May 8th - Backroad, Brackish, Backwater, Low Brow Birding with Black

 

Only the best puddles! AND this one! Kevin and I at the grand opening of Low Brow Pond

I've been to a number of Good Places in Klickitat County this year: Rock Creek, Catherine Creek, Swale Creek, Sand Ridge Road, Bingen Pond, Conboy Lake NWR. But years like this are also about going to a Good Number of places, which I have also done! What's a good number? 74 to be exact. (It's a guess, but at least an exact guess.) Today was a day to hit a lot of those other places. 

Okay, but Conboy first (kind of)

The BZ Glenwood Highway was our path to Panakanic Road, and we did end up stopping at one point to scan the refuge from a fine viewpoint. 

Ruffed Grouse were drumming, and Kevin heard Sooty Grouse as well. A Wilson's Snipe (164 for the year list) did its winnowing display, and many ducks were visible from the road. Blue-winged Teal still eluded us! In the first week of May, my hopes remained pretty high at even the smallest puddle. 

Wild Turkeys on the run

Another stop was necessary as we passed a house with hummingbird feeders, and a flock of Wild Turkeys. I include the picture at right, in part because it gives perspective on how fun Conboy is, with open fields and water right up against deep forests of Ponderosa Pine. 

Kevin and I heard Anna's and Rufous Hummingbirds for sure as we watched the little birds zipping to and away from the feeder. We also found a Calliope, picked out by its very short tail, and confirmed by Kevin by . . . the other field marks that I need to learn. 

Rufous Hummingbird

Calliope Hummingbird (165)

It's always so nice to see these feeders full! We actually saw the owners outside and thanked them before heading on our way. 

Panakanic Road 

Outside of just being spelled differently every time I type it, this road has gotten more nicknames than any other road I've visited this year. 

1. Obvious: Panakanic Basket Road
2. Musical: Panakanic! at the Disco Road
3. or PanakaNick Jonas Road

and, since Kevin and I saw birds like Gray Jay, Northern Goshawk, 454879 species of owls, including Flammulated and Barred, Williamson's Sapsucker. . . we added

4-7: Golden Jackpot Road, Bonanza Boulevard, Superbird Parkway, and Countworthy Court. We never got around to actually putting up the signs for this, but if you do see any of those names on a sign in the future, yes it was us. 

V.L.T.

In the spirit of wide-eyed birding, I found nothing new for the year on this stop! But it really was special habitat. A little water, lots of pines, a few scattered openings, and a few Very Large Trees. I don't usually include full lists, but for this one, why not: 

Wild Turkey, Ruffed Grouse, Turkey Vulture, sapsucker (species undetermined), Red-tailed Hawk, Cassin's Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Steller's Jay, Common Raven, Mountain Chickadee, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Tree Swallow, Violet-green Swallow, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Hermit Thrush, American Robin, Evening Grosbeak, Purple Finch, Red Crossbill, Pine Siskin, Chipping Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, White-crowned Sparrow, Spotted Towhee, Brown-headed Cowbird, MacGillivray's Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler, warbler (species undetermined - either Townsend's or Hermit), Wilson's Warbler, and Western Tanager. 

It was easy to imagine even more species rolling in during the weeks to come! We walked almost the entire length of the road before heading back to the car, but this is a nice backroad that I'll definitely see again. 

Glenwood Mill Pond

We stopped in Glenwood for gas and a little sustenance from the gas station, then it was onward to the Glenwood Mill Pond. 

More Soras here. Like. . . there's a lot of ponds where you arrive, and frogs start hopping in the water. Same thing but Soras. Just all over the place, and scurrying from their hiding spots two feet from the road as we walked along. New at this spot was American Bittern (166), oonkagloonking from cover. We also called up some Virginia Rails, which have not been easy to find this year!

Walking back past the cars, I first heard then saw a trio of woodpeckers at a snag. What appeared to be two Red-breasted Sapsuckers flew away, leaving a single Red-naped Sapsucker. 

This one actually had me paused on an identification for a bit. These sapsuckers can hybridize with each other. In this case, I was only worried because of the yellow on the breast. Images and descriptions kept showing and describing this bird with no yellow on the breast. Red-breasted Sapsuckers, on the other hand, have extensive yellow there. I did finally get set straight on this. Red-naped, even the pure ones, can have yellow on the breast. Nothing else seemed to be pointing to hybridization, so I'm calling this one a Red-naped Sapsucker (167). 

