
All kinds of recreation await visitors to Sun Lakes in Washington’s North Central region. These mostly natural lakes all share a common origin, having formed in the ancient river gorge of the Columbia River. Scientists believe the Grand Coulee Gorge…

A surreal landscape greets visitors to north-central Washington’s Quincy Lakes Wildlife Area. Pothole lakes filled by water seeping through porous lava flows have left a number of small fishing lakes that are wildlife havens in this arid landscape. Nearly a…

The Enchantment Lakes are very different from the type of lake most people envision when thinking of lakefront vacations. There are no boats, no swimming beaches, and no sunbathers. In fact, there are very few people. That’s because the delicate…

Spectacular Ross Lake is one of the seldom seen gems in north-central Washington. This fantastic 22-mile long reservoir covers 11,680 acres along the flooded Skagit River Valley. Nestled between high sloping banks and against a backdrop of what are often…

It is a picture postcard – snow capped mountains mirrored back in clean, clear, mountain water. Set against the backdrop of Washington’s Cascade Mountains, Keechelus Lake is a picture come to life. With 2,560 acres of water to fish, boat…

Providing much needed water to the dry, fertile soil of north-central Washington, Cle Elum Lake is the largest of four irrigation storage reservoirs in the Yakima River Basin. Originally a small glacial lake, Cle Elum Lake lies seven miles northwest…

“Kachess” means “more fish,” a name that aptly describes Lake Kachess in North Central region of Washington. The lake is full of fish, and anglers can pit themselves against the rainbow and cutthroat trout and wrestle the landlocked kokanee salmon.…

Lake Osoyoos spans more than 5,700 acres and straddles the border of British Columbia, Canada and Washington state in the United States. The Okanagan River flows into Lake Osoyoos in a semi-arid region of British Columbia known as Desert Wine…

No trip to the north central part of Washington would be complete without a visit to Lake Entiat and the Rocky Reach Dam. Lake Entiat is a 9,100 acre reservoir that was created in 1962 when the Rocky Reach Dam…

Located in north central Washington, two miles northeast of Stratford, Billy Clapp Lake offers visitors year round access to its deep blue waters. Billy Clapp Lake is a part of the Columbia Basin Project built by the US Bureau of…

Lake Wenatchee is a high mountain lake located in the Wenatchee National Forest in the Cascade Mountains of Washington state. Fed by the Little Wenatchee River, White River, and snow runoff from the surrounding mountains, Lake Wenatchee drains into the…

Located where Washington State’s Pacific coast transforms into the arid desert of the eastern half, Moses Lake has over 6,800 acres of surface area encircled by over 62 miles of shoreline. Moses Lake offers a wide array of boating, fishing,…

Banks Lake is a 27 mile equalizing reservoir and part of the Columbia Basin Project, a major water resource project to provide irrigation water to fertile but arid land in central Washington. It was created when two rock-faced, earthfill dams…

Potholes Reservoir was formed by the building of the O’Sullivan Dam which is one of the largest earthfill dams in the United States. The name “pothole” originated due to large depressions in the earth in that area, some as large…

From the Salish Indian word for “deep notch”, Lake Chelan is the third deepest lake in the United States with a maximum depth of almost 1500 feet. Lake Chelan is long and narrow, stretching more than 50 miles in length…