Local elk season ends Sunday

YAKIMA, Wash. — Elk hunters in the true-spike-only elk season currently going on in the Yakima-area game management units 328 (Naneum), 329 (Quilomene), 334 (Ellensburg) and 335 (Teanaway) will only be hunting through this Sunday, not Nov. 15.

A story in Tuesday’s Outdoors section gave the wrong season end date. The season ends Nov. 8, as stated in the state’s big-game hunting rules pamphlet.

Hunter safety starts early

YAKIMA, Wash. — At 4-foot-6 and 68 pounds, Faith Torres doesn’t look like your typical hunter, but she has earned the right to be one. In fact, the 75-question written portion of the state’s hunter education course was a breeze.

She answered just one question wrong.

“The one I missed, it asked if you could stand up in a boat and take a shot, would that be legal,” Faith explained. “I thought it was illegal, but it wasn’t illegal. It was just … stupid.”

She giggled then, like the 9-year-old fourth-grader she is — albeit one who is fully qualified to be a hunter. For that matter, so is her little sister, 8-year-old Sophie, as well as brothers Jordan, 14, and Ryker, 11.

The Torres quartet of Yakima took the week-long hunter education course in early  September — Jordan for the second time just as a refresher — and all passed easily. And if their young ages surprise you, well, you’ve never been to a hunter education class.

“In some classes, I get all young kids, and in some classes I get adults,” said Byron Kent, who taught the class attended by the Torres kids. “The students have stayed pretty much the same age over the years — they get to 9, 10, 12, that range. In some classes, I get parents or kids who will never hunt, but they do it for the firearm safety.”

The Torres kids, though, come from a hunting family, and they’re accustomed to eating game brought home by their dad, Eric Torres, a Yakima construction contractor. Both Jordan and Ryker had gone out as learners and observers on multiple trips with their dad before they ever hefted a gun.

Jordan took hunter education at 9 and is a regular hunter now, Ryker’s early Christmas present this year was his first hunting rifle and when Faith’s birthday was coming up last May, one of the gifts she really wanted was to be enrolled in hunter-ed.

“As for Sophie, she’s just kind of game for anything and everything,” Eric Torres said. “It was one of those things where I included her in the class and didn’t really hold out an expectation either way. I didn’t know if it would capture her interest and if she would fully comprehend all the material, comprehend all the material, but she just totally took to it, paid attention, passed the written exam, did the field work. I was really pleased.”

The field test, though, was tough on the girls — particularly the shooting part.

“The recoil,” Faith said, her eyes wide at the memory. “It was so much.”

“It almost knocked me over,” Sophie added. “My arms were so sore. It knocked my ear thingies out.”

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Hunter education is a serious undertaking in Washington; all hunters born after Jan. 1, 1972, have to pass the course in order to get a hunting license. The class calls for four 4-hour evening classes, typically Monday through Thursday. That’s followed by a five-hours-or-more field test on Saturday in which students must demonstrate weapon handling and carrying safety. They must know not only how to load and unload a gun but when that’s necessary, and be able to fire at targets or clay pigeons without difficulty.

And even if a student aces the written test, the instructors — all of whom are volunteers, not even paid for their mileage — have plenty of latitude when it comes to the field test.

“If I do not feel that student is going to be safe walking behind me with a loaded firearm,” Kent said, “he’s not going to pass my course.”

Kent has a deeply personal reason for having been a devoted hunter-ed instructor for 15 years. Two of his boyhood buddies died as the result of gun accidents. And any student not taking his class seriously, especially when it comes to firearm safety, is going to have a very difficult time getting certified.

“The academic part is pretty simple,” Kent said. “Where I have failures is when I get out on the range. If they get to playing with the guns, horseplay, if they can’t load and unload safely or maintain muzzle control, if they can’t control themselves … I tell the parents (to) bring them back next year. They’ll be a little more mature then and can understand.”

Maturity was never a concern when it came to the Torres kids, who, Kent noted, “were very focused.”

Even Jordan, at 14 already an experienced hunter, got something out of his second time through the course.

“You definitely forget some of the little teeny things you learned the first time,” he said.

Jordan’s first experience as a rifle-carrying hunter came that fall after his first time through the class. In retrospect, he says, he hadn’t been quite ready to maintain the stealth and patience necessary to be a successful hunter.

“I was all jittery and nervous and couldn’t stay quiet,” Jordan admitted.

The next year, though, he took a buck and remembers well the rush of adrenaline when his first shot put the deer down.

