Williams Lake: a Place Created by Fire and Ice 🔥+🧊

Filmed: May 2, 2025 Williams Lake, located in Spokane County near Cheney, Washington, is a 320-acre freshwater lake nestled in the rolling hills of the Channeled Scablands. Just 15 miles southwest of Spokane and a short drive from Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, the lake is known for its clear waters, rich fishing opportunities, and quiet, scenic paddling routes.

Natural Features

The lake reaches depths of over 40 feet and features a mix of rocky outcrops, reed-lined shores, and shallow bays ideal for exploring by paddleboard or kayak. Wildlife is abundant, with frequent sightings of ospreys, great blue herons, and migrating waterfowl. The surrounding landscape features open grasslands and pine forests, offering a tranquil escape with a distinctly Eastern Washington character.

Recreational Use

Williams Lake is a favorite for fishing enthusiasts, offering stocked populations of rainbow trout and kokanee salmon. It’s home to a few seasonal resorts and campgrounds, but still maintains a peaceful, uncrowded feel—especially outside peak summer weekends.

A public boat launch on the north end provides easy access for paddleboarders, who often enjoy tracing the shoreline, weaving through quiet coves, or simply drifting with the breeze. The lake’s relatively calm conditions and moderate size make it ideal for casual touring or beginner paddlers looking to improve their endurance. 

Floods of Basalt + Ice Age Floods = Williams Lake (...and many others in Eastern Washington).

The landscape surrounding Williams Lake is a testament to two of the most powerful geological forces in North American history: fire and ice. Roughly 15 million years ago, enormous floods of basaltic lava surged from fissures in what is now southeast Washington and northeast Oregon.

These flows blanketed the region in thick layers of volcanic rock, forming the Columbia Plateau. Millennia later—at the end of the last Ice Age—cataclysmic glacial outbursts known as the Missoula Floods tore across this plateau.

Driven by the sudden failure of an enormous ice dam in western Montana, these floods scoured the land with unimaginable force, carving deep channels, coulees, and basins throughout Eastern Washington.

Williams Lake was formed in one of these carved-out troughs—a depression created by the rushing floodwaters that ripped through basalt layers, then filled in with meltwater, rain, and underground springs.

The result is a lake with steep basaltic walls, rocky shelves, and shallow marshy edges—features typical of the Channeled Scablands’ stark beauty.

Questions about the geology of Williams Lake are probably best answered by some of the videos created by Nick Zentner. He's done quite a bit of research on the Ice Age Floods and Basalt Floods. 

#Peace #Love #Paddleboard #Lake #SUP #PNW #PNWPaddleboards #IceAgeFloods #FloodBasalts #WestPlains #Spokane #SpokaneCounty #ChanneledScablands #NickZentner