Dishman Hills Natural Area

Amelanchier alnifolia (Sarvisberry)


Pinus ponderosa (Ponderosa Pine) in the Dishman Hills Natural Area October 2012


Dishman Hills Natural Area October 2012


Pinus ponderosa (Ponderosa Pine) in the Dishman Hills Natural Area October 2012


Mahonia aquifolium (Oregon Grape)  All photos taken in October 2012.

Click here for more photos of Dishman Hills Natural Area.

The Dishman Hills Natural Area is a mixed Ponderosa Pine & Douglas Fir forest maintained by the Spokane County Parks and Recreation Department.  It consists of 530 acres just outside the City of Spokane.  It is a beautiful native forest, remarkably free of alien species.  The rock formations are also quite impressive.

Ponderosa Pine forest generally occurs on the driest sites supporting conifers in the Pacific Northwest. It is widespread & variable, appearing on moderate to steep slopes in canyons, foothills, & on plateaus or plains near mountains. Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) & Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) are the most common evergreen trees in this habitat.  The undergrowth can include dense stands of shrubs or, more often, be dominated by grasses, sedges, &/or forbs.  In the Dishman Hills Natural Area I saw Amelanchier alnifolia (Sarvisberry) Balsamorhiza sagittata (Arrowleaf Balsamroot) Mahonia aquifolium (Oregon Grape) Physocarpus malvaceus (Mallow-leaf Ninebark) Symphoricarpos albus (Common Snowberry) & quite a lot of grass.

Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) is one of the most widely distributed pines in western North America.   Pacific Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa var. ponderosa) ranges from the Fraser River of southern British Columbia, south through the mountains of Washington, Oregon & California. In the northeast part of its range it extends east of the Continental Divide Montana & south to the Snake River Plain in Idaho.  It is found primarily on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains & in mountainous areas of eastern Washington.

Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park

Basalt rocks from ancient lava flows

Erigeron (fleabane)

Artemisia tridentata (big sagebrush)

Plants of the Sagebrush Steppe

Petrified elm.  All photos were taken in October 2012

Click here for more photos of Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park.

Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park covers 7,470 acres in central Washington near the Columbia River north of Vantage.  The trail here is a 3-mile loop through an ecosystem known as Sagebrush Steppe, a highly xeric community of plants including big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) bitter-brush (Purshia tridentata) parsnip-flowered buckwheat (Eriogonum heracleoides) gray ball sage (Salvia dorrii) & bluebunch wheatgrass (Agropyron spicatum).  In October, the landscape was especially dry, although I was surprised to find some of the sagebrush in bloom.

15 million years ago, this area was filled with swamps & shallow lakes surrounded by forests. Swamp cypress grew on the edges of the lakes. Ginkgo, maple, walnut, oak, sycamore, and horse chestnut grew on the hillsides.  Douglas fir, hemlock, & spruce grew nearby at higher elevations. Logs became buried in mud. 10 to 15 million years ago, lava floods spread over the area from fissures in the earth, covering the logs & allowing them to petrify. 15,000 years ago, during the last ice age, an ice sheet blocked the Clark Fork River & created Glacial Lake Missoula.  Periodically, the ice dam would fail, resulting in large floods that rushed down the Columbia River drainage, through the Columbia River Gorge & out to the Pacific Ocean. These floods exposed the petrified logs. Highway workers began finding petrified wood in 1927 while working on the Vantage Road. Crews from a federal Civilian Conservation Corps camp at Vantage began extensive excavations in 1936. The park was opened to the public in 1938.
 

East of the Mountains

East of the mountains is, for me, another county. It could not be more different than the land west of the Cascades. It has an austere beauty, a severe climate with little rain & a relentless sun. I went there on the 1st weekend in May of 2013 in a borrowed car.  East of the Mountains is also a novel by David Guterson.  I recommend it.

Crab Creek May 2013

I arrived at the Crab Creek trailhead in the Columbia NationalWildlife Refuge at 3 on Saturday. A sign told me rattlesnakes are common & protected.  They bite when they were provoked or startled. As I was still pondering how not to startle a snake (Should I shout out some sort of greeting?) I heard the rattle in the grass very near my feet. I bolted. Then every rustle of grass in the wind made me jump. I was walking through thick vegetation along the creek on a trail that was lost or overgrown in places. There were sagebrush, many grasses & huge areas of shrubby hawthorn.

Erigeron (Fleabane) at Crab Creek May 2013

I came to a broken-down stair of railroad ties that climbed out of the creek bed & onto the sparsely furnished plateau. The views, the wildflowers & the land were beautiful there. It would be very easy to spot a snake.  It was also very windy.  My hat blew off my head & down the cliff.  I climbed down to retrieve.  I hoped the path I had taken along the top of the low basalt cliffs would lead me back to the trailhead without passing through the area of the snake. But the trail, perhaps created by animals, became more & more sketchy, then disappeared. 

 Crab Creek May 2013

I cautiously retraced my route, whistling loudly. Another rattlesnake crossed my past less than 3 feet ahead of me. They are much less threatening when in transit, the rattle trailing mutely behind. When I reached the car, I found that the rear window had been smashed to pieces. Already unnerved by the snakes, I found this act of violence very disturbing. I had never driven with a window missing. I wondered whether I would be sucked out of the car driving 70 mph, or stopped by the highway patrol & left to walk back to Seattle. 

