeling a bit lackluster. What to do? Head over Snoqualmie Pass to run on the dry side of the mountains (like we did for our Cowiche Canyon adventure!) Our destination this time was the Ancient Lakes area. A few hours in the car completely changes the landscape, and it was so fun to get trail time in a new place with Adam!

We started at the Ancient and Dusty Lakes Trailhead, which is about an hour away from Ellensburg, and 2 3/4 hours from Seattle. There’s another Ancient Lakes trailhead on the east side of the area. However, the trail starts at the top of the waterfalls and doesn’t afford as many trail options (or bail-out points) as starting in the northwest parking lot. I had no particular plan for the day (shocking, I know!) and only knew I needed to get at least 4 hours of running time completed. We figured we could noodle around a bit on the trails and just add on as necessary. Also, I feel like running “Ancient and Dusty Lakes” makes us sound like a tomb raiders. Ha!

The area has a lot of crisscrossing trails that are all unmarked. Thankfully, the geography (and lack of trees) makes it easy to keep your bearings. The lakes are to the east, and the Columbia River is to the west. While not completely necessary, I used two different apps on my phone (Trail Run Project and Gaia GPS) to get a sense of our exact location and where certain trails would lead. It’s good to know that some trails connect to additional trails while others just lead to campsites. Of course we also each carried a printed map of the area, specifically this one from the Evergreen Mountain Biking Alliance.

I wasn’t feeling that confident in my map and compass skills that day (mostly because I don’t have any – ha!), so I’m grateful for technology to assist me in my adventures until I learn to orienteer. In addition to having some technology handy, I spoke to Jessica Kelley of Evergreen Endurance about her Quincy Lakes Loop trip report. Her trip reports are always a good and informative read, so if you’re interested in something that requires (any) navigation skills, give her loop a go!

We started off on the Ancient Lake Trail and marveled at the basalt cliffs that surrounded us. So different than our perpetually green forests in Western Washington! This trail was fairly short, and we quickly came upon the waterfall at the end of it. There is a connector to the Ancient Lakes Loop, but it was under water, so we found another way to the Potholes Trail instead.

We took a very steep (and rocky) spur trail up to the top of a ridge that overlooks Dusty Lake. The trail was on a thick layer of shattered rock that sounded like breaking glass when you walked on it. Once on top of the ridge, we could see a trail on the other side of Dusty Lake that we visited later in the day.

After coming back down onto the Potholes Trail we saw a few pairs of horseback riders. It seemed to be a popular activity on these trails, and we happily yielded and exchanged friendly chat with the riders.

After our first northern loop by Ancient Lakes, we went into another coulee towards Dusty Lake. This was my favorite part of the trail. There was no one else out there – just us and the scenery. The sun had finally come out to play and it was just stunning. Then we arrived at Dusty Lake and admired the dark teal water against the tall, red-brown rock. In particular, we were struck by the vertical columns of rock on the north side of the lake. Difficult to capture in a photograph, but beautiful in their starkness all the same.

Once back out to the Gorge Amphitheatre Trail, Adam headed north, back to the car. I still had about 9 or so miles left, so I headed south. I’ll admit that this part of the trail was far less scenic. However, with tall cliffs to the east, and peekaboo views of the river and distant farmland to the west, you got a sense that there was a scenic view just a little bit beyond. This trail was very runnable, but did have more sand than any of the previous trails. It’s not bad, but just know that it’s not perfect, hard-packed trail the entire distance.

This trail ends up going right beneath (and up to) the Gorge Amphitheatre, a famous music venue in the area. At this point, I could see I had a few options of trails, so I thought it would be fun to get down to the banks of the Columbia River.

The view riverside was beautiful – dark cliffs contrasted against the blue sky and the sparkling, deep blue river. The only thing that marred the view was a collection of VERY old rusted out appliances and even an old, painted car. Not sure what the story is with the car, but hey, it’s a remarkable feature.

After snacking on roasted sweet potatoes and a GU Campfire S’mores gel at my own personal riverside cafe, I went back up the unmarked trail. I was cheerfully running along, and thinking of what food we might get on the way home when I realized I didn’t recognize the trail anymore. Huh, that’s odd. Did I miss the connector to the top? There were occasional arrows on the trail that sometimes pointed towards a trail and sometimes not… so, probably the least helpful “signs” ever. Anyway, I looked up and realized I was directly beneath the Gorge Amphitheatre. I looked down at my map and saw the topo lines were so close they were basically one thick line. I’m no genius, but yeah, obviously I wasn’t running up any of those, ha! If this led nowhere, why was this trail here anyway?

I turned around, and after looking closer, I found the faint path I had missed that went back up to the top. Back on the main trail again, and not needing to look for turnoffs, I made excellent time back north.

When I was just about a mile away from the trailhead I came upon two women on horseback and they asked me, “Does this trail go to the winery?” There’s a winery?!?! Clearly I hadn’t quite gone far enough! Alas, next time.

My total mileage for the day was just over 19 miles, and what a great day! Interesting scenery, dry, sunny, and warm weather, and excellent company – a win in my book. There are some more trails to explore out there, and good camping options, and we definitely want to go back sometime. I would highly recommend it if you need an escape from the rain! 🙂