The remains of Ryan’s Cabin about a quarter mile hike down and east of the Kettle Crest Trail in the Kettle River Range of Northeast Washington State.

Link to Kettle Crest Hike & Road Tour photo album.

There are times in life when you just need a good excuse to do something you really want to do, but for some reason you just can’t make the commitment. Up in Northeastern Washington State in the fall that is when the mighty hunters go “road hunting.” The reason for road hunting is you really don’t want to get anything from the hunt, you just want to drive around on back country roads and admire God’s handiwork.

If you move that October event forward to late July or August instead of road hunting you go prospecting for huckleberries. In this case if you find some - you don’t want to find too many, maybe enough for a pie. However you want to store that secret patch in your mind for the time you might really want to return and seriously pick some of the delicious berries on some perfect future date.

With the open ended desire to go prospecting for huckleberries, last week my cousin Stan Miller and I got into my Saturn to test the waters, or the bushes in the Kettle River Range. The first turn off the paved Boulder - Deer Creek Road was onto the Bull Dog Cabin Road some 15 miles or so from the junction with US 395, which continues north to the Canadian border. As far as my memory served me I could not remember being on that road. Way back there we came to sort of a summit that marked the divide between the north and south forks of Boulder Creek. The first picture of the camp at that summit in the photo album confirmed that new territory in my mind.

In the past access to this part of the backcountry was through the South Fork Boulder Creek Road, but a large slide about three miles up from the turn off the Boulder - Deer Creek Road, closed this access about a decade ago and it has not been restored.

From this drainage high point it was down hill to the remaining South Fork Road about 7 miles upstream from the slide. So far no significant huckleberries. Eventually the South Fork Road ends at a fork, one going up US Creek between US Mountain and the Twin Sisters, the other becoming the Albian Hill Road that eventually joins SR 20 (Sherman Pass Scenic Byway). Now on familiar ground it was forward to the next prospecting spot, Ryan’s Cabin.

We had hiked to Ryan’s Cabin over 20 years ago, but I remembered little other than being there. Back then we followed the trail directly off the road, this time there was an access road that took us up to a little simple campground and sort of a combined trailhead to Ryan’s Cabin and the Stickpin Trail. The Ryan’s Cabin Trail said the Kettle Crest Trail was 1.5 miles distant and we were off. When we reached the cabin, it being near the Kettle Crest we decided to adventure to the top. Once there and only picking about 7 huckleberries along the way, we decided to continue down the Crest Trail and pick up the Stickpin Trail to return to the car. The Stickpin Trail descends from the Crest into the South Boulder Basin for about 2.1 miles, making our round trip about 6 miles total. The elevation gain was about 1100 vertical feet and with frequent stops for pictures and huckleberry prospecting we were out about 3 hours.

After that we knew the next stop on this prospecting adventure would be the “Old Stage Road.” This road was build in 1892 to connect the then thriving town of Marcus on the Columbia River above Kettle Falls, with the Puget Sound. This short stretch of road is all that remains of that old stage line. In 1898 the road was abandoned for a new road over Sherman Pass, where SR 20 now crosses the range. Again the last time we were up there, there was just a marker and a very overgrown trail. Now the road has been restored so that horse drawn wagons, as well as other non-motorized transport can make the journey back in time. Part way through the stage road is the trail to Copper Butte the highest mountain in the range, which is next on my agenda of this time maybe “summit prospecting.”

After the Old Stage Road we continued huckleberry prospecting towards Sherman Pass, deciding that this was too late in the season and that many heavy rains in June and July may have adversely affected the local crop. Along the way there were other developed trailheads with rustic campgrounds well worth a visit. Once on the Sherman Pass Scenic Byway we headed east towards Kettle Falls.

As we were nearing the junction of SR 20 and US 395, I remembered that I had not been to Trout Lake since I was in high school. Hence at the turn off we were on our 5 mile journey to Trout Lake. My memory of Trout Lake was similar to huckleberry prospecting, only that time it was fly fishing. With one cast I hooked a 16 inch trout, and that was the fulfillment of that fly fishing adventure.

Trout Lake is now the southern terminus of the Hoodoo Canyon Trail that passes from the Sherman Pass drainage at Trout Lake into the Deadman Creek drainage, passing Emerald Lake along the 4.7 mile journey. Last year while prospecting for huckleberries, I discovered that our family’s secret huckleberry patch was now the site of the northern terminus of the Hoodoo Canyon Trail.

The Kettle River Range is one of the best kept secrets for the back country traveler and hiker in the Pacific Northwest. A popular backpacking trip along the Kettle Crest Trail, adventures from the Deer Creek Summit to Sherman Pass. South of Sherman Pass it continues to the Colville Indian Reservation and the 7000 foot summits diminish slowly. The whole range is about 80 miles in length, from near the Canadian Border, where the Kettle River bisects the mountains, to the Columbia River on the south where the Columbia Basalt Plateau becomes the southern terminus. As a general rule mountains north of Sherman Pass were covered during the ice age, Sherman Peak and those to the south seem to have had their summits above the ice.

