Hikes in Washington: The Stubblefield Lake Loop Trail

Basic Information

• Name: Stubblefield Lake Loop Trail
• Where: Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge
• Distance: 6 miles
• Max Elevation: 2,348 feet
• Elevation Gain: 208 feet
• Difficulty: Easy
• Time: 1.5 – 2.5 hours
• More Information: Turnbull NWR website

Google Earth Map of the Trail

Directions

This hike is located at the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge.  To reach the refuge from Spokane, take I-90 West about 15 miles and then exit onto Highway 904 to the small city of Cheney.  Drive through downtown Cheney and on the south side of town take a left on to the Cheney-Plaza Road.  Follow this road for about 5 miles to the entrance of the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge located on S. Smith Road.  Drive down this road to the self admission station where vehicles stop to pay for entrance into the refuge.  Those with a National Park pass can enter for free.

Parking

After the entrance station continue to drive down the road until you see the Pine Lake Loop Trail sign and park in the paved parking lot on the left side of the road.  The parking lot has room for about 10-15 vehicles.  If the lot is full there is more parking available at the visitor center just a short distance down the road.

Narrative

The Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge is a beautiful forest and wetland preserve located just outside of the small town of Cheney, Washington.  The refuge is filled with many hiking trails, but the longest trail available to hikers is the Stubblefield Lake Loop Trail.  This is a six mile loop hike that includes a little bit of everything that makes Turnbull such a great place to visit.  At the trailhead for the hike there is a great kiosk that provides a lot of information about the region and the establishment of the refuge.

The hike begins by walking across the street from the parking lot and following the sign for the Pine Lake Loop Trail:

The Stubblefield Lake Loop Trail branches off from this very popular trail.  From the start of the hike there is a nice viewpoint that looks down in to the valley where Pine Lake is located:

From the viewpoint the trail follows a paved path around Pine Lake:

Pine Lake is a beautiful small pond that is filled with many varieties of birds:

At the far end of the lake, a small stream drains Pine Lake and flows towards Lower Pine Lake that can be seen later in the hike:

After walking around to the opposite side of Pine Lake, there is a dirt trail visible that branches off of the paved path:

Following this trail leads to an intersection with another dirt trail.  Going left leads to the visitor center and going right leads to the Stubblefield Lake Loop Trail:

From the dirt trail there is a nice view looking down at Pine Lake:

After a short distance the trail comes to a fork 1-mile into the hike:

In the middle of the fork is a Stubblefield Trail sign:

It really does not matter which way one goes here because this is the start of the loop hike.  I decided to follow the sign and start the trail by going left.  This section of the hike is where the terrain makes a big change by becoming prairie land:

As I walked across the prairie I did find that the wildflowers looked really nice since they were in full bloom:

These yellow flowers were particularly abundant around the refuge; if anyone knows what they are called please leave a comment:

The refuge has no mountains or even hills located in it.  However, the Stubblefield Lake Loop Trail does have a good view of the 5,209 foot Mica Peak out in the distance:

There are also views of the 5,883 foot Mt. Spokane from the trail as well:

You can read more about my prior hike up Mt. Spokane at the below link:

Hikes in Washington: The Mt. Spokane Summit Trail

At the 2.5 mile mark, I reached the namesake for this trail, Stubblefield Lake:

The lake is not much to look at and is very shallow.  There is an option to walk over and have a closer inspection of the lake, but I decided just to continue with my hike since it was getting pretty hot out and I was in the open sun:

As I continued around the trail I could make out the beginning of the Palouse Hills that dominate the terrain of southeastern Washington:

As the trail looped back around, I could see the forest that is the heart of the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge ahead of me:

3.75 miles into the hike I reentered the forest and was thankfully out of the sun:

At the 4.5 mile mark I passed through a gate and reached Lower Pine Lake:

From here there is a trail on the left that leads to South Smith Road which is the main thoroughfare that accesses the park.  The trail to the right continues down the Stubblefield Lake Loop Trail:

As I continued to walk down the main trail I noticed numerous signs warning hikers to not venture off the trail and try to explore the Lower Pine Lake because that would disturb the birds:

At 5.25 miles into the hike, I reached the fork in the trail again and walked back over to the paved Pine Lake Loop Trail:

As I walked along this path I spotted Ice Pond which I had no ice in it to speak of:

I then came to another look out of Pine Lake:

I then walked over the embankment that separates Pine Lake from Winslow Pool.  Across the pool I could see the visitor center for the wildlife refuge.  The visitor center has a nice information area and a book store worth going over to and check out:

Conclusion

A short distance later I found myself back at the trailhead completing the 6-mile round trip hike.  The Stubblefield Lake Loop Trail offers a little bit of everything the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge has to offer: trees, lakes, wildlife, and prairie land.  I was glad I brought sunscreen with me because I needed it since about half the hike is exposed to the sun.

Something else to keep in mind is that the wildlife refuge is home to ticks.  I wore pants, long socks, hiking boots, and a long sleeve shirt for this hike because of the ticks.  Despite these precautions I still found a tick crawling on my stomach after the hike that I had to flick off.  The heat and ticks were annoying, but I still overall enjoyed this hike though it is not my favorite in the refuge.  I still enjoy the Bluebird Trail more, but this is still a fun hike to check out.