Klickitat Rail - Swale Canyon 4/26/14

[derwoodynck]

We set off from Harms Rd this morning at about 8am and headed down the trail just under 4 miles to the bedrock pools. Lots of flowers going right now in some areas and just starting in others. We saw a good variety of wildlife too along the way. We didn't see any other people until we got back to the TH at about 11:30. We did have to swat a couple of ticks off our pant legs along the way. Here's a taste of what we spotted.















The turkey we saw crossing the road on the way to the TH, the rest of the wildlife comes from the trail.







A heron had flown up into the pine tree here:




I just missed getting a picture of a coyote up on the hillside but I was distracted by the cattle that we were following down the trail.

[woodswalker]

Amazing flower shots and so many wildlife shots. Thanks for posting them.
Woodswalker

[bobcat]

Looks lovely in Swale. Enjoyed all the flower pictures. I've only seen cattle in the canyon once before - kind of once to commune with the bovines.

[adamschneider]

I was there last Wednesday (4/30). My notable wildlife encounters included a family of killdeers, a wild turkey, and a rattlesnake in the middle of the trail.

By the way, I biked in from Harms Road all the way down to Swale Flats (14 miles round-trip), and I just want to say for the record that for biking, the trail is ROUGH. Sure, it was faster than hiking, but not as much faster as I'd have thought. And I didn't get to see as much wildlife because the rocky trail required my full attention.

So it's a trade-off: do you want to see more of Swale Canyon distance-wise (bike), or do you want to be able to take in more detail (hike)?


Obviously I was off my bike when I found the baby killdeer: