History, at least white history, is brief and fading fast. Back in the 1880s, miners in search of silver, gold, and copper flocked here, set up shop in towns with the lilting names of Loomis and Nighthawk, built, extracted, and roared for a while—then gave up and moved on. Today you can still follow their wagon tracks into the hills and muse by the faint rectangular depressions where their cabins once stood. There’s good camping and decent fishing on Spectacle Lake just east of Loomis; in spring the orchards along the Similkameen River, which parallels the road, fill with clouds of pink and white. West of Loomis, Toats Coulee Road makes a convenient jumping off point for treks into the half million untouched acres of the spectacular Pasayten Wilderness, which buffers the Okanogan Highland to the east and the Cascades to the west.
Molson, 28 miles due east of Nighthawk on the other side of the Okanogan River, is worth the detour for the breathtaking backroads drive alone. The town site is now an outdoor museum with a collection of weathered buildings and rusting tools—but the most evocative spot is the old schoolhouse half a mile away. The three-story, circa 1914 brick building commands a rise with the most stunningly mournful panorama of any school I’ve seen.
On my first visit a kindly docent regaled me with statistics on ferocious winter cold and dwindling population as I poked around the classrooms and library. But my mind and eyes kept wandering to those tall windows and the vistas they framed of rippling grass, radiant sky, and nary an inhabited dwelling for miles and miles.
Published: March 2010
For lodging in the Okanogan Highlands, please consider the beautiful Eden Valley Guest Ranch (5-miles south of Molson) as a location to stay in privacy and quiet. I am a board member for Molson Museums and actually went to grade school in the Molson Schoolhouse. If you would like to learn more about our local area please see an overview on our web site (www.edenvalleyranch.net) and go to “leisure activities” then “history and culture”. In addition to wildflower treks, a trail system and history tours we also provide narrated trail rides. Topics include local geology, native vegetation, local events, history, farming, timber management and more. There is much to explore in the Okanogan Highlands. Happy Trails.