“Volcanic,” he said. “My hands were like this” — he shook his hands like branches quaking in a strong wind — “or at least they were after, when (the deer) was on the ground. That’s when it started to kick in: ‘Wow, I just shot a buck.’”

Ryker didn’t have the same kind of success when he went on his first official deer hunt this fall with his dad, but he knows his time will come. It may be a while, though, before either of the Torres girls goes hunting.

“Maybe I could go,” Faith said, “but I don’t really want to go because that gun really makes me sore.”

Sophie had another reason altogether for being in no hurry.

“I don’t like being quiet that much.”

Elk season has arrived — which means it’s time to leave the state

YAKIMA, Wash. — The general elk hunting season opened on Saturday. Luckily, I won’t have to go elk hunting this year. I have drawn a deer-hunting tag for Colorado for this week and fortunately for me, while thousands of hunters from around the state descend on the Cascades west of Yakima, I will be 1,000 miles away.

It is hard to put a finger on what has soured me on elk hunting over the years, but of all the hunting seasons that pop up during the fall, the elk hunting season is one I really dread. Yes, I would love to put some tasty elk meat in the freezer, but I look forward to the actual hunt about as much as preparing for a colonoscopy.

I think back on all of my past elk hunts and unfortunately, very few are remembered with much fondness.

From the time I was a kid, elk hunting with my dad — and facing the snow, cold, rain, wind and lack of elk — to the recent trips where I’ve been literally overrun by orange-clad nimrods with no hunting manners or sense, it has tarnished the experience for me.

Like the time hunting partner Doug Jewett and I were elk hunting up in the Gold Creek area. We were sitting in his rig waiting for legal hunting hours, when four guys rolled up next to us and piled out of their truck, right into the section of woods we were planning to hunt.

Yes, it was a public area, open to hunting for everyone, but all common sense and hunting ethics say you don’t go barreling out into an area someone else is about to hunt.

Elk hunting seems to bring out all kinds.

Of course the classic was the time the two guys moved in on a ridge where I was sitting and glassing and sat down right next to me, because they had set up green plastic chairs to reserve “their spot.” I had been there since first light, but that made no difference to these dolts. Because they had put their chairs there at some point earlier in the season, and because they had hunted there before, they believed it was “their” spot.

It didn’t bother them one bit that they moved right in where I was already set up. They sat in their chairs, not 20 yards from me, and weren’t moving.

After an hour or so I got tired of looking over and having them grinning at me like a couple of simpletons, so I moved. Who knows what would have happened if an elk had wandered through.

To say the least, elk hunting is extremely popular. And when you have basically two regions of the state where the majority of the elk live, you are going to get large concentrations of hunters. And when you get large concentrations of hunters, you get quite a mix of those who are experienced and inexperienced.

For me, part of the joy of hunting is getting away from people, and being out in the wilds by myself. Unless you have horses, or are willing to do some serious backpacking into the wilderness, that is just not going to happen much during elk season.

I can’t tell you how many times I have hiked my way during the early morning darkness to a spot I wanted to hunt, only to start seeing orange figures all around me when it got light enough to see. It’s very frustrating. But that is elk hunting.

I know much of the appeal of elk season to many hunters is not so much the actual hunting, but the camaraderie and fellowship that comes in building a big camp and participating in the tradition of it all. I totally understand that. I enjoy that, too. But I also enjoy the hunting part. Or, at least, I try to enjoy it. During a typical elk season, however, it’s tough.

The rest of the elk hunting world could probably care less, but this week there is one less hunter working the hills above Rimrock Lake looking for an elk. One less hunter overlooking that saddle. One less hunter sitting on that rock. Once less hunter to try to avoid.

I won’t be among the throngs of people who are scouring the woods today, tomorrow and the rest of the week looking for an elk, and honestly, I’m not too broken up about that.
• Rob Phillips is a freelance outdoor writer and partner in the advertising firm of Smith, Phillips & DiPietro. He can be reached at rwphillips@spdadvertising.com.

WIldlife Moment: Keep an eye out for diving ducks

The ring-necked duck is truly misnamed.

Do you see any ring on this bird’s neck? Nope. There is a ring on its bill, though. Why not ring-billed duck?

Well, back in the 1800s before the advent of birding with binoculars, science progressed alongside the barrel of a shotgun. In hand, early scientists noticed a chestnut band ringing this duck’s neck, thus its name.