For those unfamiliar with huckleberries they are smaller and much more flavorful than wild or domestic blueberries. They grow in abundance in the United States from the Cascades through the Rockies, even though most of the commercial activities surrounding huckleberries center in Northern Idaho and Western Montana. Last year a gallon of huckleberries fetched about $40. This year because of an abundant crop in North Idaho the price has fallen to around $30. So far huckleberries are only found in the wild, but many horticultural researchers are getting close to developing a domestic variety. Then huckleberry prospecting will diminish into a trip to the backyard.

Tags: huckleberries, Kettle Crest Trail, Kettle River Range, Boulder Creek, Ryans Cabin, Albian Hill Road

You are sitting in front of your computer screen looking for some place to go, that sounds really cool and definitely some place none of your friends have ever heard of. You think about birds and a lake which has been recently set aside for bird habitat. So thoughts of the Audubon Society added to lakes lead you do a web search for “Audubon Lake.”

Somewhere down the page after all the real estate developments and apartments you find a link to “Reardan’s Audubon Lake.” From that link you find out that it is a 277 acre wildlife preserve near the small town of Reardan, Washington. Chances are, as you continue, you will find some more information such as these links below:

Inland Northwest Land Trust

Spokane Audubon Society

Washington Wildlife and Recreation

Bird Web

Well, that is all very good and wonderful, but a couple of significant question remains, has anyone from any of these fine organizations ever been to the place? What does it look like?

Now all your fears and heartburn have been answered. Please visit our photo tour of Reardan’s Audubon Lake under our Creation Media Tab, with the direct link here.

Tags: Reardan Washington, Audubon Lake, bird watching

Washington State Fish and Wildlife Photo

Looking for a unique tour of the Eastern Washington channel scablands, either in person or via the internet? The Washington State Swanson Lake Wildlife Area is just that sort of place. The stated purpose of the area’s dedication is to provide habitat for the endangered Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, seen above. However plans also include the reintroduction of the sage grouse which is no longer indigenous.

The area also provides protection for over a twenty-thousand acres of Eastern Washington channel scablands in what is generally considered the Telford-Crab Creek ice age flood channel. This channel begins basically about twenty miles west of Spokane on US Highway 2, essentially at the town of Reardan and extends to the even smaller town of Creston, about forty miles further west. A few miles west of Reardan you ascend to some of the flood exempt loess farm land, which extent unbroken for about ten miles until you descend into Davenport. Leaving Davenport you again ascend up to the loess steppe and that continues until you enter the Telford channel east of Creston. This immense flood scoured across much of the Eastern Washington basalt plateau, as Crab Creek now enters the Columbia River below Wanapum Dam 163 miles downstream from the Reardan beginning.

The lakes and area near Reardan also provide some interesting watersheds. Just east of town surface water flows into the Deep Creek drainage which drains most of the country along the highway from the west-plains of Spokane to town, entering the Spokane River near Spokane proper. North of Reardan and over a low basalt rise you enter the Spring Creek drainage which enters the Spokane River between Long Lake and Little Falls Dams, and west of Reardan waters slowly head for the Columbia across some of the most diverse country in the nation.

Specific traveling directions are found on the Swanson Lake website linked above, as well as other interesting information to peruse before your visit. Other related channel scablands information begins with the USGS scablands site.

For the more adventurous, drive west of Spokane about an hour to Creston. On the west-side of town take a left at the grain elevators and just follow the road. The headquarters is about ten miles south. The Swanson Lake office is open weekdays 8-5 but, adds little to this experience. There is a parking area at the lake with a pit toilet and the surrounding sage-steppe ecology is worth some time to experience. The white residue on the lake shore is basically sodium bicarbonate, normal baking soda. Just as you get to Swanson Lake the road changes its name to the Seven Springs Dairy Road. Once you visit the lake if you continue following the road it will head south east and eventually east. Eventually you will descend into the Telford channel itself. There you will find the Telford Road. Turning left, it will eventually take you back to US 2 about 0.3 mile west of the Telford Rest Area which has real toilets and picnic tables. The whole loop, with stops at Swanson Lake and various picture points along the way took me about two hours to the rest area. Other than a few miles of pavement on the Swanson Lake Road heading south out of Creston, the rest is rural gravel, but until you get near the highway at Telford it sees little traffic. On this loop you will pretty much literally encompass the entire Swanson Lake preserve.

Please visit our photo tour of the loop which finally adds some substance to our Creation Media Tab, with the direct link here.

Tags: Eastern Washington, channel scablands, ice age floods, Swanson Lake, sharp tail grouse