[Ulrich]

What a spectacle to see groups of elks coming down out of the hills to join hundreds in the feeding area

[Dslayer]

It is truly that-I admit to having becoming a bit blase about it living about 20 minutes from it. I hope you had a chance to visit the sheep feeding station on Clemans Mtn. It's funny how many elk aren't getting fed-I ran into a small bunch of cows up in the Tieton Basin today plus there's been about 300-400 animals grazing the S.Umptanum for the past two months.

[salish]

UlrichF, I've been hanging out at Oak Creek for about three years now, as well as the Umtanum and L.T. Murray, they're wonderful places and the first huge herd of elk I saw really made me catch my breath. I envy Dslayer for living in the area. The only place I haven't been yet is the Mt. Clemons area, but I'll be there later this year. Be careful of snakes in the early season, though. Cliff

[Ulrich]

To Dslayer and Salish: This was our first trip to this wonderful area. We have all intentions to come back. Due to lack of time we didn't get to see some of the other wildlife areas mentioned by Dslayer.

[Alan Bauer]

As many know the area east of the Cascades are my prime haunts all winter and spring and I'm happy to see some more of your mention these treasures. All along the eastern slopes of the Cascades at this transistion line that goes from pine to steppe lands are vaulable areas similar to these mentioned, so don't rule out the wonders of the Swakane, Entiat, and Methow Wildlife Areas, nor areas around Chelan Butte. Of course I head to areas out in the vast Columbia Basin much of the time and there you have a whole new world of other wildlife to witness. Wildlife sightings pale in comparison as a rule for me in the core of the alpine mountains vs. the shrub steppe. Now that you've seen these critters up close, it is fun to see them later in the spring as they roam away from the core areas, or in the fall when they are coming low again. Areas on Manastash Ridge up Shell Rock Road I've always seen elk in April. Robinson Canyon is alive with them each fall (you can't get up there until May as they close access unfortunatly until then to leave them alone for them to move on out....not sure I agree with this fully, but that is a long story.) It may be too late now, but bighorn sheep are almost always found along the Yakima River in the Yakima River Canyon in Dec-Feb, as well as any winter hike up Umtanum Creek or the highlands of Umtanum Ridge accessed via Durr Road regions. The list goes on!

[Ulrich]

Thanks Alan for your input. I've always read your enthusiastic reports fron these areas in Central Washington with great interest.

[Dslayer]

If you're interested in seeing big game animals all year round-Clemans Mtn is pretty good--the bighorns are there all the time-but they're way up the hillside from the feed station. The permit only hunting for deer and branch antlered restrictions for elk have really helped those populations, too. You need a pretty solid 4WD to get up there-roads are pretty rough. Really awesome view from up there, too....and...if you're a fly fisherman, the little mudhole on the S side called Mud Lake appropriately has fish that grow prodigiously as long as they don't summer/winter kill.

[Alan Bauer]

Dslayer---I love the Mud Lake area and use it as a staging area to head up Clemen Mtn in all directions. Straight up, or loop toward the SE first and head over and down Pine Canyon a ways...too bad there is the one area of private land just before hitting the Hardy Canyon area or this could be really neat. But cross country it on over to Hardy Canyon and back on up and over. Question: is the access to Mud Lake drivable this time of year or is that a messy road in winter/thaw times? I've only been in April-June and in October. Nice spring rattlers in the lake region if I recall too