This species is a diving duck — as opposed to a dabbler, such as mallards and pintails, which do not normally dive for food. Ring-necked ducks habitually dive for food and are related to other diving ducks such as scaup (“bluebills” to the hunter).

WHERE AND WHEN: Look for this bird from November through March on any pond in the Yakima area, especially those rimmed by trees. The various ponds along the Yakima Greenway or arboretum are likely spots. Most migrate to north to Canada to nest come spring; only a few nest on nearby mountain lakes. Clear and Leech Lakes along the White Pass Highway are known local nesting areas.

A pair of ring-necked ducks relax on a small pond southwest of the Yakima Air Terminal on a recent afternoon. (Photo courtesy of DENNY GRANSTRAND)

HOW TO SPOT ONE: Males of this species are very distinctive with their jet-black backs and white, peaked head and white vertical mark at the waterline. Females are tougher to distinguish from redhead females, another diving duck.

CHOW TIME: This duck makes frequent shallow dives, using its big feet for propulsion to swim to the pond bottom, where it can snip at aquatic plants and their seeds. They go for pondweeds, sedges, smartweeds, grasses and algae. In the warm months, this duck relishes water insects. Bugs are especially sought by the ducklings; they grow quickest on a diet rich in protein.

SOCIAL LIFE: Pair bonding takes place in the winter. The male performs odd courtship rituals that include laying his head far backward, then thrusting it forward in a spastic motion. If this doesn’t get the hen’s attention, he will swim alongside her, nodding his head rapidly. Evidently, what looks nerdy to humans really gets female ring-necks scooting.

The nest is near the water’s edge — perhaps on a dry hummock — and is a shallow bowl of grasses and sedges, lined with lots of down (a habit shared by the eider ducks in the Arctic). The hen lays 7 to 12 eggs. The eggs are incubated by the hen for 25 to 29 days. Once the ducklings hatch, the female leads her brood to the water within a day or so. If danger appears, the female and brood hide in dense marsh vegetation rather than on open water like many ducks. The ducklings find their own food and can fly about 50 days after hatching.

WHAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW: The tufted duck is closely related to the ring-necked duck that occurs all across Europe and Asia. There it is very common in many city parks. A tiny number of tufted ducks fly the wrong way on their southbound autumn migration and find their way to North America. Birders eagerly scan flocks of ring-necked ducks and scaup in the North America hoping to spot this rare visitor. The male is distinctive on account of its bright white sides (rather than gray as in the ring-necked) and also its distinctive tuft, a duck having a “bad hair” day.
• Wildlife Moment, focusing on native wildlife, typically runs in Outdoors on the first Tuesday of every month, with the cooperation of the Yakima Valley Audubon Society.

Conditions are favorable for start of elk season

YAKIMA, Wash. — The elk season got under way Saturday in Eastern Washington,which meant about 18,000 elk hunters trying to fill a tag in the Yakima herd and another 4,000 hunters focusing on the Colockum herd.

On the west side of the Cascades, hunters will have to wait until this coming Saturday. But in both areas, weather seems to be cooperating.

“We’ve already gotten significant snow in the high parts of the Cascades, so deer and elk will start to filter down closer to the roads and the hunting corridors,” Ted Clausing, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s regional wildlife program manager, said prior to Saturday’s opener. Noting the recent rainy weather, he added, “It’s snow more than rain (in the mountains) on this side.

“You’ve got that, and on the west side you have the fog and the rainy days that also make (the elk) stay out in the open a little longer. The visibility’s down, so they’re not feeling as exposed.”

Elk hunters in the Colockum will be working under different rules this year, with that area having gone to “true spike bull” regulation for game management units 328 (Naneum), 329 (Quilomene), 334 (Ellensburg) and 335 (Teanaway).

A true spike bull is one in which neither antler has any branches coming out more than four inches above the skull. For hunters in the Yakima GMUs, a spike bull can still be legal to take if it’s a one-by-two or even a one-by-three, provided that one antler is unbranched.

Why the change?

“In the Colockum, they have better antler development,” Clausing said. “We don’t know if it’s genetics or nutrition; they have a pretty big expanse of winter range that we don’t have down here, and they have a pattern of developing better antlers earlier. We’ve determined that about 15 percent of the yearlings have branching on one side or the other.”

And because most of the yearling bulls in the Colockum GMUs were being harvested during the general elk season, district wildlife biologist Jeff Bernatowicz said, “The low recruitment has left the Colockum herd well below bull escapement objectives.”

