Surprising and Unique Hiking at Hanford Reach National Monument

Becky Burghart from the National Park Service and Dan Hass from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, join Jennie to share about the unique history, landscapes, plants and animals of Hanford Reach National Monument and why it's such a wonderful place to hike and explore in solitude.

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Transcript

 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.



Our sponsor for the month of March is visit Tri-Cities, which is really exciting because this is the time of year that the sun starts to sound really amazing. So if you're looking for a new Washington landscape to explore, discover what's in you in the Tri-Cities. Hike above the last free flowing stretch of the Columbia River at White Bluffs.

Explore the quiet shrub step trails of the Hanford Reach, or climb Badger and Candy Mountain for sweeping basin views. Here you'll find wide open spaces, dramatic geology, and more than 300 days of sense. Sunshine each year. Set up a base camp, hit the trail and stay for the sunsets. Plan your trip at visit.

Try cities.com and discover what's in you.





 Hi everyone. This is our last week that we are focusing on the Tri-Cities area in eastern Washington. And if you are looking for spring hikes for other parts of the state, the last two marches, we have had lots of other spring hiking ideas, so go back and listen to those. If you're looking for ideas for other areas.

And next week we'll be transitioning to a very different part of Washington State. So for now, I hope you enjoy this episode and this conversation with Becky and Dan about Hanford Reach National Monument. This really is one of the most interesting, fascinating, unique areas of Washington to hike in. It's in Craig's a hundred classic hikes book and it's something that I've written about on my website as well.

Both of us really love this part of Washington and this area in particular, so I hope you enjoy.

My guests today are Becky Burghart and Dan Haas, both of them work in the Tri-Cities area and Dan is with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Becky is with the Manhattan Project, national Historic Site with the Park Service. So thanks so much to both of you for being here. 

Well, thank you for having us.

I'm super excited to share some really important and interesting, uh, national parks and monuments in the Tri-Cities. 

Yeah. Alright, so. Listeners, we've been hearing for the last three weeks quite a bit about the Tri-Cities area, since they're our sponsor this month, which is super exciting. And, today, this is possibly the episode that I'm personally most excited about because we are going to be talking about Hanford Reach National Monument.

And it is such a fascinating and unique place in Washington with one of my favorite hikes in the entire state, especially. During the month of April. So this is, this is really, really cool that we were able to make this happen. So last week, becky and Dan, we talked quite a bit about, , glacial Lake Missoula and kind of the geologic forces that shaped this area.

So we do have that as a little bit of a foundation, but, , Becky, let's start with you. What can you tell us about the history, either the way back time machine or the more recent history of this area, and maybe also just. Say where we are talking about exactly. 

All right. Yes, thank you. So it's I'll, I will refer to it as the mid Columbia River region, and so that's a broader area.

That definitely includes, the Hanford Reach National Monument, the Hanford site and all of that. But it is really interesting, the geologic forces and the human history that all kind of comes together in this Tri-Cities area. That's pretty profound. I mean, we have a national park. We have a national monument.

A national geologic trail and a national historic trail all running through the Tri-Cities that speaks to this amazing geology and human history of the Mid Columbia, uh, river region. Really a lot of this with the great foundation that you all heard last week of the Ice Age floods, looking into the human history that has also equally shaped this area.

So it stars back,, since time in Memorial with the oral, with the tribal history, the indigenous history of the Mid Columbia region with the Kai use Neper. Palous, Walla Walla, Umatilla, Wanapum, and Yakima Peoples who have lived and traveled through this area as far back as anybody can, can remember, so since time immemorial.

So we have a really rich indigenous history here that is still alive and very vibrant today. And then as we switch, we, then we have the ice age floods, and then we have the shift, um, new people coming into this area. In the early 18 hundreds, we have the arrival of some fur trappers coming into this area.

And then in 1805, the core discovery otherwise known as. Lewis and Clark Expedition arrived at the intersection of the Columbian Snake River. So if people are familiar with Sia State Historic Park is today, that is where they arrived and they met Yakima and Wanapum and the Yakima and Wanapum served at their. As their guide a little way up, the Yakima River before the core discoveries continued their, their, , pursuit down the Columbia, eventually to the Pacific with the core discovery.

That was really the beginning of the opening of this area to non-indigenous people, to white settlers and travelers. So the next large group of people that came through the area, there were more forge droppers that came in. And then in the 1830s we started seeing the missionaries arrive American Christian missionaries to educate native people about their God.

And so they arrived and perhaps most well-known of this area as Marist. Marcus and Narcissus Whitman of the Whitman Mission, national Historic Site. That's a great place to learn about that history. And then that opened, , the travel. More people started coming out here and started needing land to settle.

They were white settlers looking for more land. That created a lot of conflict with the indigenous communities of this area. The conflict Trejo in 1855 with the treaties Walla Walla Treaty Council of 1855. About 7,000 indigenous representatives attended that treaty. At the end of that, there were, uh, treaties that assigned, creating the reservations, , the Nez Purse reservation, the Umatilla.

