The Washington State Hiking Podcast

Hiking Washington's National Wildlife Refuges

• Episode 87

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 Welcome to the Washington State Hiking Podcast. I'm your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming, 

and I'm your co-host Craig Romano.

Craig and I are happy to have you here. We provide practical and timely seasonal hiking advice for hikers, trail runners, and potential hikers and trail runners of all skill and ability levels that is helpful, accurate, fun, and inclusive.

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 hey Craig. Hey Jenny. Are you, uh, are you ready to talk about wildlife refuges? Yeah, I am. And you know why? And particularly this time of year, why I'm gonna talk about wildlife refuges. It's bird migration season. Yes. You know, it's, you know, I live in Skagit County and it's almost like, you know, we celebrate certain things.

The first time I hear the trumpeter swans Yeah. Going over the house. Yeah. It's like, it's gotta be fall. Yeah. Uh, and then the, the foxes, snow geese, it's, I mean, it's just, how we celebrate, you know, the light coming and the changes of colors and being in Skagit. It's, it's the birds. The birds are reminding us what season it's, yeah.

Yeah. 

And I. I learned this fall about the website where you can see, or you can track how many birds are flying over us. Isn't that not, that's crazy. And it's something, it's something like. 12 million birds. That's all that fly over us. That's all fall, that's all. I don't, I don't know. It's a crazy, that's, it's a crazy number that, that number seems, 

seems low, but who knows?

I don't know. It's a huge number. Crazy number of birds. So last week we talked a little bit about the Billy Frank Jr. Um, ality Wildlife Refuge, when, which is a national 

wildlife refuge. 

Yeah. And that has a wonderful trail. But, um, yeah, let's, let's hear about some of the. Well, before I start different places on the street, let's just 

talk National Wildlife area.

It's an area that people don't really think about for hiking. Yeah. And, and for good reason. 'cause the most, they, they, the first one was, was founded by, Teddy Roosevelt. Yeah. Do you know where it was? Where? Yeah, I don't, he was in Florida. Oh, nice. That makes sense. Birds. Yeah. So I think there's over 400 of these.

Yeah. Of the, and matter of fact, some of the first earlier ones right here in our own state too that go, that go way back, but they're primarily for wildlife as in the name. Yep. And so some of 'em are pretty strict where you're not allowed to go and for, for obvious reasons. But many of them have trails.

There could be, you know, a, you know, access issues close at a certain time of year for sure, for, for, breeding and such. But, in Washington there are, from what I quickly gathered, it could be, there's at least a dozen national wildlife refuges with trails. Now there's more than that.

There's islands off the coast that you, you're not allowed to go to 

or that you can't practically that to. 

Yeah. So there's 12 of 'em and they're, they're across the state. Yeah. Okay. And some of them are quite large. Yeah. So I find some of these places great for hiking. Great for trails. Yep. Great for wildlife, certainly.

And in definitely in some cases. Good to get away from the crowds too. 

Yeah. Yeah. So I, I agree with all of those things. Another thing I'll say about wildlife refuges and hiking is that not always, but often the trails are pretty flat. 

Yeah. Um, and so 

if that's what you're looking for, 

certainly the coastal ones, um, there's a few, not all of them, few of them in the eastern part of the state that're a little hillier, but Yeah.

But not terribly not. Yeah. 

You don't have a 10,000 no peak in a national wildlife refuge. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Even the 6,000 foot peak. So 

yeah, they tend, you think about what are the most productive places for wildlife? It tend to be water. You know where, where life begins. Yeah. So a lot of 'em are marshes and lakes and rivers and creeks and any type of wetlands.

Uh, prairies are another area Yep. That are, they're really important. So yeah, they do tend to be more, um, flatter. Well, 

yeah, and I kind of showed my hand around one of my favorites, which is the Billy Frank, which is also 

one of the more popular ones in the state. Yeah. And for good reason, it's right in the middle of Puget Sound.

I mean, it's, you know, surrounded by a lot of people. Um, 

I also really love the one, I can't remember the name of it. But it's around, um, it's like between Moses Lake and the Tri-Cities. Oh, that's the Columbia. I'm talking about the, 

the Columbia. That's a great one. The Columbia. That's a great one. That one is awesome.

It's in the channeled scab lands. Yeah, just, that's just a terrible sounding name. Um, but a fascinating doesn't sound appealing at all. It sounds awful. I know if I was. Looking for a home, and my realtor said, it's located in the channeled scab lands. 

You'd be like, no, thank you. No, it doesn't sound like a place 

I wanna live.

Yeah. Especially 

in the spring and fall. 

Yeah. It, it was all, all the ancient floods. The floods that carved out. But what makes that area so important? Again, and I've talked about this before, that some of our most threatened, uh, habitat is in. The channel got eastern Washington because it's all being converted into, into agriculture.

And so having, um, that, that shrub step, um, that's hasn't been tilled is really rare in this, in this state. But one of the coolest things about the Columbia, national Wildlife Refuge is it's where you can see the sandhill cranes migrate. , If you've never seen, it sounds like an alien invasion.