Phlox speciosa at Crab Creek May 2013 

Nothing happened on the way to Moses Lake. I asked the woman at the motel for the number of the police. I knew she was going to ask me why. The officer was not familiar with the location. 'You gotta help me out here,' he said. I felt this was ironic considering the distance I had traveled & the fact that he was stationed less than 20 miles from the incident. I mentioned that I thought I might need to make a report for insurance purposes. 'You don't gotta file an accident report, because there was no accident,' he said. No, I thought, it was very much on purpose. He said he would pass the information on to the rangers. I tried to call Rusty & Steve. I spoke with Dale & my mother.

If you ever need to eat in Moses Lake, go to Michael's Market & Bistro. 

Phlox & Achillea (Yarrow) at Gloyd Seeps Wildlife Area May 2013

I didn't sleep well & woke early. I drove a short distance to the Gloyd Seeps Wildlife Area. Near the parking lot, it was flat & dotted with stunted sagebrush. Perhaps the land had once been cleared for a field. There was agricultural land all around. The abandoned 4-wheel drive track that the Washington Trails Association website told me to follow for 3 miles ended in a cleared field in about ¼ mile. There was no sign of snakes & quite a number of wildflowers: large mats of phlox, with fleabane, larkspur, lupine & yarrow scattered about. But still, I was disappointed. 

While I was eating breakfast at Somebody's Family Restaurant, my mother called. She said I had to cover the window with plastic or risk carbon monoxide poisoning. 'I don't have any plastic,' I said. ' Keep your windows down & if you feel sleepy, get out of the car,' she advised. I did feel sleepy, because I hadn't slept well.  I kept thinking about carbon monoxide. 

Frenchman Coulee May 2013 

When I got near Vantage, on the Columbia River, I exited Interstate 90 on the spur of the moment. I had been down that road to Frenchman Coulee with Rusty a few years before. It was the highlight of the trip. The rugged scenery & abundant wildflowers were just what I needed.

Erigeron (Fleabane) at Frenchman Coulee May 2013

Lewisia rediviva (Bitterroot) at Frenchman Coulee May 2013

Balsamorhiza sagittata (Arrowleaf Balsamroot) & Artemisia tridentata (Sagebrush) at Frenchman Coulee May 2013

Frenchman Coulee May 2013

Frenchman Coulee

Frenchman Coulee June 2010 Artemisia tridentata, Eriogonum with yellow flowers

Frenchman Coulee June 2010 Erigeron
 

Frenchman Coulee June 2010 The Feathers

Frenchman Coulee June 2010 Ribes bush
 

Frenchman Coulee June 2010 Ribes fruit

Frenchman Coulee June 2010

 

Frenchman Coulee June 2010 Jordan

Rusty & I drove to Frenchman Coulee near Vantage, Washington after touring Ohme Gardens in Wenatchee on the last day of June 2010.  We arrived in the very late afternoon.  It was breezy & warm.  The westering sun was bright.  Frenchman Coulee is popular with rock climbers.  We saw some of them there, as well as evidence of their degradation of the single row of basalt columns known as The Feathers.  We passed through a narrow gap in The Feathers to pass from 1 basin of the coulee to another.  The word coulee describes a flow of water in French.  In this case the rock formations were sculpted by huge floods crashing into the Columbia River during the last ice age.  Vantage receives a scant 8 inches of precipitation annually.  Here we found the xeric plants of the shrub steppe.  We saw Artemisia tridentata (sagebrush) Erigeron (fleabane) Eriogonum (wild buckwheat) & Ribes (currant).  For me, Frenchman Coulee had an austere beauty.  It is easily reached from Interstate 90 exit 143, left on Silica Road, left on Frontage Road.  The feathers are plain to be seen from Frontage Road, very few miles from exit 143.

Ohme Gardens

Ohme Gardens June 2010

Ohme Gardens June 2010

Ohme Gardens June 2010

Ohme Gardens June 2010

Ohme Gardens June 2010

 Hillside adjacent to Ohme Gardens June 2010

Wenatchee & the Columbia River from Ohme Gardens June 2010

On the last day of June 2010, I visited Ohme Gardens with a friend.  You have the impression that parts of The Sound of Music could have been filmed here, until you look down & across the Columbia River to the surrounding desert hills.  This alpine fantasy is only possible with abundant irrigation from the river.  The rocky hillside appears to be basically unchanged, except for the addition of plants & water.  From the rocky cliffs there are impressive views of Wenatchee & beyond.  The garden is forested with Douglas Fir, Spruce & Western Red Cedar.  The slopes & cliffs are covered with a variety of perennials & groundcovers.  Much of Ohme Gardens is a huge & elaborate rock garden.  It takes nearly 3 hours to get to Wenatchee, over Stevens Pass, from Seattle.  The way is fairly well-posted from Highway 2, but take directions with you.  The very scenic route through the mountains is reason enough to drive to Wenatchee.