Its striking geological formations (towering cliffs of basalt columns, box canyons, "potholes" filled with water) result from lava flows being carved up and eroded by glacial floodwaters a long time ago. The wildlife area is surrounded to the north, east, and south by farmland, and slopes down toward the Columbia River gorge to the west.
The vegetation is mainly big sage/ bluebunch wheatgrass.
See the web site here.
We went there for camping/ hiking on Jun 23-25, 2006 -- our fourth visit.
This map (not to scale; for descriptive purposes only!!) shows locations of some of the big and small lakes, our camp site, and our long hike on Sat 24 Jun.
The camp site was on the south shore of Quincy Lake.
Since this is eastern WA, summer temps are often in the 90s or even 100s. Large trees (for shade) are few and far between, but we managed to claim one.
There are many bird species, some migratory, some resident, around the lakes and streams. This species was quite common. It appears to be the yellow-headed blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus; see site here). This particular male had his territory on a bush next to our camp site. He spent all day vocalizing (loudly), flying from one spot to another, looking on the ground for food, and interacting with nearby conspecific males and females.
A short time after we finished setting up our camp site on Fri afternoon, a young snake emerged from a nearby bush, crawled into our screen house, and directly under my chair. All I had to do was reach down and pick him up. He's a close relative (Great Basin gopher snake, Pituophis melanoleucus deserticola) of one of our pet snakes at home.
The next morning (Sat), as we started on our marathon hike, we encountered this turtle crossing the gravel road, heading from an adjoining pond toward the main part of Quincy Lake. It appears to be a painted turtle (Chrysemys picta); see site here.
We followed the main road past Burke Lake,
and Evergreen Reservoir.
Our goal was to walk to all the lakes we know about, in one day, without using a car. The small lakes are not shown on the Dept of Natural Resources quad map of the area. Some of them have names which are helpfully posted on signs. Others do not, so I just assigned them letters (see the map above).
The first we encountered was lake "E".
There were many beautiful flowers in bloom.
Lake "F", like most of the other lakes, had heavy growth of milfoil, a non-native weed that fills the water and eliminates native plants and animals (see web site).
Nearby is "Springs 1", one of the first small lakes we "discovered" while wandering around a few years ago.
"Springs 2".
Cup Lake.
Lake "D".
The basalt cliffs that line the north side of the gorge leading to Dusty Lake, viewed from the south.
View from above of pattern made by various trails leading to Dusty Lake, Lake D, and Lake "C".
Lake C viewed from above.
Lake C from ground level.
Another view of Dusty Lake cliffs, from the trail.
On the trail approaching Dusty Lake.
