Columbia National Wildlife Refuge
735 E Main St
Othello, WA
A maze of basalt channels and desert lakes that fills each spring with the calls of tens of thousands of sandhill cranes.
The Columbia National Wildlife Refuge is one of the great surprises of eastern Washington: a stretch of desert that turns out to be full of water. Between rocky ridges and coulee walls lie dozens of lakes and marshes, and each spring the sky fills with sandhill cranes, whose rolling, prehistoric calls carry for miles.
The refuge sits in the channeled scablands, a landscape carved by the Ice Age floods into a maze of channels, potholes, and cliffs. That rough terrain, combined with the water, makes it one of the richest wildlife areas in the interior Northwest and a magnet for birders.
What Guests Love
- The spring return of sandhill cranes, a huge share of the whole Pacific Coast population passing through
- Driving and hiking among the flood-carved channels of the Drumheller Channels landmark
- Quiet desert lakes tucked below basalt cliffs, alive with birds
- The Othello Sandhill Crane Festival, timed to the peak of the crane migration
Worth Knowing
- The crane spectacle peaks in early spring, roughly March; outside that window the refuge is quieter
- This is high desert with few services and rough back roads; some areas close seasonally to protect nesting birds
- Summer is hot and shadeless, and rattlesnakes live in the rocks, so plan and dress accordingly
- Bring binoculars and a spotting scope if you have them; much of the wildlife is at a distance
Details
Othello, WA
Learn about Columbia National Wildlife Refuge
The Drumheller Channels
The heart of the refuge is the Drumheller Channels, recognized as a National Natural Landmark for being one of the finest examples of scabland topography anywhere. It is a bewildering tangle of more than a hundred separate channels and countless rock basins.
The channels were cut by the Missoula floods, the same catastrophic Ice Age torrents that carved Dry Falls and the Grand Coulee. As the floodwaters tore across the basalt plateau, they braided into many channels at once here, scouring the rock into the strange, broken country you see today, and leaving basins that now hold water.
The sandhill cranes
Each spring, the refuge and the fields around Othello host a remarkable gathering of sandhill cranes, a very large portion of the entire Pacific Coast population stopping to feed and rest on their way north. Tall, gray, and red-crowned, they stalk the fields by day and gather in wetlands to roost, their bugling calls filling the air.
The town of Othello celebrates the migration with a Sandhill Crane Festival built around guided tours and viewing, and for many visitors it is the reason to come. The cranes are the headline, but they share the refuge with a great cast of other birds.
A desert full of birds
Beyond the cranes, the refuge is a magnet for waterfowl, from ducks and geese to grebes and pelicans, and for raptors that hunt the open country. The mix of open water, marsh, and dry shrub-steppe supports an unusually long bird list for the interior desert.
Trails and refuge roads lead to lakes tucked below the cliffs, some of the prettiest quiet corners in the scablands, where the contrast of blue water and black rock is at its sharpest.
Wildlife and seasons
Away from the water, the shrub-steppe holds mule deer, coyotes, badgers, marmots, and rattlesnakes, along with sagebrush specialties among the songbirds. The lakes hold fish, and some are open to seasonal angling.
Spring is the standout, cool and green and full of migrating birds, especially the cranes. Summer is hot and the refuge quiets down, fall brings another wave of waterfowl, and winter is cold and stark on the open plateau.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Walla Walla Garden Motel
Honorable Mention2279 E Isaacs Ave, Walla Walla, WA
74 miles away|Learn More ›
Things to Do Near Othello
Potholes State Park
About 20 miles north
A recreation area on the Potholes Reservoir with swimming, boating, and camping, and access to the dune-and-water maze of the Potholes country.
Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park
About 30 miles northwest
A rare fossil forest of stone logs above the Columbia at Vantage, with an interpretive center and preserved Wanapum petroglyphs.
Palouse Falls State Park
About 60 miles southeast
Washington's official state waterfall, a nearly two-hundred-foot plunge into a flood-carved basalt canyon, one of the scablands' great sights.