Reservation and then, , Yakima Nation reservation. And so the, these, tribes were then consolidated onto their respective reservations and they lost about 92% of their land. But in exchange for that, they also gained, rights to their usual and custom places. And one of those places is the Hanford site.

And so we'll come back around to that story a little bit later. But, so the Hanford site was, that's where indigenous people live. They hunted, they gathered since time immemorial. And they still had access even after the treaties were signed to use that land for traditional custom purposes. And then with the consolidation with the treaties signed and the indigenous communities moved on to their reservations.

More settlers moved out here and established farming communities like White Bluffs, Richland, Hanford. Those were vibrant farming communities. And then in 1941, the United States formerly entered World War ii, that then, , things,, rolled really fastly forward with the establishment of the Manhattan Project, which was the federal government's effort to build the world's first atomic bombs before Nazi Germany.

So then they, uh, with the establishment of the Manhattan Project, they needed a place, they needed a couple locations. One was a place to headquarters and a place to produce uranium. Another place was a top secret lab to assemble the weapons, and a third place was a place to produce plutonium. So, Colonel Frank Mathias was sent out to, you know, go find a place, to produce plutonium. And he had a checklist. It needed lots of cool clean water. It needed not a whole lot of people. This was experimental technology, so preferably of place, not with a big population, and needed a lot of electricity. So the water to cool the reactors, electricity to power the reactors, and not a lot of people.

So when Frank Matthias, Colonel Frank Matthias was uh, scouting outta place, he came across this Hanford site. Now they were out scouting in in December. And what do farm and orchards look like in December? He's not a lot of stuff going on. 

Yeah, they're kind of sticks that time of year. 

Yeah. 

Sticks 

in mud.

He's 

yeah. 

Sticks some mud. He was like, not like there's nothing going on down there. There's lots of water, there's a lot of electricity. I found the place, the perfect place, so he proposed it. Uh, Colonel or uh, Leslie Groves approved the place in January of 1943 and in March of 1943, the US Army Corps of Engineers begins construction on the top secret, massive Hanford Engineering works along the Columbia River, which was a plutonium production factory for the atomic bomb project.

So Becky, I have a question here. So first of all, I didn't know it was possible to cover that much history, so succinctly, so well done by you. I'm very impressed. Thanks. I'm curious, and I, this is an a leading question. I actually don't know the answer. How did this 19 42 43 sort of cite. Selection and construction.

Where did that fit in with the construction of , the dams along the Columbia River? Were they already there? I think they were already there. Is that right? How did that timeline work? 

For sure. I'm not a dam expert, but for sure the grand cool. The Grand Cooley Dam was recently finished in the late 1930s.

Okay. 

And I believe police Priest Rapids Dam, I might be wrong on that, but for sure Grand Cooley was established. They knew they had a lot of electricity coming from Grand Cooley Dam, along with the, a high volume of very. Cold water in the Columbia. And I did forget to mention when the, uh Manhattan Project arrived, we have these farming communities, Hanford, white Bluffs, Richland, those folks as well as the indigenous communities, the Wanapum, had summering summer camps, and the indigenous communities were still using the Hanford site for hunting and gathering.

Yep. 

All of those people were removed. To make way for the Hanford sites. So the people were . Moved off the land and the fences went up. And so that was a big shift in like, now we're building this factory Yep. To make plutonium. 

And I'm sure, you know, you talked about a, a small population being key, and the power from the dams being key, but I can imagine that even if it wasn't a huge number of people, for the people who were.

Who were farming on that land, or were hunting and fishing on that land. Probably weren't they that it might have been a small number of people, but I'm sure they were very impacted and not happy about it. 

Yes, it was very, very impactful. 'cause some, some people had 30 days to pack up their farms and move.

Most had about 90 days. But imagine like packing up your entire farm. Uh. Moving out, and this is in March, so now it's spring, you're thinking about spring planting and then you're just removed off the land. And then the indigenous community is like, but we have treaty rights to use this land. And then there was a promise like, well after the war you, you'll be able to access this land again.

Mm-hmm. Which never came to fruition. So it was very impactful.

And it was really, this was a really difficult land to farm. There's lots of cobbles. It's, you know, riverbed, there's a lot of cobbles and getting in the. The irrigation infrastructure. So they finally had the irrigation infrastructure in. They had their land after years of hard work, ready, really becoming very productive.

They're starting to come out of the depression. I mean, they're just starting to like make it, and then they're removed from their land. 

Yeah, that must have been so hard. And then for tribes who had signed this treaty and lost these. Hunting and fishing rights, did, did anyone like communicate with them about it or was it just like, we show up for fish camp this year and there's a fence and, what the heck is going on?

I 

think there was some communication. I know particularly with the Wanapum, um mm-hmm. They, they were working with them and there was the promise of, just after the war, as soon as the war is open, you can have access back to this land uhhuh, , which never came to fruition. Uh, so yeah, there was, there was not a lot of communication with any of the parties that were affected.

