Mackenzie Natural Area, Liberty Lake, Washington
I wrote here about Liberty Lake Loop, in Liberty Lake, Washington. On the drive to the trailhead parking lot there has been a lot of real estate development, but there remains one section reserved for recreation, called the Mackenzie Natural Area.
Following the typical historical accounts of white people removing Native Americans from their homes, the area around Liberty Lake became a well known recreation and resort area. In the late 1800s, a lady named Mrs. Mackenzie (because why would we need to know her first name? All we need to know is she was married to Roderick Mackenzie – she needs no individual identity, right?) became involved in the growing bicycling trend by supporting bicyclists as they went through the area. She provided them food and place to rest for no cost. Now, this little piece of forest is named after her. Well, it is named after her husband, because it is his last name, but I won’t get started on all of that.
The trailhead parking is right off the main road, with a map, but no bathroom. This trail is used by mountain bikers, as well as for horseback riding and hiking. It is a short trail system – about as short as my writing about it will be. Each loop is about 2 miles with 400′ of elevation gain. It feels like a workout on the way up, but by the time it is feeling that way, the incline ends and you are headed back down the hill.
The entire reason we ended up here was because I was probably going to kill someone if I did not get some time in the wilderness. Barbarian Scientist wanted to go with me (probably to make sure I was not leaving just to go murder someone else), and when I said I wanted to go to McKenzie Conservation Area, he brought us here. The Mackenzie Natural Area. How stupid to name two places such similar names in the same area. Anyway, Mackenzie Natural Area – I would not say it is worth going out of your way for, but if you need a simple 2-mile loop with some elevation to train for something, it is a great place to loopy.