[Alan Bauer]

<haven't posted a report here for ages...but figured why not since people get happy with the flowers coming out. And no comments about copyrights on photos since these are copies of ones I had to create before sending out on submission last night....but here are a few images from the day as well.>

What a tremendous day in the shrub-steppe lands of Central Washington. Nothing could have gone any better than what transpired today as I headed off into the lands north of the Old Vantage Highway. In case anyone is counting, I was out doing a variation of #17 in the Desert Hikes book. Although, I very rarely ever hike the same route twice even at the same location, and today again this proved true and the prime reason why desert hiking remains so adventuresome to me---I've hiked some areas >12 times, but every one is done differently.

The road in off SR 10 is rougher than ever before...no normal car likely should ever attempt to do anything but start from the highway...but I did drive in 2.5 miles before parking this time. Then out came the mountain bike and I made quick time of the first ridge stretch of the "route" that I've hiked before. I dumped the bike as the jeep track plunges down 400-500' into Rocky Coulee as here is where I wanted my hike to start. The flowers...each week it just improves and I could tell what I was witnessing was far more than what was likely here just a week ago. Many species were just blooming and with the others not quite going I'd bet the peak party will be going on in 7-14 days. But even then it will mostly be just the same species as I saw today, only more of them. The only real item I didn't see was prairie-star flower, a very early bloomer, as well as a few very early blooming desert parsley species. But oh what was adding pop to the desert landscape made up for it so well: Masses of Hooker's balsamroot and white/lavender phlox almost everywhere, Thompson's paintbrush just starting, Microsensis, salsify, sage violets, yellow bells, wild onion, death camas, and at the one location I was targeting just out of Rocky Coulee was one of the thickest concentrations of hedgehog cactus I've seen, and 25% were in bloom with the rest just waiting another week at most to go. So sweet! Usually is it a full month later I photograph the cactus in bloom...but not this year. Go early, not May, to enjoy them. I also mozied up Rocky Coulee over/around/through huge old sage and basalt rocky formations for over a mile...mule deer, meadowlarks, bluebirds, and while they are there no rattlesnakes rushed out to drag me back to their dens for breakfast. I certainly was watchful of course and hiking with hiking poles is helpful to warn of your presence before putting feet where you can't see. Returning back to the jeep track area of Rocky Coulee of other strong interest to me was an area as I climbed out of Rocky Coulee up a side-gully toward Lone Star Spring (not taking the jeep track, but instead trying to wrestle up me some rattlesnakes to photograph as well) where I passed into a forest of death camas. Holy cow, it was growing virtually everywhere! Some were 16" tall which blew me away. Through here also were areas of arrow-leaf balsamroot in bloom, and near the spring were a pair of pheasants near where winter feeding occurs in the A-frame shed structure. The male was a huge bird...surely one that has lived on through a few seasons from the upland game bird hunters that come through here. I know a few friends who will be happy to hear this fella is roaming in here still. The flowers just continued as I climbed higher, but to the beat of a different bloomer. Up here the lupines and sage violets were the rule as a few areas were purple with two species of lupines mixing it up with the carpets of phlox.

I roamed up to finally get to the eastern-most "summit" ridge highpoint of eastern Whiskey Dick Mountain, some 5+ miles from where I started by the route I took in doing a long side-venture up into the deepest parts of Rocky Coulee. At this time and not a moment sooner the wind kicked up as I just smiled knowing I had just completed 4 hours of flower photography and bird watching with non-dancing flowers. It was down right hot on my hike back through the coulee after coming down the jeep track back-way off the mountain ridge. Must have been 70+ degrees in the sheltered sunny coulee, and I was fully aware snakes were out by now. I was actually very surprised to not see any with the way I romped up the side coulee trek as well as other gully rambles vs. just hiking the jeep track. While never seeing one, I did finally hear one right off the jeep track somewhere in the area of huge old-growth sage bushes surrounded by carpets of phlox (and one area has poison ivy down in the coulee too so be careful if you go later). I never could spot the serpent as it was too well hidden, and it became silent after about 10-15 seconds. So I hiked back up the very steep jeep track way to the southern ridgeline, and eventually back to the truck. A good 10-11 mile day of only seeing an elder couple on ATVs coming around the track...flower lookers like me and we had a nice talk. They knew the land and knew just where I'd seen the cactus blooming---word of the bloom almost had them rushing at top speed to get there! Other than that, only amazing constant chorus of meadowlarks serenaded me for the entire day. A LOT of meadowlarks. Also saw a few western bluebirds and heard a few sage thrashers. Oh, and the huge herd of 14 mule deer heading up further into Rocky Coulee at 9:00am was a nice treat as well. Alan L. Bauer 04/05/05

[Dean]

Great TR and pictures Alan.  So nice to see that floral display.  That last pic of the sage violet is enough reason alone to go see em.  Its going to be 74 today in the tri cities so spring is definitely springing here.  Some nice rain the past few days should help the floral display a bit. 

