Kachess Lake

About Kachess Lake

Lake Kachess in Wenatchee National Forest offers year-round recreation, but it's not just fishing that brings people to this beautiful lake in Kittitas County. As the name suggests, "KacheSS" means "more fish" and the lake is full of fish. Fishermen can compete for rainbow trout, domestic salmon and Kokanee salmon, and even compete for the best trout.

Also known as Kachess Lake, it is part of the Yakima Project, the largest irrigation project in the United States, and is actually the second largest reservoir in Washington state after the Columbia River. The Yakimas project is a series of reservoirs designed to irrigate 464,000 hectares of land. Yakimea County, which receives water from the project, has become the largest freshwater reservoir in the world with a capacity of 1.5 million cubic meters per day.

In 1902, the Cascade Canal Company built a dam on the lake, but in 1907 the US government took control of the dam. The US Bureau of Reclamation began building new dams in 1910, and the Kachess Dam was completed in 1912 and still controls the lake's water level. It is a natural lake flowing from the Columbia River, which forms its inflow and outflow, to the Yakima River.

The lake's water level drops slightly in late summer, then again in winter and early spring, before falling slightly again in mid-summer.

There are 6500 hectares of water and there is public access to Lake Kachess via Kachss Lake State Park and the NFS campgrounds. The boat ramp is located at the corner of the N FS campground, in a corner south of Little Kachesss Lake.

From this campsite leads the Kleine Kachess See Trail, which is used for hiking as well as mountain biking. The trail is surrounded by wildflowers that wind around the Kleiner Kachss-See, and has picnic areas and camping areas around the lake. With an Indian brush, hikers can look back at the calypso rattlesnakes and orchids and climb on moss - overgrown boulders to look out over the lakes.

The forest covers more than four million hectares, and Lake Kachess is located in the Kachss National Forest, one of the largest forests in North America. Although the lake consists of two large lakes (Kleine Kachesss and Kachemak Lake), the smaller Kachedss Lake has had less motor boat traffic in recent years.

Founded in 1908, Wenatchee National Forest offers more than 1,000 kilometers of hiking, biking, camping, fishing and hiking trails. In total, there are 1.5 million hectares of forest land in the forest, with over 4 million hectares of open space and 2.2 million square kilometres.

Lake Kachess is a few miles from Easton, about an hour from Seattle, and restaurants and shops are within easy reach.

In winter, visitors can go cross-country skiing and snowmobiling around Lake Kachess or cross-country skiing or snowmobiling around it. Mount Rainier National Park is a fantastic day trip from Lake Lachance and an active volcano that is 3500 meters high and located just a few kilometers from the lake.

The snowy summit provides a spectacular backdrop for the rest of the park and visitors can hike through fields of alpine wildflowers before climbing higher and higher to the summit. There are a number of routes for beginners and experienced climbers, offering breathtaking views and attracting over two million visitors a year.

It is easy to see why anyone would fall in love with Kachess Lake every day of their life, as the water is full of fish and it is a perfect place to play and fish, swim or just relax. For visitors who have fallen in love with the area and want to extend their stay, properties on the lake and in nearby Easton are for sale, and there is even a snow-capped mountain in the park for those who want to go skiing, snowboarding or snowshoeing.