The sound, yes. They're beautiful, but they're so cool. And, and Othello, uh, one of the little towns, by the way, they have a sand. Uh, crane Festival. Oh, cool. And I can't tell you the date offhand, but look that up. It's very, very popular with artists and guided walks, and there's some cool trails in there. And if you have my day hiking Eastern Washington book, and I hope you do, you should, you should I have book?

I have a couple hikes in this, in this refuge in the book, so check it out. So that's a cool one. Another excellent one in eastern wa very near Cheney. So Eastern Washington is the Turnbull. Hmm. And the ville is a fascinating place too, because you're right on the fringe of the Palouse kind of prairie into the Ponderosa pine forest.

Yeah. There's lots of shell lakes. 

So this is near Spokane. It's of 

Spokane, yeah. Not familiar with that area. Yeah, exactly. And this is, a great one for, um, moose. I've seen lots of moose in this area, going north of Spokane into, kind of rolling hillside more. Pine. Forest is the little ponder, national wildlife, which is very large.

You get some hillier trails there. But not terrible. And, and that's a, a wonderful place and I guarantee you're gonna be all by yourself there. I, I've hiked there. And again, that's in my Eastern Washington book, so great place there. There's also some smaller ones out in Eastern Wine. There's McNary.

Which is near the Tri-Cities. Mm-hmm. And a lot of that protects, some of the oxbows and the rivers. Again, a great place to be during bird migrations. Yeah. And everything like that. There's a nice little visitor center there. There's the Umatilla, which is in Oregon and Washington. You can access, access that from Crow Butte, which is in my day, hiking Columbia River Gorge book.

Okay. So it's right on the, on the Columbia. That's a very, very cool one. It's top Anish. So this is just in the Yakima Valley? Yep. Very, very short hike there. But you can go out into these very, very productive wetlands that are surrounded by lots of agricultural lands in there. So that's another place. To see good birds migration. And then I'll bring you back over to, um, this side of, you know, to the western side of the of, of the state. Again, Jenny talked about, the Billy Frank Nisqually. Another very, very highly popular national Wildlife refuge On this side is. Dungeons Dungeons spit. Yes. Yes.

And that's, that one gets some problem because people want to treat it like a park. It's not, yeah. It's, you know, there's no dogs allowed. Yes. You know, there're gonna always be people there, you know, at the, and, and I should mention too, that one actually requires a fee. So some of these are, are fee free, some of, so what does that entail?

They usually, it's like by $3 a person car. But again, if you have that American. Beautiful pass that we talked about that gets you, that will cover you in the national wildlife refugees too. Yeah. So you have that, bring that, hanging it on your car. It'll get you in there. That's one of the largest spits in, in North America, perhaps even the world.

It goes way, way out into the strait of Juan de. Fuca. It's a good place to see pelagic birds. It's a good place to see seals. Um, one I've kayaked there before. Mm-hmm. In, in the bay. It's really, really cool watching, you know, turns dropping down. There's turn colonies out there. It's really, they they stink.

Yeah. But, uh, they're so intense. They are intense. The only thing more intense about horror movie, uh, back East are the gats. They're, they're about five times the size of the turns, and they smell, but they're amazing. I, I've been to gat colonies, they're, they're really away. These things are incredible.

So on the west side, you have down in the Columbia , on the Columbia River is the Ridgefield. Mm-hmm. National Mile, just north of Vancouver. Yeah. Wonderful. Wildlife, refugees. It's in my Urban Trails Vancouver book.

Yeah. Lot very accessible. Great trails. Old growth, Gary Oak Forest, you know, on the water. That's a cool one, 

especially for those of you listening from, and we know there's quite a few of you in like Portland to Vancouver. Yeah, that's 

a cool one. Yeah. Now keep following the river to the coast. You've got the Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge in Cathlamet.

This is a cool one. This one's in my day hiking Olympic Peninsula book. This is one of the few areas where you, you can see the Columbia Whitetail deer. It used to be much more prevalent in the area, but it's been wiped out since settlement. There's a few places in the Willamette Valley and you can do it here, so it's a great, great little hiking trail there.

There's a couple hiking trails there. And, then you also have out near Grace Harbor is, is, the Grace Harbor National Wildlife Refuge, Bowerman Basin. So this is near, Hoquiam. This one you wanna be at a certain time year in the spring because tens of thousands of sandpipers and Dunlin and they have a bird festival out there.

I think it's in April or May, I'm sorry. Yeah, the, the Graces Harbor Bird Festival and then probably my favorite National Wildlife Refuge I'm saving for last in the state, and this is in Southwest. South it, it is southwestern corner of the state. It's very, very large. And why? It's my favorite for many reasons.

When I first came to Washington in 1980 on my bike trip, I crossed the Columbia River and biked along this area, and it looked like Washington, how I imagined it as an east coaster. Mm-hmm. There was just, it was wild. 

Yeah. 

Willapa. Yeah. The Willapa National Wildlife Refuge. It's beautiful on Willapa Bay, and if you've never been there, this is one of my favorite places in Washington.

