On a spring hiking trip into Central Washington, we hiked a dozen routes in “Washington desert lands.”    We camped on Wapunum Lake (one of the many lakes/reservoirs on the Columbia River).    We hiked two routes nearby – Gingko Petrified Forest State Park and Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area.    Both areas are open hills with no trees.    We saw cactus and lizards, and plants associated with desert hills.    There was a trail of sorts through Gingko State Park, but it was not really well-worn-in.

The Park is noted for deposits of petrified wood (from 15 million years ago), remains of ancient gingko trees as well as 50 other species.   It is a registered National Landmark.

The trails are faint and hikers can pick any route, but we followed trails across the hills in a loop route.

Some of our route was along the bluffs overlooking Wapunum Lake, overlooking the Columbia River Gorge.

There were big chinks of petrified wood at the Interpretive Center near the parking area, but we also saw smaller chunks of fossilized opaline gingko in the hills.

There have been 30 different types of fossilized wood found in the park.

A video of the park is provided here for more information.