With the estimated 15 percent of those yearling bulls now off the hunting market, Clausing said the number of hunters in that area may drop somewhat — though not likely too much. This region’s elk hunters are a serious bunch, and the typical Yakima elk herd hunter is out there for five or six days, making for more than 100,000 hours of hunter effort.

The season in the local GMUs will end Nov. 15. Anyone recreating on upland trails in this part of the state between now and then should make a point of wearing either hunter orange or some other bright color that could not possibly be confused with an animal.

11/03 What’s Happening

Columbia fisheries need public input

The future of Columbia River white sturgeon and spring chinook salmon fisheries will be the focus of two meetings over the next week, with fishery managers seeking public input on the process.

The two meetings will be sponsored by the fish and wildlife agencies in both Washington and Oregon, and each is set for 6 to 9 p.m. The meeting hosted by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife will be held Thursday at the Water Resource Education Center in Vancouver (4600 SE Columbia Way), while Oregon’s meeting will be next Tuesday in Astoria (The Loft at the Red Building, 20 Basin St.).

Final decisions on the fisheries, including catch guidelines for sport and commercial fisheries, are expected early next year. But fishery managers say new catch guidelines for sturgeon will likely reflect recent declines in the lower Columbia River sturgeon population. For spring chinook fisheries, new catch guidelines must account for a recent agreement to allow enough fish to pass upriver to meet treaty obligations.

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Parks brew support for Cle Elum depot

Washington State Parks is hoping public interest in the future rehabilitation of the historic Milwaukee Road Substation No. 24, part of the South Cle Elum Historic Rail Yard Depot, will lead to a new “friends” group to spearhead that rehabilitation project.

Toward that end, State Parks staffers are hosting an introductory meeting this Saturday at 2 p.m. in the South Cle Elum depot to drum up support for such a plan.

Anyone with questions can e-mail the parks interpretive specialist, Maurya Broadsword, at lake.easton.interpretive@parks.wa.gov or call 509-656-2586.

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Steelies to be caught in Hanford Reach

Although the steelhead and salmon sport fishery above the wooden powerline towers in the Hanford Reach is closed, anglers have another six months to fish for steelies below the powerline towers. Last week, Ringold bank anglers averaged one steelhead for 6.6 hours of fishing and boat anglers averaged one steelhead for 4.8 pole hours, or 2.5 steelhead per boat, according to WDFW fish biologist Paul Hoffarth.

Of the estimated 1,509 steelhead caught through Oct. 25 between the Highway 395 bridge at Pasco and the wooden powerline towers, 982 were hatchery steelhead that were harvested, while 344 wild steelhead were caught and released. The three-hatchery steelhead limit in the Hanford Reach reverted Sunday to a limit of two.

What’s working for those anglers? “Trolling lighted Brad’s Wiggler plugs work at night, and using dyed shrimp with purple/pink/black jigs in various combinations under a float work day or night,” said WDFW regional habitat program manager Perry Harvester. “Plugs and spinners can work during the day as well, but appear less effective than lighted plugs at night. In areas with faster moving water, drifted eggs or shrimp work, too.”

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BIRD ALERT

A windy day didn’t stop one intrepid birder from trying his luck at Sarg Hubbard Park. The most noteworthy birds there were a calling Virginia rail, over 50 cedar waxwings and a pair of Canada geese with numbered neck collars.

It was a cool, pleasant day for the Yakima Valley Audubon Society’s Wednesday morning walk along the southern end of the Yakima Greenway. The group noted an unusual feeding strategy at the pond just north of the parking lot, where wood ducks were launching from the water’s surface and snatching clusters of Russian Olive fruits with their bills. Also of note was a Townsend’s solitaire perched at the very tip of a still green deciduous tree. They also had a fleeting look at a merlin, two sharp-shinned hawks and a western grebe.

A run up to Bethel Ridge, searching again for woodpeckers, provided a local birder with good views of white-headed woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, black-backed woodpecker and American three-toed woodpeckers.

A trip to Sorenson Pond near Ellensburg, to see if the winter birds are arriving, paid off big with a juvenile snow goose feeding in the grass around the banks of the pond. There was also a little flotilla of bufflehead, a few western grebe and a pair of ring-necked ducks.