Glenwood Mill Pond

We kept poking around, looking for Blue-winged Teal, but to no avail. It was time to move along to Goldendale for our last stop on the Backroad, Brackish, Backwater, Low Brow Birding tour. We were running in separate cars, so I unfortunately missed a Ruffed Grouse that Kevin saw dashing across the Glenwood Highway as we approached town. 

Goldendale

We actually circled around looking for coffee for Kevin first, eventually finding an open stand in town. Then we made our way West and South of town to our destination: Low Brow Pond

This name was just our take on the humor of this situation. On this same block sat the Goldendale Sewage Lagoons. One of the funny things about this situation already, is that The Really Nice Place we would rather have been viewing was a sewage lagoon! There had been sightings over the last few days of Wilson's Phalaropes, Red-necked Phalaropes, Semipalmated Plovers, American Avocets, Long-billed Dowitchers, Greater White-fronted Geese, and Blue-winged Teal. Any of these would have been welcome additions to the year list. 

But. . . the lagoons are on private property. You can't just stroll up and view them. Some of the locals do have access and have built enough trust to use it regularly. So . . . first of all, understand that this is just part of the normal story of birding. Part of the story of life! There's places you can go, there's places you can't. Good gosh, even I posted an entire blog entry in March on Grayback Mountain - a hike that may never be open to public access again! 

That said, the picture, the parody, that we came up with in our head was this: 

Sorry, Sir. . . you aren't on the list

We'd been told that the birds from inside the lagoon sometimes make their way out to a pond South and West of the lagoons on the same block. Kind of like . . . try the gas station down the street from the club, because sometimes celebrities fill up their tanks there. "You might see Brad Pitt!"

This spot - the dumpster outside of the five-star restaurant, has now officially been dubbed Low Brow Pond. Low Brow Pond did exactly what it was supposed to do when we visited: It gave us a Mallard, a Killdeer, a Least Sandpiper, and a Greater Yellowlegs (168). That yellowlegs came flying shortly after we arrived, supporting this picture that there's a little bit of flow between the ponds. The water is also on the shallow side here, so we agreed that it could pull some shorebirds out now and then. 

Folks. If you're looking for shorebirds in Klickitat County, Low Brow Pond is not a bad bet at all. It's no Goldendale Sewage Lagoon by any stretch! But it would be surprising to come up empty, and the potential for some of those rarer birds to land in there, or even to simply fly overhead while viewing Low Brow is high enough to warrant a stop.

168 for the year! That hardly feels like coming up empty at all. I'm looking forward to searching for the later arrivals once June rolls around. Some of them (Bullock's Oriole, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Yellow-breasted Chat) had been seen before I even left the county!

May 7th - May rain, May not, May even snow

Awake in Trout Lake

Kevin had gotten in pretty late in the evening, and the previous day had been a long one for me. Rather than running off to do any owling in the morning, we went ahead and "slept in" a little, although in birding terms that's never too late into the morning!

Cabin 3 - Sleeping Beauty

Our home base for the weekend was Cabin 3 at the Trout Lake Cozy Cabins. They were not lying with cozy! The beds were comfy, and the heat worked just fine. I may even have left the heat up a little too high. We got coffee figured out and went through our plans for the day. Conboy. Conboy was our plans for the day.

Trout Lake is almost in the far Northwest corner of Klickitat County. Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge is almost as far to the Northwest as Trout Lake. Having just read the website introduction to the refuge, we'll take a momentary break from the normal dreck to give you their intro!

Picture a rustic cabin in a grassy meadow bursting with colorful blooms. The smell of tall, ruddy-barked ponderosa pines fills the air. The distinctive trumpeting of Sandhill cranes echoes throughout the refuge as they descend to their valley home. Calm water reflects the rich and varied greens of meadows and forested hills. Dancing glints of sunlight catch the eye as a stream winds its way from hill to lake. This, in part, is the experience of Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge, and you are welcome here. In fact, people have been coming here for millennia. Native Americans found life-sustaining resources in abundance, and nineteenth century settlers could see its tremendous potential as a place to call home. All the while, the wildlife lived here, too.

How could one pass on a description like that? Although to Kevin and me, the main source of excitement was the possibility of some good woodpeckers! Red-naped Sapsucker, as well as White-headed and Black-backed Woodpeckers had all been included on a recent trip checklist from Conboy. 