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Dean - working in Utah for awhile and feeling like it is a 'paid' vacation.
http://www.summitpost.org/user_page.php?user_id=1160

[Alan Bauer]

Dean, that is exactly what happened in this region east of Ellensburg---three weeks ago things didn't look too favorable for too many flowers. The sudden heavy showers they got, even 1-2" of snow about 8 days ago, and now things are blasting out of the ground quickly. I swear more flowers were blooming as I hiked back to the truck than they were earlier in the day.....

If it stays somewhat cool I'd bet they will stick around a bit. If they go from moisture-blooming boost to suddenly a week of dry very warm weather, it might be a pretty short show.

[Newt]

Nice show Alan. Thanks for the awesome photos. Looks like things are happening fast for sure.

Newt

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Mankind wasn't given the land. Mankind was given to the land. I'm not so sure it has managed us very well.

[Snowshoe Hare]

Great photos as usual and nice detailed report Alan.  Looks like hedgehog city and love all the variety of color back there. Overcast sky and no wind is the perfect recipe for outstanding flower photography. Gotta add that area to my must-do list! Thanks!

[Alan Bauer]

Yep, flowers are happening in a hurry all of a sudden in that area anyhow. It really varies I noted...driving around by Vantage you'd be led to think only low by the river is in bloom as there is a huge area just away from the river that is empty still. But then above 1500' flowers show up like crazy again. I drove south of Vantage down Huntzinger Road too before coming home and flowers like desert parsleys and balsamroots are dominating the game there with the phlox species. These next 2-3 weeks in general would appear to be getting the best overall part of the game.

Snowshoe Hare--thanks, and you're sure right on the perfect wildflower photo conditions: high overcast with filtered sun, and no wind. Take note---the extended forecast has a lot of days just like this for the Columbia Basin. No real heavy rains, but no super bright clear days either. Perfect........ 

[kleet]

Alan,

Great trip report and, needless to say, excellent photos.  Thanks for the tip on the timing -- I was going to wait a few weeks, but I guess I better get there a lot sooner.

Also, I know you've probably answered this many times before but I am too lazy to look it up: are you using film or digital?

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...it's a topographical nightmare!
-Slugman

[salish]

Alan, what a wonderful report. Thanks. I love your reports and I always find something fascinating and almost always learn something from them. I've made two trips to the Vantage Seeps Lakes area off Exit 143 in March and hiked around the lakes and the vacinity of Frenchman Coulee. From that vantage point, looking back up at Whisky Dick, and all of the Quilomene & Colockum, you see only one or two small patches of snow. Very weird for March.  We saw lot's of flowers blooming, and lot's of upland bird tracks, many fresh, including quail, chukar and pheasant. My hiking partner's german shorthair pointer pointed a cock at one lake. I'm really glad to see these pheasant surviving the large coyote population and other predators. I suspect these are remnants of WDFW plants (at Vantage Seeps) and if they are they had to learn fast how to be a wild bird! Up to that point they were pen raised birds.  Lot's of waterfowl, too - buffleheads and mallards.  I knew two weeks ago that we were on the cusp of the time that rattlers come out, but we didn't see or hear any.
I work with a herpetologist who usually takes her students to Umptanum Canyon (the footbridge, just over the river) to find snakes, but she also tried the old Vantage Highway where it meets the river, upstream from Vantage, and instead of rattlers she found lots of scorpions and black widow spiders in the rocks. I felt so stupid, I was born and raised here and I had no idea we had black widow spiders in Washington.

Love your reports of the sagebrush country. To be in the sage in the spring and wake up to the sound of the redwing blackbirds as you sip your morning coffee is truly living the good life.

Regards,
Cliff

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Our songs come from those mountains. Our dreams, our hopes are taken there in the hope that we will get guidance and support from wilderness.
—Tony Incashola, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes

[MtnGoat]

The road up Rocky makes the MFK look like a picnic. Rocky is an understatement, I never bottomed out but shook the splash pan right off my 4 Runner. Rock after rock after rock, Colockum region is the king of rocky roads, right up there with the Umtanum summit road (which shook one side of my brush guard off).

Fantastic flower pics! thanks for the great desktop!

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"Civilization is the process of setting man free from men."
- Ayn Rand

[Alan Bauer]

Cliff---I was thinking exactly of you when I though of people I knew who would enjoy hearing of the pheasent sighting. The only male pheasent that I have seen larger than the one I saw this week was in the far most upper Umtanum Creek Canyon area above Umtanum Falls last November. This actually was the first one I have seen in the Quilomene---I usually see a lot of quail and chukar in there however. I normally wouldn't have thought a lot of rattlesnakes but it is so dry in there and I already knew of people who saw them WAY back on March 7th believe it or not, and that was around Wenas Lake when it was pretty cold still. Amazing.