Please call your bird sightings in to the Yakima Valley Audubon phone line at 509-248-1963

— Kerry L. Turley

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AROUND AND ABOUT

STURGEON MEETING: A discussion of proposed fishing rule changes for sturgeon populations in the McNary and John Day reservoirs will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 12 in the conference room near the visitor center at McNary Dam. The meeting will include discussions of new sturgeon rule changes that reduce the number of months in which sturgeon can be harvested and establish new sanctuary (no-fishing) areas below Ice Harbor and Priest Rapids dams; and options for lengthening the sturgeon sport fishing season in the John Day Reservoir.

PHEASANT RELEASE: Pheasant hunters, whose Eastern Washington season runs Oct. 24 through Jan. 18, should remember that the Millerguard release site for game-farm-raised rooster release has moved to the Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area. WDFW wildlife biologist Jeff Bernatowicz noted that target shooting “became a safety problem at Millerguard.” To get to the new Whiskey Dick pheasant release site near Whiskey Dick Mountain, take Interstate 90 exit 115, go north 1.2 miles through Kittitas and turn right on Patrick Avenue; after less than a quarter-mile, turn left on No. 81 Road, go one mile to Vantage Highway, then turn right and travel 6.6 miles to an unmarked gravel road entrance.

FREE DAY FOR VETS: Military veterans (or active members) and their families can visit Mount Rainier National Park without having to pay entrance fees on Wednesday, Nov. 11, as part of the Department of the Interior offers “Fee Free Day” in honor of veterans’ service.

The Longmire Museum and National Park Inn will be open, as will the road to Paradise (weather permitting), though the Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center won’t be open.

CLAM DIGS: A razor-clam dig is scheduled this Wednesday through Saturday at Twin Harbors and Wednesday, Friday and Saturday only at Long Beach. Digging is noon-to-midnight only, with the limit being the first 15 clams you dig up. Another clam dig is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 14-17, subject to the results of marine toxin tests.

PLYMOUTH RAMP CLOSING: The Plymouth Park boat ramp — near the Umatilla Bridge west of McNary Lock and Dam — will close at 6 a.m. today and reopen Friday morning. The closure is for the paving of the parking lots and roads at the recreation area. The day-use area closed at the end of September.

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ON THE CALENDAR

TODAY: The Cascadians’ weekly Tuesday trekkers will meet at 8 a.m. at the 40th Avenue Bi-Mart parking lot, where the trip leader will announce this week’s outing — which will almost certainly be a hike, since there doesn’t seem to be enough snow for cross-country skiing or snowshoeing just yet. Bring along warm clothes, plenty of water and a bag lunch.

WEDNESDAY: The Yakima Valley Audubon will host a bird walk of the Poppoff Trail, off at the south end of the Greenway. The group will meet at 8 a.m. at the east end of Valley Mall Boulevard, where the Greenway takes off.

THURSDAY: The Cascadians’ Pokies will hike at Snow Mountain Ranch. For meeting time and place, call Jeanne Crawford at 966-8608.
NOV. 14: A birding trip to the McNary National Wildlife Refuge and other birding destinations in the Tri-Cities will be the plan for a Yakima Valley Audubon outing. Participants should call trip leader Bill (965-5808) so he can have a head count, then meet the group at the Valley Mall parking lot just west of the IHOP at 7:30 a.m.

Smells tend to trigger memories of youth

Of all our senses, smell may evoke the most vivid memories. At least, for me it does. Every now and then I’ll get the whiff of something that takes me back in time. Sometimes way back.

For instance, once in a while I will catch the aroma of a shrub that was planted around the grade school I attended, and just like that, I can remember showing up to the first day of school and smelling the distinctive odor of the plant, signaling the beginning of yet another long year of school.

Even though I haven’t smelled some smells in years, and may never smell them again, I can still remember other aromas from my youth.

To this day I remember how my grandparents’ house smelled.  My family and I would arrive there on a Sunday afternoon for dinner, and even had I been blindfolded, I would have known I was there the second I walked in the door. The aroma is not one I can describe, but I know exactly how it smelled. It was definitely a good smell. A homey smell. An inviting smell.

I started thinking about this whole “aromas triggering long-ago memories” thing when I pulled out my shotgun cleaning supplies the other day. The second I opened the bottle of Hoppes 9 gun-cleaning solution, I was whisked back to 1968.

I was immediately back as a 12-year-old kid in the living room of my folks’ house, sitting on the floor, newspapers spread around, with my brand new 16-gauge single shot shotgun sitting on my lap.

