Happy First Day of Spring

Since it was bucketing down rain this morning I knew today was an Eastern Washington day.  I headed for the area east of Ellensburg beyond the wind farm.  It is here where I usually find blooming cactus.

This day gave proof as to why the wind farms are here.  The wind was really whipping and getting decent photos of trembling flowers was a challenge.

All the early flowers were here.

Sagebrush Violets

Bluebells snuggles low and protected around most anything.  These were next to an Elk skeleton

Yellow Bells are the flower most people mention when talking about the early Spring flower of the dry side.

Dagger-Pod only grew in the sheltered sunny hillside, well below the rough wind at the top.

Cushon Phlox is just coming on now.

The Hedgehog Cactus are just starting to make buds, so they are a week or two off.

I stopped at the Red Horse Diner for lunch and the sunny window, with no wind, was welcome.

When I come home via I-90 I usually get off at Preston and come via Fall City.  It may take a few extra minutes but it is more peaceful than the Bellevue corridor

Neat Neat Neat

The dry side always calls me, particularly so in its very early and brief Spring.  The dry arid countryside holds little interest for many who fly through on the freeway.  For me it is a world of wonder.  It think what draws me is that it is so different from my home.  A few short hours and I am in a different country.

The area west of Vantage, just up from the Columbia River feels ancient and timeless.  It is hard country with bare rock and swift winds.  The wind turbines are taking advantage of these winds, generating power.

From a handy parking area on the highway you can strike out over the land or along many dirt roads.  It is a popular hunting area in the Winter, but during the other seasons bird watchers and flower seekers ramble the land.  There are many fair roads and motorcycles and bikes are a handy way to get out into the open range. Most cars are not useful here in the rutted broken roads

Flowers draw me.  I come here to see the Hedgehog Cactus in bloom.  I am also on the lookout for Bitterroot.  All over the dry slopes Meadowlark sing their wonderful gurgling song.  Such shy birds, getting a picture is next to impossible.   I am sure those birds who live in town are better models for the camera. 

I did not have any particular place in mind so I struck out on one of the roads.  the slopes were covered in Lupine , Balsamroot and Desert Parsleys.

I figured I needed to go someplace I had not been before so I decided to go over and see those basalt cliffs.  I simply walked straight for them, cross country.

Not content to take the easy way up I climbed up the narrow route to the left.  I was hoping to meet something interesting in the rocks.  Nothing was about.

I found this nifty water catcher.  Just two corrugated metal panels and a fiberglass basin.  I have never seen anything like it.

I found an old water trough half filled with water and growing some kind of green duckweed.  On a stick just breaking the surface, a small butterfly was very polite and allowed me to get a few pictures.  There are many small blue butterflies; collectively called "Blues".  My tentative id of this one is Silvery Blue .

I rambled for some time keeping my eyes out for cactus.  They are predictable in their preference for rocky broken rocky areas.  Being small and close to the ground when they are young and not in bloom it is easy to mistake them for a rock.  I hate stepping on the little ones.  The bigger ones are simple to spot.

Cannot miss these.

Bitterroot seemed to be missing this day.  Perhaps I was simply in the wrong spot.  I made my way back towards the parking area into an area I knew fairly well.  It was not long before I spotted some choice blooms. 

Lewisia rediviva ; restored to life.  This, I feel, is our most beautiful native flower.  Its small buds push up through the hard soil, often from under rocks.  Easy to step on those fragile buds. 

I walked along the road with my eyes down.  Not content with just one random blossom.

Then I saw something move in front of me.  I wasn't going to make a hunt but I could not leave it be.  I quickly got my camera at the ready and got on my hands and knees  (in the wilderness no one can hear you say "oof")

I see you

A Pygmy short-horned lizard (Phrynosoma douglassii) aka horned toad.  It could not have been more than 3 inches long including tail.  Probably young, they top out at 5 inches

This is the good stuff.

Neat neat neat

Ring The Bells!

The start of the wildflower season!

My friend Ron sent me a note the other day asking about flower stops along the way east to Spokane.  He wanted to find Yellow Bell , Fritillaria pudica.  I suggested some Central Washington spots, like Moses Lake south to White Cliffs at Hanford.  As an afterthought I threw in the area burned by last years fires from Cle Elum to Ellensburg. Ron said said he was itching to start the season and I have to agree; it has been a long Winter.

