In Othello for the crane festival this weekend I had a couple of hours between activities so decided to do a little hiking. This is not exactly in the Marsh Lake Unit as it's closed until April 1st, but a bit before it. I parked off of Morgan Lake Rd a few miles past the refuge headquarters and instead of walking the trails along Crab Creek and a series of small lakes, I noticed an unmarked trail going north from the parking area.
It wound up through the basalt cliffs and out onto a broad plateau with numerous buttes rising up. There is no trail up there but the terrain is gentle and lends itself to wandering. Several of the buttes have weaknesses in the basalt where game trails can be walked up. I headed across the broad plateau and up one of the buttes for a view of the entire area before returning the parking area.
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