Ancient Lakes

March 1, 2026

My sons and I hiked the Ancient Lakes Trail, north of the Gorge Ampitheatre.

Simon and I had mapped out a 10 mi loop on AllTrails beginning at the norheastern entrance, down along the falls into the canyon and then back up the southern canyon. On the home stretch, we realized Dusty Lake’s water level was too high and had submerged a significant portion of the trail!

We were forced to double back. I wanted to avoid scrambling along the waterfall. Alltrails showed a lesser used trail along the southeastern edge of the northern canyon. It was steep, but it was GORGEOUS! (yeah, I used that word. Anybody reading been to Ithaca, NY?)

Simon also found a piece of petrified bog wood. The area is known for its petrified wood deposits (See the nearby Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park).

The end result was about 13 miles. The boys loved it. We’ll be back.