But then again we need to remember: Birds don't read bird guides, and rattlesnakes don't watch the calendar. That's what surprises in nature are for! 

Kleet--those images were all digital this time around. I've shot so much on slide film in that region I only packed the DSLR this time, which I am doing more and more for days out like this. Normally I do take both however. You just need to temporarily ignore the thought of ticks around you when you lay down to photograph a flower out there   

MtnGoat--you've got to be starting to see stuff flowering down your way by now too. Outside of Lyle/Klickitat I saw a huge early area of grass widow carpeting a slope along the canyon road there a couple years ago. I need to PM you and see if you know a WDFW biologist named Bill Weiler who lives in Lyle....his latest book has my photos on front/back and he really is a very kind gentleman.

I'm glad some of you enjoyed the flowers as much as I did photographing them. I have photos of 3 that I need yet to ID....and I didn't want to dump 25 different flower photos here and bore you all to death.

[Karen]

After reading all these reports of this area, I couldn't wait any longer so a pal and I went over to Whiskey Dick Area this morning (our first visit). Better hikers than drivers we parked near the highway and hiked the road east (per Alan's report) until we got to the first viewpoint. We really wanted to go up to the high point of Whiskey Dick so after we got to the first viewpoint (per Alan's map in the desert book), we dropped off the road and hiked cross country to the low point. Talk about serendipity -- we soon as we left the road we stumbled across hedgehog cactus in bloom -- lots of them, in various stages of growth. This was the first time I've ever seen them in bloom and they were even lovelier than I had imagined. We spent quite a bit of time there before climbing out of valley again and climbing to the ridge that leads to Whiskey Dick.

Also saw lots of other flowers, many of the flowers that Alan has already mentioned and a couple I need to look up in my field guide. We still were hell bent to get to the high point of Whiskey Dick but the wind was very strong and we had it in our face the whole way. I believe it was the longest time I've ever been out in a screaming, in-your-face wind. My parka was rattling like a rattlesnake and it was hard to hear each other talk. There was no one else out and about except a endomorphic family on mountain bikes. Hard to take pictures of the flowers except the hedgehogs (they hold still in a stiff wind). Hiking into the wind was one of the most difficult things we've contended with -- it made a moderately strenuous hike very strenuous. The wind almost knocked me down on the high point so after taking a photo or two I let the wind carry me back to where my pal was waiting, a little below. Does anyone know what the wind gusts were in that region today (April 9)? From there we left the road and hiked back to the car, mostly cross-country and finding many more flowers along the way.

I have no idea how far we hiked or how much elevation we gained. It didn't matter. It was a great hike and the flowers are well worth the long drive.

By the way if you have a sweet tooth, the frosted brownies at the Blue Grouse near Ellensburg are to die for.

Karen

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stay together, learn the flowers, go light - from Turtle Island, Gary Snyder

[Quark]

Great that you got out there!

I think the wind always blows on Whiskey Dick.  My freind Bob and I had to hold onto each other to keep from blowing away, last time I was up there.

Right before the cacti bloom, they look like the purple and green anenomes the cover the rocks on the coast.  Funny how something in the desert can remind you of something on the dripping coast (seems there oughta be something profound in that, but I don't know what it is. I'll have to think about it awhile).

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"The next couple of miles smelt like burnt turkey and kept reminding me of thanksgivings with my ex-wife. "

chris-mbhc, NWHiker's Bulwer-Lytton contestant for 2011

[Karen]

Quark, how funny and odd that you had the same thought that I did about the hedgehog cactus before they flower. They DO look like anemones in the tide-pools, I had the very same thought!!

Karen

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stay together, learn the flowers, go light - from Turtle Island, Gary Snyder

[Snowshoe Hare]

FYI, here's the nearest weather report to the Whiskey Dick area today I could find:
http://newweb.wrh.noaa.gov/pdt/common/displayTextObs.php?sid=ELN&num=24

A little breezy in the region today.

[Karen]

Snowshoe Hare, I'm not that proficient at deciphering military time or PDT. Am I understanding this correctly? For April 9 (Saturday) the windiest times were at 13:30 and 15:50 (gusts at 33-40 mph, wind speed 31  mph to 34 mph). Is that correct? Would 13:30 be about 1:30 in the afternoon and 15:50 about 3:30?

Am I right? I just know it was darn windy yesterday!

Thanks,

Karen

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stay together, learn the flowers, go light - from Turtle Island, Gary Snyder