Yeah. Matter of fact, my third edition day hiking. Olympic Peninsula book that will be out next year has an expanded. There's new trails in in Willapa. I was just down there hiking. This area has one of the largest bear concentrations in, it's amazing how many bears are in this area. Again, the lots of trails. Also, Ledbetter Point. Yes. Which is in there is one of my a hundred classic hikes. Yes. You go out to the tip of this peninsula that has never been jettied dyed. It shifts, it changes just the way nature intended. It's really cool. Willapa Bay itself is one of the largest estuaries on the West coast that has not been developed.

Mm-hmm. Think about it. San Francisco Bay is the largest. There's by 10 million people that live on San Francisco Bay. Yeah. That's not the case at Wipa. So you'll still be able to see there's old growth forest on Long Island that's, that's on this area. And then Teal slu. I love this part. I never, I I, yeah, it's beautiful.

I, I, I go down here, you know, at least once a year to check it out. Yeah, it is, it is very, very cool. And here's the other good side about it too, except during hunting season, I should emphasize that national wildlife refuges are generally open to hunting. Yeah. And a lot of the funding. It comes from hunters through duck stamps and such.

So keep that in mind. Uh, you probably don't want, unless you are a hunter, you probably don't want to be around these places during seasons. So always know what the seasons are and what part is open and good, good luck 

figuring out bird hunting and watching. Yeah. Oh, that the 

maps can be crazy looking at 'cause every unit is different and everything.

Yes. But, but, uh, you know, if you're gonna go out there and hunting, course wear, you know, orange vest and, and, and orange cap, uh, and stay on the trails,

that trail, craft island in Skagit County. Oh, 

that's the state wildlife. Yeah, it is.

But I, I always think about that when I think about bird hunting, because they have that sign there at the end of the road that's here are the hunting seasons, and it's like nine tiny font pages of yeah.

Okay. You can hunt the female Yeah. Of this bird. On Tuesdays and Thursdays. Yeah. In December and April. Yeah. Every other day from 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM I'm like, 

God, odd days only. That's so crazy. It just, when you go to the, go to the Washington Fish and Wildlife and you, I 

do feel like in the National Wildlife refuges.

It is not that confusing. Yeah. But it it's a little 

confusing. Yeah. You'll generally, and they'll, they'll close a trail for hunting. And matter of fact, I should also mention too, in most of these cases, , if you, if you're there hunting with a dog, your retriever, this is when dogs allow, but you're not, generally the trails are not open for recreational use.

Yes. So. Be mindful of that. They are, they are. Almost all of them are open, you know, to hunting. . And for, and for good reason. I mean, yeah, it was, it, it was to manage Wiley to bring them back and everything. And yeah. And a lot of the funding comes from, from sport, you know, sports people. And 

even though I just made fun of it, um.

I mean, we do have very well managed hunting and fishing in Washington, and that's why it's complicated. Right. And that's, that's why we have, I shouldn't, I'm grateful for that, so I shouldn't be, and, but, you know, it's funny, I shouldn't knock it, but it is, 

this is why the National Wildlife System began, you know?

Yeah. Teddy Roosevelt was a hunter, and he, and, and he, and he saw the decimation because, you know, you'd sit out of a train and shoot bison, you know. Yeah. And I was in Cincinnati at the zoo and at this unbelievable display on the passenger pigeon, the last one that survived, died at the zoo. Used to be used to in the sky and the, and the sun would block out.

'cause there were so many passenger pigeons and people were shooting them left and right. That's a travesty. Yeah. We should, we should still have passenger pigeons right now. Yeah. And, and, and so many, so, so Roosevelt saw this and realized again, and if you're gonna protect wildlife, you have to protect this habitat's.

No good to have a log. Can't hunt this thing. They don't have any place to live. Right. So we brought back bison from extinction we brought back So a lot. And so that was Roosevelt Roosevelt's legacy was the national. Um, uh, national Wildlife System, uh, wonderful system in all 50 states.

Uh, and I think in many cases they're, they're underappreciated by people who are not hunters and, and yeah, I think they're a great place. I think that's true, and I think Bird watchers, the, the, the, the note been out on them. Yeah. So I, I, I enjoy visiting them. I've, I, I visit many of 'em across the country, but we have a lot here in Washington.

Yeah. 

Yeah. And I think that's important to mention that. Like they are often overlooked by hikers, but shouldn't be. And I think sometimes people think, oh, well, I'm not that into birding. So, and, and I appreciate birds, but I'm definitely not a birder. Um. But I, I think even if you're not that into birds, like birds are still cool, you know, even if you can't like, identify all of them.

And there are some 

really cool birds out there too, that, and these are 

really beautiful places, even aside from just the wildlife, that they're pretty, 

yeah

well, thanks for having this idea to talk about this, Craig.

Absolutely. I was really excited about sharing this with everybody. 

We'll see out there with your, your binoculars and your bird. Are you one of those bird listers? Know, you said you're not, but I'm 

not. Yeah. But you know, um, I know a lot of bird. Oh, so do I. Let's just say, let's say, and you 

think ultra runners are crazy.

That's, I'm gonna leave it at that.

They are cool. Alright, well thanks Craig. See. See everybody next week. 





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Jennie Thwing Flaming

Host
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Craig Romano

Co-host