Hikes in Washington: The Rock Lake Trail

BASIC INFORMATION

• Name: Rock Lake Trail (Palouse to Cascades Trail)
• Where: Hole in the Ground, Washington
• Distance: 8 miles
• Maximum Elevation: 2,022 feet
• Elevation Gain: 128 feet
• Time: 4-5 hours
• Difficulty: Moderate
• More Information: Washington State Parks

Google Earth Map of the Trail

Directions

Getting to the trailhead from Spokane requires driving down highway 195 to the small town of of Rosalia.  On the south side of Rosalia turn west on to the Pine City-Malden Road. Stay on this road as it drives through first Malden and then Pine City.  About a mile south of Pine City make a right on to Stephens Road.

Travel about two miles up the dirt road until Stephens Road intersects with Hole-in-the Ground Road.  Go about three miles up this road until it crosses over Pine Creek.  Both dirt roads are in good shape and passable for two wheel drive vehicles.

Parking

At the trailhead there is no designated parking lot.  Hikers just pull off to the side of the dirt road and find a place to park.

Narrative

Rock Lake is arguably the most mysterious lake in Eastern Washington.  There are many stories and lore about how it is a bottomless lake, has legendary fishing, it’s haunted with ghosts most notably the Native American Chief Kamiakin who is buried here, and how Rock Lake is considered the deadliest lake in Eastern Washington.  Other stories tell of a train derailment that left Model-T cars at the bottom of the lake, or about how strange rock pillars rise up from the water and knock over boats, and there are even stories of a Rock Lake Monster.  The lake is 9 miles long and a mile wide and scans have shown it to be more than 360 feet deep with some saying they have scanned areas more than 400 feet deep.  The lake was formed when a series of Ice Age Floods scoured the landscape across Eastern Washington about 15,000 years ago forming the system of lakes called “coulees”.

Overall, Rock Lake is the largest and deepest “coulee” in what became known as Eastern Washington’s “Channeled Scablands“.  On the lake’s south end there is a public access point where boaters can launch their boats from to explore this Ice Age wonder:

There is also a trailhead for the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail near the public boat access point, but due to it crossing private property a permit is required to hike the trail from that location.  That is why the vast majority of people who want to access Rock Lake due so from the Hole-in-the-Ground Trailhead on the north side of the lake.  At this trailhead it is marked with a locked gate and a sign calling this the John Wayne Pioneer Trail which is out of date since it is called the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail now:

This trail is one of the many rails-to-trails projects in Washington State.  The trail used to be the Old Milwaukee Road railway that closed back in 1972.  This railway used to stop at each of the small farm towns to load their wheat and other crops that would be taken either to Seattle or Chicago.  As highway transportation became cheaper than rail for shipping the agriculture products from these towns, the Milwaukee Road eventually was no longer profitable and closed.  The railway sat abandoned for many years until it was developed and opened to hikers back in 1999.  The below map shows how the Palouse to Cascades Trail runs from Tekoa near the Idaho border all the way across the Cascade Range to the west side of the state.  The map also shows another rail-to-trails favorite of mine, the Columbia Plateau Trail that runs from Spokane to the Tri-Cities area:

The Hike

The Rock Lake Trail portion of the Palouse to Cascades Trail begins by passing through a pine forest:

This location is actually very unique because it is a thickly forested area that is surrounded by the wheat fields of the Palouse hills that encompass southeastern Washington.  The fact that this terrain is so rugged is the only reason it wasn’t deforested and turned into wheat fields like much of the rest of the region.  During the first half of the hike, the trail follows the appropriately named Pine Creek that flows into Rock lake:

Something that hikers need to be aware of is that the trail is surrounded by private property.  Hikers should remain on the trail at all times since that is state park owned land.  As a reminder there are no trespassing signs scattered all along the trail:

About a half mile up the trail there is another locked gate that leads to the first railway bridge:

This bridge has been restored and is in great shape, unfortunately the upcoming bridges on this hike were not this nice:

As I crossed the bridge, I had some really nice views of Pine Creek down below:

With all the stories of a train derailment that crashed into Rock Lake, I ended up finding evidence of a trail derailment at this first bridge:

This derailment made me think that this might have inspired the tales of a train derailing into Rock Lake.  Two train cars for whatever reason were left on the side of the track, maybe as a reminder to train engineers to slowdown when approaching this bridge:

At the bridge I decided to launch my DJI Mavic 2 Zoom – Drone to get an aerial shot of the bridge:

Here is a picture of the railway bridge from the opposite direction:

After thoroughly checking out the bridge I continued down the trail:

After the bridge the cliff walls along the side of the trail became quite steep:

All the debris drilled out of the side of the rock wall to make way for the railway line, could be seen lying below in the valley floor:

Throughout this section of the hike, I was accompanied by the sounds of the flowing waters from Pine Creek below me:

Something else that accompanied me throughout the hike were clusters of these beautiful yellow wildflowers:

At about the two mile mark, I came to the first railway tunnel:

It was a bit eery walking inside of the tunnel, but it never reached the point of total darkness:

There was a number of rocks that have eroded off the side of the tunnel, so for anyone riding a bicycle I recommend caution when passing through the tunnel:

On the opposite side of the tunnel I could see that a large boulder had fallen off the side of the canyon wall:

Here is the view looking back at the tunnel with the large boulder that would have easily killed anyone it would have fell on:

Just passed the tunnel for some reason someone put a burn barrel in the middle of the trail:

After the burn barrel the trail next comes to a large embankment surrounded by a thick forest on each side:

It was here that I began to have my first glimpses of Rock Lake through the trees:

As I continued down the trail I could see evidence of old structures that once stood around the old railroad track:

Here is a panorama view of Rock Lake from the first good viewpoint I had of the lake:

Behind me I also had a good view of the steep canyon walls above me:

From the viewpoint I continued my hike down the trail:

Across the lake from me I could see that the canyon walls were even steeper.  This is the reason why so many people have died after turning over their boat or kayak in Rock Lake.  They try to swim to shore but end up freezing to death because they can’t get out of the lake:

About three miles into the hike I came to the second railway bridge.  This one was pretty small compared to the next bridge that was coming up:

Immediately after crossing the smaller bridge a longer bridge had to be crossed next.  This bridge was the most uneasy part of the entire hike:

That is because much of the wood on the bridge is rotting away, making the walkway on the right side of the bridge very dangerous.  There are no beams supporting the wood below, so if it cracked while I was crossing, it would have been a fatal fall into a deep gorge below:

Instead of crossing on the walkway I walked across the railway ties that had a large gap in between them but not enough for me to fall through.  I am not afraid of heights so had no issues with seeing the deep chasm in between every step I took.  Some people though may have an issue with this, but I do not recommend crossing on the walkway.  Fortunately I did not have my kids with me on this hike because I would definitely have not allowed them to cross this bridge:

I am actually surprised this bridge is open for people to cross, it just seems like it would be a major liability for the Washington State Parks Service if someone was killed because the wood on the bridge collapsed:

On the other side of the bridge I stopped to deploy my drone to take some pictures of the bridges.  Here is a view of the bridges as viewed from the air over Rock Lake:

Here is a view of the bridges when viewed directly above them:

From the drone I could see further up the trail to include how I was going to need pass through another tunnel:

This second tunnel had a lot of rock slide activity around it:

Above the old tunnel I could see the initials of C.M & P.S.  I think whoever carved this had a misspelling because the Old Milwaukee Road was officially called the Chicago, Milwaukee, & St. Paul (CM & SP):

Here is a view of the inside of the second tunnel:

Much like the first tunnel, this tunnel never reached total blackness either.  Here is the view looking out the other end of the tunnel:

The far side of the tunnel had an even bigger rock slide:

I had to some bouldering to get through the rock slide and back on the trail:

Short distance from the tunnel I saw this old railway signal still standing:

Other signs of railroad activity seen along the trail are the telegraph lines as well:

The trail next became more desert like and with less trees:

On my left I could see a ranch out in the distance:

At the four mile mark I decided to turn around and head to the trailhead since I felt like I had seen the best of the scenery.  Along the way I did stop and deploy my drone to take some pictures of the northern section of Rock Lake:

I flew the drone over the lake and by this time the winds were blowing pretty good, but the drone was still taking some really good pictures of Rock Lake:

Unfortunately as I flew over the lake I did not spot the Rock Lake Monster that supposedly lives in the lake.  One theory is that the monster is actually gigantic sturgeon that have grown to enormous sizes in this extremely deep and cold water lake.  I next flew the drone over to where Rock Creek flows into Rock Lake:

Further up the creek I could see where Pine Creek which I followed from the trailhead merges with Rock Creek where it then flows into the lake.  The large canyon the two creeks flow through is known as Hole-in-the Ground and was once the territory of outlaws and rustlers:

From Hole-in-the-Ground the creek flows over a waterfall ending at Rock Lake:

Here is the view from the drone looking back towards the east rim of the canyon where the Rock Lake Trail is located and the surrounding Palouse hills can be seen in the distance:

I took one last shot from my drone of the Rock Lake Trail in the direction back towards the trailhead which was where I was heading to next:

Conclusion

Overall the Rock Lake Trail is an incredible hike through the Channeled Scablands of Eastern Washington.  The trail has a little bit of everything, a long hike on a well maintained trail, old bridges, creepy tunnels, a train derailment, a massive lake, awesome views, and even a monster.  There aren’t many other hikes in the state with this much to see.  For all these factors I highly recommend making the trip over to this remote part of the state and exploring the Rock Lake Trail.