Even though Conboy wasn't far away, Kevin and I found opportunities to find new birds as soon as we stepped out the door. Townsend's Warblers (species number 139 for the year) were among the birds calling from the trees around the cabin as we packed up to go.

Along the way, we spent a lot of time with the windows down and eyes scanning all around us. Warbling Vireo (140), and Tree Swallow (141) were among the early additions. At one point, we stopped for a flock of pigeons. I'd had the darndest time finding any Mourning Doves or Rock Pigeons in the county, having only picked up my first the day before. This turned out to be the last species I needed from this family: Band-tailed Pigeons (142)!

Band-tailed Pigeons

These birds are easier to find in the West half of the state, and always tend to have favorite spots. Just over the Cascade crest, they can still be found in similar areas, including the Trout Lake area. After looking these over, Kevin got a peek-a-boo view of some birds in an agricultural/industrial looking gravel lot across from the pigeons. Least Sandpipers! (143) We had a good laugh at the find, and briefly considered marking the muddy lot as an eBird hotspot with a flashy name. We decided against it. 

Least Sandpipers

I laugh more, and I find more birds when I'm with Kevin. These are not bad things. We've explored quite a few counties together over the last decade, and it was just a joy to have him along for the trip. Our future bird-themed rock band Sage Thrasher picked up a few new possible tunes over the course of the weekend as well. 

We scoped that parking lot hard, hoping to add to our little shorebird bonanza, but in the end, it was as productive as. . . well, as a muddy gravel parking lot in the spring. 

Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Tree Swallows

Conboy was a great stop. I keep telling myself this afterwards, and it's true. We were just so darned focused on searching for these woodpeckers that it took some reminding on this point! But it turned out to be over 50 species of birds in the end. 

Early on, we had views of Western Bluebirds busy near a distant nest box. On this trip, one thing sunk in regarding bluebirds: it's fun to watch them fly. It's almost an identifiable thing for me now. It's subtle, but there's just a slight playfulness to the way they fly. And I say this with a dash of apology, because I'm a science guy at heart, and there's ways to quantify just about everything if you work at it. But I don't really know how to measure this exactly. They're just fun. 

Sora

The Willard Springs Foot Trail sets out from the Visitor Center, and immediately takes you towards a huge wet field holding ducks, geese, and some Sandhill Cranes. This was where I found my first Wood Ducks (144), and Cinnamon Teal (145) of the year. Kevin and I came across some sparrows as well. 

Perhaps best to say that Kevin came across them and tried hard to point at the sparrows ten feet from us, all to no avail! It's always amazing to bird with others and realized just how bad I am at picking up a moving bird. So I missed a Lincoln's Sparrow that Kevin found, but eventually got on a Savannah Sparrow (146) in the grasses and shrubs lining the field. 

Sora (147) was a fun find and was walking in plain view for us. We heard and saw plenty of Sora over the course of the weekend. Very active time for them! Other new birds in this marshy area included Common Yellowthroat (148), Marsh Wren (149), Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds (150). A Peregrine Falcon flyover made it 151 for the year. 

This path eventually took us into a more forested patch, but it never felt like we were more than 20 feet or so away from the wet open fields. The forest gave us Red-breasted and Pygmy Nuthatch, Brown Creeper (152), Townsend's Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler (153), House Wren, Wilson's Warbler (154), Golden-crowned Kinglet (155) and Pacific-slope Flycatcher (156). We listened to Lesser Goldfinches (157) calling for a good long while before realizing what we were listening to as well! We also saw and heard every Yellow-rumped Warbler on Earth, quite likely.

Holy cow we stopped a lot to listen for woodpeckers! Northern Flickers were seen and heard in small numbers, and we finally got a look at a Pileated Woodpecker flying overhead after giving some raucous calls in the distance. This was at the end of the road, at the have-a-seat bench at Willard Springs. MacGillivray's Warbler (158) and Gray Flycatcher were found at this little opening as well. 

There were just so many signs of woodpeckers that we were expecting to encounter. Signs like: 

I'd visit here if I was a woodpecker, just sayin'.

1. tapping
2. baby woodpeckers
3. woodpeckers
4. signs

But it was just quiet, even most of the way back. We did finally come across a single Hairy Woodpecker, but it just wasn't the woodpeckers-falling-off-of-every-branch experience our minds had concocted for us. 

