Elevation Gain: Approximately 400 ft.
Time: 10:45 am - 3:15 pm
Weather: Mostly cloudy, light rain turning to overcast.
A streak of ridiculously nice weather ended this Sunday. I had two hikes in mind one out on the Olympic Peninsula and one out east. Since the forecast turned to a high percentage chance of rain in western Washington, and only a 10% chance out east, I chose a hike in the Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area. The area is almost to the Columbia River and is now in land that is mostly owned by Puget Sound Energy. Doing a quick google search got me to all the information I needed. There is a bunch of wind turbines and solar panels out here, but the PSE still allows people to hike and hunt in the area provided they read and sign a waiver and watch a little 5 minute video. We were at the visitor's center by 10:15 am. I took two friends from work, Gil, who I have hiked with many times, and Tami, who came out on a hike earlier this year. We were signed up with our permits and geared up by 10:45.
We decided to start with the 2.4 mile hike out to the summit of the Whiskey Dick Mountain. Here there is a large array of solar panels. We walked along in the light rain and a brisk wind. On our way to the solar panels, we saw some elk in the distance. Soon, a herd was running across our path ahead. It was great. We were walking on rocky terrain, and for the second time in three weeks I was walking in the Washington desert and loving it. While it was overcast, the visibility out into the valleys was still beautiful.
We got to the top of Whiskey Dick and saw another little peak off to the west. We went along the ridge and circled to the west face, where we climbed up to the top. It had been about two hours and we took a 15~25 minute break. We continued back to the first saddle we passed west of the summit, and contoured along the north-facing side of Whiskey Dick Mountain. We dropped down to an old dirt road we saw, and followed it up to Beacon Ridge Road. We then walked over into an area called the pines. We ambled along the ponderosa pines, and enjoyed the smells of the meadows. We walked north of a line of about 5 turbines then turned and passed them to the east. We hit a drop off, and on our way down we saw more elk. We had a nice little climb on our way back out of the ravine. We hit another drop-off, but this time we elected to go back to the road. We hopped on the road and followed it back to the visitor's center.
Orchid: Wildlife and good friends.
Onion: Rainy weather.
Picture:
Google Map
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