Ancient Lake Area - 11.13.2013
Directions from Exit 136 on I-90 near Vantage to the trailhead for Ancient Lake and Dusty Lake.
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Our general route in the Ancient Lake Coulee area... ~5 miles roundtrip, gaining ~500 feet of elevation.
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A google earth look at the terrain around Ancient Lake and Dusty Lake.
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The trailhead is at the end of Ancient Lake Road... Izzy is asking Snowdog who the new dog is.
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Hiking along the western end of the Ancient Lake Coulee.
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Turning into the Ancient Lake Coulee.
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Hiking below the cliffs along the south side of Ancient Lake Coulee.
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Luna is looking for Izzy.
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Looking back down Ancient Lake Coulee as we continue toward the east end of the coulee.
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First view of Ancient Lake at the east end of the coulee.
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Snowdog and BarbE continue on a good path.
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madman got this shot of me telling the gang that there is a path that will lead us up the cliffs on the south side of the coulee.
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Luna and Snowdog are on a good path that will take us up to the next level.
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tomman and madman coming up to a nice plateau above the floor of Ancient Lake Coulee.
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We have reached a plateau area... maybe we should go up to that 'thumb' on the left side of the photo.
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BarbE heading for the 'thumb' (not shown in photo).
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We have reached a saddle above the cliffs... and are looking down on Dusty Lake.
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BarbE and Basalt Cliffs.
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I'm above the thumb and looking down at madman and tomman in one of the saddles that separate Ancient Lake Coulee (left) and Dusty Lake Coulee.
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Coming up to the top of the mesa that separates the two coulees.
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tomman coming up to the top of the mesa.
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Lunch on top of the mesa.
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From our high point on the mesa... showing our route to the high point... and the route we will take when we leave the high point and continue on up the coulee.
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BarbE got this shot of me with Luna... Ancient Lake below.
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From our high point on the mesa... and the general route we will take to get down to Ancient Lake.
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madman got this shot of Isabel and Luna from our high point... Ancient Lake below.
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We will backtrack the way we came up to our high point... then continue up the coulee to the cross over saddle between the two coulees before continuing down to Ancient Lake.
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Snowdog, Izzy and Luna.
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A group shot from our high point.
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Heading down from our high point on top of the mesa.
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BarbE and Snowdog continue up the coulee on the shelf below the top of the mesa.
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Looking back at the 'thumb' and our high point on the mesa.
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We have reached the crossover saddle between the two coulees... we just came up for a closer look at Dusty Lake... and will backtrack here and go down to Ancient Lake.
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Had we decided to go down to Dusty Lake, there is a good path that follows along the base of the basalt cliffs before going down to the floor of the coulee.
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We have left the crossover saddle and are following a good path that will take us down to Ancient Lake.
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From the east end of Ancient Lake Coulee we are looking west down the coulee to where we first entered the coulee... the 'thumb' and our high point are on the far left of the photo.
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Dropping down to Ancient Lake.
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Taking a break above Ancient Lake.
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BarbE got this shot of Izzy above Ancient Lake.
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Earth colors at Ancient Lake.
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More earth colors.
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BarbE and tomman at Ancient Lake.
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A nice waterfall as we hike along the north side of Ancient Lake Coulee.
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madman has never met a rock that he didn't like.
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Back near the west end of Ancient Lake Coulee... close to where we will close the loop portion of our hike... leaving a short walk back to the cars.
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