We continued around the refuge on other roads. Most of them took us past more water, more soras, more swallows (including Barn Swallows (159) and Northern Rough-winged (160)), and the occasional Sandhill Cranes. I did finally find Northern Shovelers (161), and a heard-only window down drive by Rufous Hummingbird! (162). We knew we'd get this bird plenty of times through the weekend, so that was good enough for today. 

Regrouping

Mount Adams from the front door of the cabin

This got us to about noon. Kevin and I got back to the cabin in Trout Lake and grabbed some lunch. What did I not do? Fill out my eBird checklists. Why not?? Kevin had been putting them all up and sharing them throughout the trip. Anyone who has gone through this labor knows what a gift this was!

We sat and chatted and thought of "where next. . .?" We tried researching a little. I researched the backsides of my eyelids for a while. In the end, we thought that heading Northwest held some appeal. The general sentiment, after seeing a lot of the same birds over a several hour several mile hike is to mix it up a little. So we decided to head to Trout Lake Natural Area Preserve to try for some odd ducks, especially Barrow's Goldeneye, but maybe also Blue-winged Teal. 

It was a nice little stop! We heard yet more Soras, yet more Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a vocal, active Dusky Flycatcher. We also got a Spotted Sandpiper (163) down on a log on the water's edge. We kept going up the road, stopping mostly at clearcuts now, looking and listening for early Olive-sided Flycatchers. One fun find was a tree full of Turkey Vultures. 

We kept going. . . kept going. . . and it just felt like one of these turns was going to bring us to a sign that said we were leaving Klickitat County and entering Skamania. This never happened! We didn't realize at the time just how far it was to the Northwest corner of the county, just chalking it up to poor sign placement. 

We pulled in at the Station Cafe in Trout Lake. Kevin for a beer (they had Everybody's Brewing from White Salmon on tap) and me for Huckleberry Ice Cream. Neither of us were disappointed. 

We were the only customers at that hour of the day. We were right on the cusp of tourist season, and it had been a pretty rainy forecast (not that it had been rough for us). It's certainly a spot I'll be returning to for Huckleberry anything, honestly. 

Pizza came from Mount Adams Pizza Company - right there in the parking lot for the cabins. They did a 1000 percent veggie pizza for us, and it was well done. Pretty handy as well to be able to take the buzzer back to the cabin and get buzzed when it was ready! We spent the evening playing card games, catching up, and making plans - always always making plans!

One of those plans was to hit Panackanik Road for owls if the weather allowed. Snow was in the forecast, but we were going to at least have a peek outside and decide. And with that, we drifted off to sleep. 

Snow time like the present!

2 A.M. and 32 degrees were too early and cold respectively for Kevin, but I couldn't resist. I stepped outside and saw stars. Somehow, if there are stars above you, and the air is calm, the cold becomes much more bearable. I strolled up the major road, calling, listening, walking some more. It did start snowing - big fluffy flakes. I was shocked that I came out empty handed! Although it's past the peak calling season for owls, the habitat seemed nice enough, and I could hear for miles with the air that calm. I hung it up around 3:30 or 4:00 and flopped back in bed. No new owls, but very content with the search!

 

May 6th - County Hug

Mountain Bluebird - one of many seen around Bickleton

Quality Inn - Goldendale. Until their kitchen opens, we get inspiration

Okay, full disclosure. I birded some on Thursday, May 5th. It was late afternoon birding, so does that really count? Spending an hour wandering around Brooks Memorial State Park, listening to the wind, some Red Crossbills, and a few nuthatches. . . it just didn't feel post-worthy. Taking Box Canyon Road, a road I'd never driven before, as far as it would take me before the mud turned me around? Not interesting at all. Passing the "F^#k Jo and the Ho" sign on Box Canyon Road. . . as much as I like to dive into a county and try to understand the residents better, I gave this a pass. 

Lies, obviously. I just talked about all of it. As unsatisfying as that late afternoon foray was bird-wise, it still is a lot of the reason I come out. Exploring, trying to understand, and honestly a little bit of disappointment. You need some of it. If I go to a different place and find a lot of birds, it will mean more. If I go back down the same road at a different time of day, a different time of year, and find a lot of birds, it will mean more. 

That said, this is what "Where are all of the birds?" looks like: 

A hotel in Goldendale, eBird, and some time to scribble helped me as I sorted through the answer to that question. I was at the Quality Inn. As an editor, I sometimes want to press (Do you mean "high-quality?" because when we say "Dave is a quality guy." for example, it doesn't really specify whether he falls on the high- or low-quality end of things. . . ), but thankfully I. . . well, I have some filters in place!