I have already visited Washington Park to check out early signs of Fawn Lily and Calypso.   The only flowers out and about were the Blue-eyed Mary and Prairie Stars.

When I saw the glory that today's weather was going to be I made mental plans to run over to the burn area and see what was going on.

I traveled Hwy 97 east from Cle Elum through the area that was devastated by fire last summer.  This fire burned from the junction of 97 and Hwy 10 east to the edge of Ellensburg.  It sparked other fires to the north and lightning fires near Wenatchee came south to meet them.   

Along the Hwy 97  there is little in the way of developed land.  An old farm shows what this area once was.

Most of the area is now range land with pockets of small hay farms.  The fire scorched trees show that the land all around this place was burned and these old buildings spared.  In the upper reaches there is little but scorched rabbit brush and pines, but on the ground, greenery carpeted with Gold Star, the first flowers of the season.

All around leaves are pushing up through the burned ground showing that there will be a bounty of Lupine  Balsamroot and Desert Parsley before long.

I decided to pay a visit up Reecer Creek Road.  I know this road from bird-watching days and it is always good on the upper slopes for wildflowers.

This area north of Ellensburg has been slow to support houses.  Old abandoned tracts of land, filled with sage and Rabbit Brush use to dominate.  Now there are small ranchettes with hay and horses.  It is big open view country.  

As I reached the upper half of Reecer Creek Road, I was reminded that the fire burned all the way over to this area.

But all around the ground was lush and green.  The fire probably revitalized this ground.  I slowed way down and rolled down the windows.  Meadowlark singing; that lovely, lonesome, wandering song.  Killdeer, Snipe, Brewers and Red-wing Blackbird.  I heard them all.  Overhead pairs of Rough-legged Hawk, pair after pair in flight, reminded me that these birds love this open country.

Soon a glimpse of yellow that was not Gold Star.  YELLOW BELL I shouted.  One of the reason I favor the "early bird in the middle of no-where" approach to nature study is that you can make those sudden stops along the roadside and not block traffic.

This three blossomed beauty was a real prize!

The area to the west of this roadside is fenced of and well marked to not trespass.  One can clearly see, however, the whole field is a carpet of leaves coming up of goodness knows how many flower species.

Before long it will be glorious.

I drove up to the first parking for Table Mountain and here at elevation snow persists in the shaded areas.  The ground is dry and dull, as if the blanket of snow was pulled off but the Earth does not wish to wake up yet.  It did yield a wonderful view away to the tip top of Mt Rainier.

Dagger-pod and Sagebrush Violets completed the days flower inventory.

I didn't drive Hwy 10 back to Cle Elum to complete the fire circle.  I am sure in two weeks it will be prime.

When I arrived home, I sent a note to Ron, hoping that he and Nancy might be able to catch this route on their way home.

I am content.  It is about 70 degrees out and the Ice Cream Man is across the street at the park playing music.

Next weekend the Spring Fling continues.

Waterworks Canyon

Early last Sunday I left The Dalles and headed for Yakima.  I found a series of caches placed in a canyon west of town which would take me to someplace new.  I had never heard of Waterworks Canyon .  This is just the thing I had hoped Geocaching could do for me, take me to new and different areas.

The trail head is just past the junction where Hwy 12 and 410 split on their way to Mt Rainier and the trail climbs Waterworks Canyon up into the Oak Creek Wildlife Management Area.  I was happy to find early blooming Balsamroot.  There are always bugs in the Balsamroots and yet again, the olive drab spotted bugs were here in abundance.  I have still not been able to find the name of these bugs, but they are everywhere in the Balsamroots.

Low in the canyon the slope is softly edged and grassy.  They is a noisy creek that the trail follows and today it is sunny and absolutely windless.  A fine change from the day before.

It is early in the blooming season yet, but I did find a few violets and some pretty vetch.  Got another happy bug photo, too!

