Columbia Plateau Trail: The Cheney To Fish Lake Trail

Basic Information

• Name: Cheney To Fish Lake Trail
• Where: Columbia Plateau Trail State Park
• Distance: 7.25 miles roundtrip
• Max Elevation: 2,317 feet
• Elevation Gain: 271 feet
• Difficulty: Easy
• More Information: Best Easy Day Hikes Spokane

Google Earth Map of the Trail

Directions

This hike is located just outside of the small town of Cheney.  To reach the trailhead from Spokane, take I-90 West about 15 miles and then exit onto Highway 904 to Cheney.  Stay on the highway until you reach downtown Cheney.  Take a left onto the Cheney Spangle Road.  Follow this road for about a mile until it passes over a bridge.  Immediately after the bridge on the left is the entrance to the trailhead.

Parking

At the Cheney Trailhead for the Columbia Plateau Trail there is a large paved lot and even larger dirt lot for overflow parking.  There is also male and female restrooms, a map, signage, and picnic tables available as well.

Since this is a Washington State Park, a Discover Pass is required to park at the trailhead.

Narrative

The Columbia Plateau Trail is built on the old Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railroad trackbed that was constructed in 1908.  The line was eventually taken over by the Burlington Northern Railroad who discontinued using the track in 1987.  This opened the door for the state of Washington to take over the property which they did in 1992.  Since then the Washington State Park Service has continued to develop the 130 mile trail that runs from the Tri-Cities area to Fish Lake.   The first 3.75 portion of the trail that stretches from Fish Lake to Cheney is the most developed section that is perfect for day hikers and bicyclists:

I prefer to do this trail beginning at the Cheney Trailhead since it provides the reward of Fish Lake at the end.  However, it doesn’t matter which way the trail is completed because it is still a good one either way.  The Cheney trailhead begins at the “Bike Route” sign adjacent to the parking lot:

The paved path leads to the bottom of the Cheney-Spangle Road bridge.  From here in the southern direction, the dirt path of the Columbia Plateau Trail heads towards Amber Lake:

The gravel trail is officially maintained for up to 19.25 miles to Martin Road.  After that it is not maintained and much rougher.  In the northern direction the trail is completely paved as it heads towards Fish Lake:

After initially passing through a canyon carved into the basalt landscape, the Columbia Plateau Trail soon enters into a section of marshland.  This marshland of small ponds is where the city of Cheney gets its water from:

After passing the marshland the trail then enters into another carved out canyon:

At this point, on each side of the trail, there are two creeks that flow down hill from the marshland:

The creeks along the trail cause it to be lush with foliage and wildlife.  Birds and ducks are often seen all around this section of the Columbia Plateau Trail:

Something very unique to this section of the Columbia Plateau Trail is that muskrats can often be seen as well:

After about a mile the trail reaches a seasonal waterfall.  During most of the year the waterfall has little water flowing down it or none at all:

However, in late winter and spring time the waterfall comes to life from the snow melt:

During the spring the waterfall pours so much water into the canyon that the creek floods over the trail in various sections:

So for joggers like myself, this trail is not advisable to jog on during these timeframes because of how wet your shoes can become combined with cold temperatures that make your feet go numb.  Believe me I had this happen to me and it was challenging to run back to the trailhead with numb feet.  However, when the trail is not snowed in or flooded this is a great place to get a long jog in at.

The next landmark along the trail is the first railroad bridge:

It only makes sense that modern day railroads would continue to operate in the vicinity of the trail and their trains can often be seen and heard rolling down the track.  If you are looking for a quiet outdoors experience this trail is not it since trains are often heard along it:

The next landmark is a rickety looking bridge used by vehicles:

After the rickety bridge the trail comes to a beautiful meadow with a handful of homes spread out across it:

After passing the meadow the trail then enters into the largest canyon of the entire hike:

This section of the trail often has many beautiful wildflowers that can be seen:

The trail next comes to another bridge that the  West Anderson Road crosses:

The next landmark is another railroad bridge:

At this point of the hike the trail is running adjacent to the train track:

Soon a park bench comes into sight with views of Fish Lake:

Fish Lake is a very scenic lake to see from the Columbia Plateau Trail:

During the winter time this lake looks vastly different as it is completely frozen over and becomes a location for ice fishing:

The trail continues to follow the lake and next comes to a viewpoint with markers explaining the geological history of the area:

Nearly the entire length of the Columbia Plateau Trail was carved out by a series of Ice Age floods that occurred 28,000 to 13,000 years ago when an ice dam in Idaho thawed and released flood waters from the enormous Lake Missoula across Eastern Washington:

The epic flood waters tore through the landscape carving the canyon and lakes we see today across Eastern Washington known as the Channelled Scablands.  What was unique about Fish Lake is that during the Ice Age floods it was the location of a double waterfall:

A short distance from the information markers is the end of the trail which is designated by the parking area for the Fish Lake Trailhead for the Columbia Plateau Trail:

From the Fish Lake Trailhead hikers can either coordinate for a ride to pick them up or do what I do and jog back the 3.75 miles to make this a 7.25 mile jog.  This is one of the best medium distance run routes to be found in the Spokane area.

Conclusion

The Cheney to Fish Lake portion of the Columbia Plateau Trail is its most developed and arguably its best section.  The paved path makes it ideal for novice hikers and bicyclists.  The trail is also a great place to spot wildlife that frequent the creek that flows adjacent to the trail.  I highly recommend this as a fantastic beginner hike and jogging location for people in the Spokane area.