I love the hotel, anyway. Their hot breakfast is not yet available. Kitchen is still closed post-COVID, so they give out a breakfast-ish/lunch-ish/snack-ish offering in white bags festooned with words of encouragement. I got "Make it happen" today. Challenge: accepted.

Map of Klickitat County. . . I wish I'd seen that it was "updated in 1977"

Meadowlarks!

I'll just get that out of the way. I had Western Meadowlarks from the moment I opened the door, and then at nearly every moment for the rest of the trip. So many meadowlarks. My first destination was Bickleton. I loaded up on coffee and hit the road. This is one of those odd situations where you don't just cross the highway. The Bickleton Highway is an overpass from Goldendale, so I had to make a U-turn here or there to get on it. 

It turned into nice habitat pretty quickly. I was interested in a day list, so things like Common Ravens, House Finches, and American Robins were instantly interesting. The landscape changed fairly frequently, so I got a nice mix as I drove. A little patch of Ponderosa Pines gave me my first Chipping Sparrows (108 for the yearlist); A little patch of farmland gave me my first Mourning Doves (109).

Western Bluebirds did become more frequent as I got closer to Bickleton, the bluebird capital!

And another nice surprise (as well as a pretty easy identification!) was a Great Egret (110) standing in a field. 

Various stops gave me looks and listens of new birds constantly, including House Wren (111), Cassin's Vireo (112), Brown-Headed Cowbird (113), both Orange-crowned (114), and Nashville (115) warblers, Western Wood-Pewee (116), and Western Kingbird (117).

Western Kingbird

The road dips down to intersect with Rock Creek Road. What a neat little intersection! From the high plains on either side, it really is a pretty deep cut. Hammond's Flycatcher (118) was found here in the thick evergreens lining the rapid creek. Lazuli Bunting (119) and Vaux's Swift (120) were two other new birds found in this little stretch. 

On the way back up and towards Bickleton, it started to get thicker with bluebirds, both Western and Mountain. A Townsend's Solitaire (121) on a low fence post provided another nice surprise. Across the road from the solitaire, there were a couple of Vesper's Sparrows (122) singing from the field. 

I decided against zooming in on this Vesper Sparrow. Enjoy the spring flowers!

Looking North from Northeast Klickitat

There were sprinkles during the morning, and often views of heavier showers on distant fields. Some of the last year birds before I got to Bickleton included Dusky Flycatcher (123), Yellow Warbler (124), and Gray Flycatcher (125), heard giving its call over and over in the distance in the scene above. 

Bickleton

I have to go back to Bickleton. In part, it's a mug thing. I took a mug from the Market Street Cafe, with the understanding that I would bring two mugs back. Never mind that this is a town that is 4 hours or more away from home. Small price for the perfect mug.

Someday. Someday I'll have one from every county and have them mounted up on a state map. Jigsaw pieces with wood for each county, and a hook to hold each of the 39 mugs. A boy can dream. 

There was a lot of "Can I help you?" in the cafe. Not the kind that you sometimes hear directed from a clerk to a suspicious person in a store. There were people from staff to locals who just seemed bent on making my stop in Bickleton a pleasant one. In addition to the mug, I had folks grabbing me silver, filling my coffee, and providing me with a bluebird map for the area. 

"Best food in town" I was told and had no reason to doubt them (although I do hope to stop at the Bluebird Inn next time I come through!). I had a chance to listen to the locals talking about the rain. "Sounds like it'll be a 5-million-dollar rain, not just a million." I overheard. (I had to check. It's a thing.)

A town that embraces its visitability

This blew my mind a little bit! I guess heavy rains in early May aren't a given and can have a massive effect on the costs for farmers. There was definitely a little bit of bubbly excitement, as well as some chuckling at the poor souls who had not yet finished planting!

I left, mug in hand, with my camera battery newly charged up. I took a look down the block at the historical museum, which included a carousel exhibit I've visited once before. It didn't take me quite so much by surprise this time, but I did make sure to peek down the road and make sure it was still there. 

Gosh The Boy had loved carousels. 

Sand Ridge Road

I continued my "hug" of the county by hitting nearly the northeastern most point in the county, finding Sand Ridge Road. This was where I had hoped to find some species that particularly enjoy sagebrush, most of which were highly coded birds (code 3, and code 4). Success! Brewer's Sparrow (126), Loggerhead Shrike (127), and Sagebrush Sparrow (128) were all found at various points along the road. I did strike out on Sage Thrasher, but hey. . . I'll be back. 