It was pretty much a Saturday night ritual at our house during the fall. After a morning or afternoon hunt, my dad and I would break out the old rags, the old metal gun cleaning rod, a few brushes and the Hoppes 9, and we’d clean our shotguns.

Usually, after cleaning our birds, and having dinner, Dad would get a roaring fire going in the fireplace and we’d bring out the supplies and go to work. If I remember correctly, we cleaned our shotguns way more than we cleaned birds.

Dad would clean his Winchester Model 12 pump gun and I would work on my Stevens 16-gauge. The goal, of course, was to get all the powder residue out of the barrel and make sure the bore, the breach, the stock and the rest of the gun were clean and protected.

I always took the job seriously, because I wanted my shotgun to last. It had cost $20 of my hard-earned money to pay for my half of the new gun. Luckily, Dad paid the other half.

After cleaning the shotguns, we would almost always make up some popcorn. (No microwaves in those days. We made it in a pan with some oil, or maybe if we were really high-tech, some Jiffy Pop). We’d cut a couple of apples into slices and have a soda. Saturday night was the only night the Phillips kids were allowed soda.

Afterwards, if the boots were dry, we would brush them off and apply boot grease to the leather in an effort to keep them pliable and somewhat waterproof. I can’t remember the name of the grease, but I can still see the blue canister the sticky stuff came in. I also can’t remember how well the grease worked, but my guess is it was better than nothing. I don’t recall too many days of wet feet, so it must have helped some.

I can remember what that grease smelled like. It wasn’t a pleasant odor. Or, at least, I didn’t think it was. I wasn’t fond of sticking my fingers in the goop, I remember that. But I did it anyway.

I wonder sometimes why my mom didn’t kick us out to the garage for our semi-regular gun-cleaning, boot-greasing, popcorn-eating sessions. I’m glad she didn’t. The fire always felt good, and the whole ritual was just another fun part of our Saturday bird hunts each autumn.

There are other scents, too, that can take me back. The unique smell of wet Labrador retriever always makes me think about the times I rode in the back of the old Toyota Landcruiser with one dog or another nuzzling me for a scratch behind its ears as we headed home after a morning of duck hunting. And the aroma of freshly fired gunpowder will often bring back some great memories from deer hunts of long ago.

It is funny how one small scent will trigger such memories. Getting a whiff of Hoppes 9 always does it for me. I’m thankful having such great memories of those fall traditions, and for my Dad, who helped make so many of them happen.
• Rob Phillips is a freelance outdoor writer and partner in the advertising firm of Smith, Phillips & DiPietro. He can be reached at rwphillips@spdadvertising.com.

10-27 What’s Happening

Stehekin bill passes House; Senate next

A bill that would allow for moving and rebuilding the upper Stehekin Valley Road that winds into and through the North Cascades National Park passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday. The legislation, introduced by Congressman Doc Hastings, R-Pasco, now moves on to the Senate for consideration.

The issue arose after flooding in the Stehekin River wiped out the road that paralleled the river. Community leaders suggested reverting traffic to the original road, which had been built above the floodplain, but Park Service authorities said the wording of the 1988 Washington Park Wilderness Act wouldn’t allow that.

Hastings’ bill, should it become law, would allow for the moving of the road within the Stephen Mather Wilderness without any net gain or loss of Wilderness — and put it above the floodplain, where the pioneering settlers built it in the first place.

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Snow Mountain hikes slated for Saturday

The Cowiche Canyon Conservancy has scheduled a series of guided hikes for this Saturday on the nonprofit group’s Snow Mountain Ranch property, to help introduce the public to Snow Mountain with its fall colors on display.

Four hikes of varying lengths will leave at 10 a.m. from the Snow Mountain Ranch parking area off Cowiche Mill Road. Hikers can choose the strenuous five-hour round-trip climb of Cowiche Mountain to an easy one-hour walk along Cowiche Creek. Shorter hikes will also take off from the parking lot at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. Participants should bring drinking water and, if desired, a pack lunch.

For more information about the hikes, Snow Mountain Ranch or the conservancy, go online to www.cowichecanyon.org.

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Bird Alert

A quick trip to a receding Rimrock Lake searching for gulls proved fairly productive for a pair of Yakima birders as they were able to spot several gull species including ring-billed gull, California gull, and herring gull. They also noted a western grebe and both hooded and common merganser.

There was a total of 35 species noted on a nice walk along the south end of the Greenway including a western grebe which was observed on the pond south of the Poppoff trail parking lot, a greater yellowlegs on the Yakima River, a Cooper’s hawk and on a nearby snag, two handsome adult bald eagles.