Further along, Mertensia bluebells were just getting started.  There are several types that grow in the state, I believe these are long flowered , longiflora

The placer of many of the caches along this trail made sure to point out areas of interest and things that might be seen.  He warned about rattlesnakes and I made sure when reaching into holes and rock piles to use a poking stick to rouse a snake that might have slept in.

I didn't see a single slithery thing except a Horned Toad.  Better luck next time, I guess.

But at the box called "A Good Place To Rest" I did spy some gems.  He mentioned that seeing Big Horned Sheep was possible and sure enough, high on the ridge line I saw one, then two then more and more.

Across the canyon I saw deer, equally high up.

The way continued up and the land form transitioned from soft rolly slope to sharp volcanic stone.  There were some stone arches and many spires.  Footing was sometimes rubble with pumice and other rock types

One cache was hidden in a ledge in a rock wall.  It required a little climb up.  All the stone here is covered in lichens.

I can imagine a native hunter spending a safe night in this alcove.

One fun discovery along the way was Chukar.  These game birds are reluctant to fly and usually run away.  If you are lucky they will make a small gabbling type sound and you can spot them, otherwise they blend in pretty well.  Poor Chukar, they are not the brightest of birds and often then will fly down a hill then walk back up.

Can you spot him there in the rocks at the bottom?

About half way along the trail someone had placed a box high on a ridge than branched off from the canyon.  As this is fine open country, you do not really need a trail and I decided to try a bee-line navigation straight up the ridge.  It was a good solid workout and just the thing I need.  The view down to the canyon floor was pretty impressive.  It is hard to appreciate it here, but those trees along the creek are actually pretty tall.  This was a good solid 1000+ feet up.

I followed a lot of hoof prints figuring the sheep and deer likely knew the best footing and the easiest way.  They were pretty correct.  When I got to the top I saw where the canyon trail actually rose to parallel the slope, so I could have gained some elevation a little easier by following the trail further before attacking the slope.  Ah well that is hindsight, I guess.

I trekked to the end of the line.  From there I could see that you could simply climb out of the canyon and camp on top of the plateau.

It was a fine hike.  I met one other couple along the way and they went as far as I did, reluctant to proceed up the final slope without a trial.

What a great end to the weekend.  As I descended the sun started to make its presence known.  This dry area always feels extra warm and when I hike over in this area I always like to finish before the blazing heat of 2pm.  These little lenticular clouds are not going to help block the sun.

A great little hike.  A little excitement as I attacked that tough slope.  A little challenge of navigating some tricky rocky places.  Fun animal sightings, some pretty flowers and even some bugs.

I evicted a tick, found walking along my steering wheel.  Clearly it climbed from my arm and I am sure the good people of Ellensburg will not mind that I ejected this freeloader on the freeway interchange.

I still feel a little creepy crawly.

W ~ White Bluffs, Hanford

It is odd to think of such a place of beauty at the backdoor of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.  But it is the reservation which actually as the foundation of this lands beauty. 

The Hanford Reach National Monument was created as a buffer zone around the Hanford Reservation.  Along with the adjacent Yakima Military Range and the Hanford Reservation itself, it preserves a large swath of steppe, grassland and dessert.  From space the vegetation borders of these areas can easily be seen.  Recent news that the Arid Land Ecology unit west of Hanford was once again going to be open to hikers excites me very much.  I visited once with an Ornithology convention and the wonders we saw on our short visit made me want to return.

The area is given to very harsh extremes of weather and ecology.  Stunningly dry its large treeless areas can be a challenge in sunny weather.  Wind can be fierce and also draws moisture from you.  I never venture out into this area without 2 gallons of drinking water in the car.

The Columbia river cuts through the middle and it is here the river flows freely, unencumbered by the multitude of dams and their effects.  On the east side of the river thick chalk hills are cut and show their gleaming white face.

It is easy to ramble for hours along this cliff face.  In the Spring the ground is alive with flowers and bugs of all descriptions.  Bird congregate around rivers, streams and the pothole ponds and lakes that stud the area.  Much of the region to the north and east of here was carved by the Bretz Floods.  These floods left numerous ponds and lakes behind.  White Pelican and Sandhill Crane can be found along these waterways. 

http://www.fws.gov/hanfordreach/index.html