Can you find the Loggerhead Shrike?

 

A little help!

This is just one of several areas in Klickitat that has gotten more coverage from birders in recent years, so the codes on some of these birds will change from 4 (seen less than annually) to 3 (seen annually). It added a nice bit of variety for me after a morning of riparian and farm-field birding. Horned Larks and Western Meadowlarks were also pretty easy to find during this stretch. 

Sagebrush Sparrow

I continued down Sand Ridge Road and hit a few other stops on the way towards the Columbia, including a stroll up Alder Creek Road (which advertised itself as sketchy when wet), and Six Prong Road. New birds kept coming! Cliff Swallow (129), Rock Wren (130), and Lark Sparrow (131) kept the year list rising through the morning. 

Lark Sparrow perched on a fence under cloudy skies

I kept looking for Sage Thrasher all along Six Prong Road, which seemed to have plenty of sagebrush, but eventually gave up on it and descended to the Columbia on Roosevelt Grade Road. A pullout early on gave me my first Cedar Waxwings (132) of the year. 

Rock Creek Road

I had passed this road on its other end, but now caught it on the end near the Columbia. I'd been down this road a decade earlier in the middle of a week-long trip around the state, but today I just wanted a peek at the water near the slow-moving end of the creek. While I was hoping for some new ducks, all of the ducks I found were previously seen during the year - Common and Hooded Merganser, Mallards, and American Wigeon. 

An Osprey (133) on the other hand was new, as was a white blob sitting in the middle of the creek.

I stared at it for a good bit before it finally popped its head up for a second, revealing from its bill that it was an American White Pelican (134). Not a complete surprise, but this was a bird where I wasn't 100 percent sure where I'd find one. I tried for Sora and Virginia Rail and scanned the reeds one more time for Wood Ducks before continuing down the road. 

Hard to tell, but this is a Pelican

There were more stops along the Columbia: Rock Pigeon (135) flying along the Columbia in the wake of a train at Horsethief Lake. Western Tanager (136), on Lyle-Snowden Road, White-throated Swift (137) at Coyote Wall Trailhead - a tough bird for the county, but a reliable nester here. 

Cliffs that held White-throated Swifts - Coyote Wall Trail

At this point, I beelined for food at a familiar destination: Everybody's Brewing in White Salmon. I was in need of some computer time! Time spent freelance writing over time had turned into freelance reviewing and editing. I'd now landed a new position with a company. Leading projects now included all of the same work from before, along with new non-writery things. This trip to Klickitat had been planned out months before and happened to intersect with some busy new steps in training. 

Everybody's Brewing - White Salmon

Texts from my friend Kevin let me know that he would be arriving later in the evening to Trout Lake - our lodging for the night. Once I'd cleared out emails, I decided it was time to head North - finishing this big loop around the county. I made a quick stop in White Salmon at a feeder that had gotten visits from Band-tailed Pigeons. They were unavailable during my stop, but I did come across a Black-headed Grosbeak (138), as well as the owner of the feeders! Brief as it was, it's always nice to meet the birders in the counties I visit!

Up the road I went, arriving at the cabins in daylight, but letting my head hit the pillow hard for the night. 

March 20th - Grayback Mountain

Mount Adams from the Grayback Mountain Lookout

The most interesting night of camping I've had

Wow! Just wow. I could not believe how hard the wind was blowing through my campsite over the course of the evening. An early casualty was the rainfly, which came undone on one side of the tent, leaving me kind of exposed to the elements (stars, yay!). Next the stakes left the ground. Now, every time it gusted, my tent kind of folded over me. I had a (potentially warm) car not far from my tent. I just didn't see the need in the end! I was dry, thanks to the tarp, sleeping pads, and weather, I was warm, thanks to the airtight sides of the tent and my sleeping bag. It didn't press in making it hard to breathe. 

I just had to deal with the fact that my tent had become this: 

Somehow, it was not all that unbearable. I just occasionally had a laugh during some of the stronger gusts, but eventually acclimated to it, getting a lot of good sleep by the time morning rolled around.

Andimean. . . I'm usually not coy about getting up at unreasonable hours. I'm not going to say I was in all ways sad that I had to end my night in my tent/windsock. I'd been pretty wiped out and gotten to bed pretty early, so it was still dark when I started my day. 