Despite the bleak skies one local birder headed for the upper Bethel Ridge burn found about six miles up Bethel Ridge Road. His efforts were rewarded with good looks at hairy woodpecker, black-backed woodpecker, Steller’s jay, Clark’s nutcracker, common raven and dark-eyed junco.

A Yakima resident near 51st and Englewood noted an Anna’s hummingbird, a yard full of red-breasted nuthatches, some cedar waxwings gorging themselves on the berries along his hedge and a noisy pair of western scrub jays.

Please call your bird sightings into the Yakima Valley Audubon phone line at 509-248-1963

— Kerry L. Turley

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AROUND AND ABOUT

VANDALISM AT JUNIPER DUNES: After the Bureau of Land Management placed four temporary toilets for use by visitors at the Juniper Dunes Off-Road Vehicle Area, the “two-percenters” — the tiny minority whose skewed idea of fun tends to ruin things for everybody else — went to work. Somebody shot two of the units full of holes, causing extensive damage. That prompted the BLM to removal all of the toilets to avoid further costs associated with replacement; the agency now doesn’t plan to return toilets to Juniper Dunes. If you have any information on who shot up the toilets, call the BLM enforcement folks at 509-536-1224.

COMMISSION AGENDA: The adoption of a hatchery and fishery reform policy will be a primary agenda item for the Washington Fish and Wildlife Committee’s Nov. 6-7 public meeting at the Natural Resources Building in Olympia. The commission will also receive briefings on more than 100 proposed rule changes affecting freshwater and saltwater sport fisheries throughout the state.

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ON THE CALENDAR

TUESDAY: The Cascadians’ Tuesday group plans to hike to Iron Peak at the north end of the Teanaway, just south of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. The “Tuesdays” will continue to do hikes until weather constitutes a change to cross-country ski and snowshoe treks. The group meets at the 40th Avenue Bi-Mart at 8 a.m. and carpools from there.

THURSDAY: The Cascadians’ Pokies will do their traditional “Umtanum Canyon Halloween Hike.” For meeting time and place, call Grace Anderson at 966-3934.

SATURDAY: The Cascadians’ planned trek up Norse Peak will be replaced because of the transportation issues regarding the Highway 410 corridor, but the new hiking destination hadn’t been finalized at press time. For meeting time, place and destination, call trip leader Brenda Kelly at 834-1179.

Behold the trails less traveled

By RON GRAHAM

WENATCHEE — “Short but sweet” and “Good things come in small packages” seem apt expressions for a hiking trip to tiny Clara and Marion lakes at Mission Ridge near Wenatchee.

While the name Mission Ridge evokes images of winter skiing for some, we found the short hike leading to Clara and Marion lakes a perfect outing for a late fall hike.

The window of opportunity for fall hiking seems all too brief, but this time of year combines crisp, cool air with clear skies, and the striking color hues of autumn. One special feature of these lake hikes is the presence of larch trees. Both lakes nestle in rocky basins with clumps of golden larches splashed across the hillsides.

Distance is short at 3.2 miles round trip, but the elevation gain of some 900 feet seems like more. The trail ascends steeply to within about a quarter-mile of Clara Lake, where a junction is reached with Squil-chuck Trail 1200. Turn left and meander on nearly level tread past a marshy meadow before reaching Clara Lake.

This is the larger of the two lakes and offers several good points for shoreline access. The green color of this alpine lake (elevation 5,475 feet) gleams like a sapphire in bright sunshine.

To reach Marion Lake, turn uphill part way along the lakeshore and hike through a rocky section before briefly entering the forest. The path passes above a meandering stream in a meadow and soon you reach little Marion Lake. At the time of our visit in early October, the small lake was partly frozen over.

Those eager to explore further can continue on the main trail past Marion Lake for another mile or so until you reach a forest road. We were captivated by the fairly open, rocky terrain near the lakes and would have spent extra time exploring this area if we had extra time.

Oddly, we hiked this trail on a Saturday and encountered nary another soul on the trail to and from these picturesque lakes. Also, the trailhead lacked any sign indicating the trail name, number or destination. The only sign in evidence had a symbol of a motorcycle with a line across it, indicating it was closed to bikers.

The beginning point for this hike is at the Mission Ridge Ski area parking lot, just in front of the ski-area sign, roughly 125 driving miles from Yakima. The trail starts climbing immediately from the road and climbs in forest, crossing a recently developed forest road in less than half a mile. At the time of our visit a substantial amount of pipework and metal grating were being installed on some water project.

