Experience hidden treasures while climbing Beacon Rock
Published 3:31 pm Friday, June 12, 2009
If you’ve driven on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge, you’ve seen 850-foot-tall Beacon Rock, maybe even climbed its switchback stairway to the top, which is well worth it, for breathtaking views of the river.
Those who stop at the 5,100-acre Beacon Rock State Park usually climb the rock or admire it from the ground and drive on. But there’s more to the park than verticality, such as more than 20 miles of old logging roads and trails for hikers, bicyclists and horses.
Unlike the overused Hamilton Mountain Trail, the moderate-plus, 8.1-mile Hardy Ridge Trail still offers elbow room. This month a new 1.6-mile connector segment was opened, one built by the park and many dozens of volunteers since 2006, when the Washington Trails Association started the project.
The connector links existing trails on Hardy Ridge; a new trail section will link the loop trail to the Hardy Creek Trail for two loop options.
Views include Dog Mountain, Table Mountain, Mount Adams and the Columbia Gorge. Wildflowers usually peak mid-June to mid-July.
Park rangers suggest hiking it east to west because it’s easier.
Remember that parking in the lower picnic area will be limited through September due to a construction project. For more information, call 509-427-8265.
Roads open: The Mountain Loop Scenic Highway and Pilchuck Road are open. Here’s a piece of advice worth heeding: “The sun may be out but be careful, snow still covers Pilchuck Trail, putting hikers at risk for getting lost,” said Peter Forbes, Darrington District ranger. Go to www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs/conditions for up-to-date information.
Babes in the woods: Biologists have sighted baby fishers in Olympic National Park, the first kits since adults were released in a reintroduction effort in January 2008.
“Locating the mother’s den tree was like looking for a needle in a haystack, but after several weeks of careful tracking and wilderness hiking, biologists were overjoyed to have photographs of kits,” said park superintendent Karen Gustin.
Fishers are large members of the weasel family. Biologists tracked radio-collar signals for three weeks before finding a suspected den tree, then mounted three motion-activated cameras. After a week, biologists examined the film and found a series of images of the mother and kits.
To see a photograph of a mother and her kits, go to www.nps.gov/olym and search for “fisher kits.”
Swan song: An ancient trumpeter swan, Solo, has legendary status at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge in Spokane County in northeast Washington.
Senior citizen Solo breaks the mold on longevity because few swans live past 30.
Rangers believe that Solo may be 43 to 46 years old, and may have been brought as a cygnet to the refuge in the 1960s in an effort to add more trumpeters to the national population.
It didn’t work. The swans were shot, killed by predators and power lines, or sometimes died during droughts. In 1992, Solo had a new mate but no eggs; she later disappeared.
The refuge is in the channeled scablands formed by ancient floods. The public can explore some areas on trails or by a 5.5-mile vehicle route.
For more information, call 509-235-4723.
On the bookshelf: Kettles are depressions left by partially buried glacial ice blocks. The huge blocks melted into the depressions forming kettle lakes and ponds.
Robert Thorson, in “Beyond Walden: The Hidden History of America’s Kettle Lakes and Ponds” ($26), explores kettle lakes from Walden Pond to Lake Wobegon, and across much of the country in terms of geology, culture, history, spirit, myth, ecosystems and threats.
Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.