Coffee. Oatmeal. Call for owls. Nothing. 

I was a little surprised. Part of my rationale for sleeping here, with some wet mixed forest around me, along with some openings, was that I'd likely hear some owls in the night. Northern Saw-whet would have been the most likely? Maybe? Any time you think you've got birds figured out, they can surprise you. It was, at any rate, an owl-less night of camping. 

I packed up my tent in the light of a nearly full moon, laced up my shoes and got started. 

Going up!

The hike begins in a path that is a private road, complete with "user retains the right to forbid access at any time" signage. I like it. It's a kindness to allow people to walk through your property unannounced, but there should be a healthy amount of caution layered in there. Not everyone is just hiking and birdwatching. 

Well, and actually, hold the phones: Grayback Mountain, WA – 05/01/2021 – wanderingyuncks. The leadoff to this article says that "as of March 2022, access to Grayback Mountain has been closed by the private landowners. Please respect their decision." Who knows if it will ever be returned, but it looks like I made it up just in time. 

This little stretch heads North from the camping area, then East (this part being completely undrivable, even with a tank, I'd imagine) before meeting up with Grayback Road. It would have been possible to start the hike at the gated end of Grayback Road, but it would have added miles to the hike (something I would find a way to do anyway, in the end).

I started hearing and seeing new year birds fairly early on the way up. I'd gone to bed thinking I was at 100 species for the year. Probably. Maybe. And Cassin's Finch was 101, then Mountain Chickadee was 102. Then elk brought me back to the reality of 101. 

So. . . I'll try to be as transparent as possible with my birding skills. Always. And here's just a lovely opportunity to poke a little fun. The previous evening, I'd heard a high pitched call, kind of similar to a gull: a high clear, plaintive call. The only thing that came to mind at all was a call I'd heard before from a Northern Goshawk, and it wasn't an awful place to expect one. So I went to bed thinking about this one, and leaning towards the goshawk. 

This is from the "what else could it possibly be?" perspective. And the process-of-elimination plan is a pretty good one, until you end up in a situation where "something you haven't heard before" is the actual answer. 

Elk. Bugling elk. What a cool cool sound they make and thank goodness I got to hear them! There were dozens of them crossing Grayback Road in front of me. Very fun. So where are we now? 101. 102 was a Northern Pygmy-Owl, calling in response to my whistling, and a Pileated Woodpecker made it 103. The trail was wide and easy. The landowners of course have access and there were various places where construction-grade vehicles were parked along the way.

The trail opened up at a few points, and at about half-way up, a Ruffed Grouse (104) drummed from the edge of one of these openings. Higher up, and the trees were gone, a lookout in sight above me. Purple Finch (105), and Sooty Grouse (106) were heard as I was approaching the last stretch, and Mountain Bluebird (107) was my reward for the summit itself.

The fire lookout at the top was locked tight, and a little wind kept it cool. It was neat to look North into reservation land, and West to Mount Adams, which came in and out of clouds. I'd continued to be pretty lucky with rain. 

Going down!

Down is always harder for me, although this particular hike wasn't so steep as to kill my knees. I've come to appreciate trekking poles and their ability to make my arms AND my knees hurt, rather than just my knees. Down was actually tricky navigationally. The way back in from Grayback Road towards my campsite was not a terribly obvious turn. Add to that, a pair of coyotes were pretty close to the trail for about a mile of the trip down. And. . . I know coyotes aren't exactly your normal headline (Man killed in coyote attack?) but my attention was certainly on them!

So that explains why I walked right past the turn, and a 9-mile hike became an 11.5-mile hike! I ended up coming out on Grayback Road, and needed to take it out to the pavement, walking the mile or so up the road to the dirt road that led to my campsite. This was it for me for the day! I was pretty happy with the hike, the views, and the birds. I also felt fortunate to get to see this area before it became unavailable. 

I'll tell you, generally speaking I hate doing this. Telling people about this great place to birdwatch. . . that they won't have access to! But it is simply part of the story of birding! Indian Reservations, Nuclear Reservations, treatment plants, and all sorts of private property down to someone's backyard feeder. . . there are just times where the birds we would want to see are inaccessible. (Like this place, home to some flightless birds you may never see!)

But pull out a map, and see what other mountains and hikes might get you up to the high points of Klickitat County. I know I will be.