Beyond the road crossing, the trail resumes its upward trend. About three-quarters of a mile along the way several meadow patches are entered. Wildflowers are long gone now, but during mid-summer fireweed and aster apparently put on quite a show.

The trail crosses little Lake Creek on a small footbridge. Soon after this point the junction is reached with the sign for the Squilchuck Trail. Turn left here and proceed to Clara Lake.

Find a perch near the lake and absorb the serenity of this high-country location. Either lake offers a choice of fine vista points.
Before putting away the hiking boots until next spring, we have a suggestion regarding this alpine gem: “Try it, you’ll like it.”

• Ron Graham, an elementary school teacher and native of the Yakima Valley, is an avid outdoorsman who has hiked throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Pheasant, quail numbers good as season begins

Here are a some ramblings and a few random thoughts after spending several days outdoors during the past week.
• Predictions of more pheasants and quail this year seem to be right on. Yakama Nation biologists say the pheasant population is the best it has been in 13 years and the quail population is at an all-time high. Or, at least, it’s the best it has been since those biologists started doing their population surveys via brood counts.

But I would say they are right, but with this small caveat: The pheasants seem to be in good numbers in some areas, but are not spread throughout the Valley.

My son, Kyle, and three friends went out on opening day and found some good numbers of birds west of Harrah. There were plenty of other hunters out on the opener and we heard lots of shooting.

On Sunday we hunted just west and south of Wapato and didn’t find many pheasants at all. And we were hunting some areas that weren’t hit on the opener.

Quail do seem to be in good numbers all over the place. We found large coveys in several locations.

Upland bird season on the Yakama reservation opened this past Saturday. Pheasant hunting in the rest of Eastern Washington opens this Saturday.
• Not sure who sets the hunting hours, but whoever does was a little off on Saturday. Legal shooting hours started at 6:45 a.m. but it really wasn’t light enough to see until 7 or later. Now, most hunters have sense enough to know if it is too dark to see, maybe they should wait a few minutes before they start hunting.

We were obviously hunting around some folks with more gumption than sense on Saturday morning. With the cloud cover, it was still almost dark come 6:45. But these knuckleheads went marching out into the fields and began shooting right away. There wasn’t light enough to really identify roosters from hens — which is a pretty important ability to have, since rooster pheasants are legal to shoot and hen pheasants are not. The rest of us who were standing around waiting for good shooting light were all amazed. Yes, the pinheads were legal, but my guess is several hens became targets in the dark.

Hopefully these bozos shot no better than they can make common-sense decisions.
• Fishing for coho salmon at some spots on the Columbia is heating up. Last week Kyle and I fished with local steelhead and salmon guide Bob Barthlow at the mouth of the Klickitat and ended up hooking several nice silver salmon. Some of the hard-fighting fish got away, but four fat coho made the trip home to Yakima for a future date on the barbecue. Barthlow even caught one really nice steelhead.

Coho are still being caught at the mouth of the Wind River and at Drano Lake, too. But the fish caught at these tributaries have to be adipose fin-clipped to be retained. At the mouth of the Klickitat and above, all coho, fin-clipped or not, can be kept.

The fish are nice-sized and in great shape. The four Kyle and I caught were all in the eight-pound range, and Barthlow said he has caught them up to 16 pounds earlier this season.
• Going trout fishing one more time is on my “to do” list this fall. Many anglers know fall can be a great time to catch trout in the lakes around the area. Not only are there always a few carryover fish that spent the summer feeding and growing, the Department of Fish and Wildlife normally plants many of the lakes one last time during the fall.

According to the planting schedule, lakes in the region that received trout in the last couple of weeks included the Fio Rito Lakes, Easton Pond, Matoon Lake and McCabe Pond in Kittitas County, along with Clear Lake, I-82 ponds 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, Myron Lake, Rotary Lake and Tims Pond in Yakima County.

Hmmm, trout fishing or pheasant hunting? That is a tough decision. I have two yellow labs that will opt for the bird hunting if I give them the choice. No matter what we do, now is the perfect time to do it. Daytime temperatures are just right and with new fall colors arriving every day, it is the best time of the whole year to be outdoors.
• Rob Phillips is a freelance outdoor writer and partner in the advertising firm of Smith, Phillips & DiPietro. He can be reached at rwphillips@spdadvertising.com.

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