Yeah, it sounds like it. Wow. And I get that it was during a war and whatever, but. Wow. Yeah. Okay, , so what next? We, we all know that the military did make an atomic bomb, , so what kind of was Hanford's story? After, like how long was the time of development and all of that, what happened kind of during the war and then after With the nuclear facility?

It was a major leap forward. I mean, one way to, uh, kind of think about it. In late 1938, they discovered fission for the first time. So early 1939. They're just figuring out what fission is. By August of 1945, they have two atomic weapons. That is an incredible leap in the scientific Yeah. Understanding and operationalizing this.

So Hanford, uh, started construction in March of 1943. They started produced. Producing plutonium in 1944 and the once Hanford, so Hanford's full job was produce plutonium. So with the Manhattan Project, they had two avenues they were going to use Enrich uranium, which was developed in Oak Ridge, which also served as the project head headquarters originally.

And that's t. Yes. Oakridge, Tennessee. 

Yep. 

So the Manhattan Project got its name because I originally started in the Manhattan Engineering District in Manhattan, New York. They quickly realized they needed to move outta New York, so they selected Oakridge as the headquarters and produce enriched uranium.

They also wanted to produce plutonium was discovered in December of 1940 in a lab in micrograms like the size of a pinhead. That's how much. Plutonium they had in 1941, and by 1945 they figured out how to make pounds of plutonium, which is again, a huge scientific leap forward. So then they're like, okay, well we also wanna produce plutonium.

We know how to enrich uranium. That's Oak Ridge, but this brand new technology to make plutonium, let's find a different place. Very separated because all of this was experimental technology and if it went wrong, yeah. Better be careful. 

Yeah. 

That's how they wound up at Hanford. Hanford's, was focused on plutonium production, and they built the B reactor, which is the first full scale nuclear or nuclear production reactor in the world.

So going from a laboratory process to an industrial process and figuring out the science and engineering to do that. In addition, they had to figure out how to separate the plutonium from the irradiated uranium and all the other byproducts. Mm-hmm. So it's not like you stick it in the reactor, you stick the uranium slugs in the reactor and out the back is a little spigot with plutonium.

Doesn't work that way. It took me a while to figure that one out. I am not a nuclear scientist, but then they, you're 

not, you can't be an expert in everything. No, 

no. But you know, I'm not. It, this was a learning curve for sure. And then so they take these irradiated uranium fuel slugs at from the bee reactor and take 'em over to the tea plant, and then they had to create another.

This is the first time an industrial scale separations product, , separation. Process that also included radiation. So these fuel slugs are screaming hot, they're, you know, lots of radiation. You cannot be close to them. So they built this separations, , facility. With all new technology and ways to protect people.

So really thick, concrete, leaded glass, everything has to be done by robotics because you can't get people handling the fuel slugs. So another huge scientific and engineering leap forward to separate the plutonium from everything else. It's really not an efficient process. So imagine you have like a kitten size, a plutonium, and an elephant size pile of irradiated uranium and everything else.

Mm-hmm. That is pretty much what you get. . So once the plutonium is separated, it is then shipped down to Los Alamos, New Mexico, and that is where the weapons are assembled. So the enriched uranium from Oak Ridge, the plutonium from Hanford, they become two separate weapons designed and development. So Oak Ridge, the home of Oppenheimer, if you've seen the movie Oppenheimer.

If not, yeah. Great movie. And then that's where the weapons were assembled. And then ultimately the weapons were shipped over to Tinian Island for final assembly. And then August 6th, 1945 and the waning days of World War ii, the bomb was dropped on Japan. Mm-hmm. The first time an atomic weapon was used in war.

Hiroshima was on August 6th. Nagasaki was on August 9th. And that so far to date, it has been the last time a nuclear weapon has been used in war.

Yeah. 

So that forever linked Hanford and Nagasaki in the history books. Yeah. And um, that dawned the nuclear edge with the. The Trinity test on July 6th, 1945, was testing the implosion device, which would use the plutonium for Hanford, and the Trinity test was the dawn of the nuclear age. This was the first time that humans had controlled the power of the atom.

Mm-hmm. So pretty profound shift in the human condition from, yeah, the pre atomic age to the atomic age. 

No kidding. Yeah. So how long did, , Hanford did the reactor remain active after the war? 

B reactor produced plutonium, so immediately after World War ii, uh, they originally thought the Manhattan Project would be done, no war rich uranium or weapons or anything like that.

But pretty quickly we get into Cold War production and then. The Soviet Union had, their first little boy, which was their first, atomic bomb was detonated in 1949, and then that was really the formal start of the nuclear arms race and the Cold War. Yes. Cold War really started. You know, 19 46, 19 47.

So almost immediately, Hanford and Oakridge and Los Alamos shifted into Cold War production. And so B Reactor went through the mid 1960s producing plutonium, but then Hanford also had nine other reactor, nine reactors total that produced plutonium through the 1970s. Slowed down a little bit, kicked back up in the 1980s.

And then finally the late 1980s, the um. Production stopped and we shifted into cleanup era, which then starts the Hanford reach. Uh, yes, monument story. 

Yes. And Becky, I just wanna make sure I understand and share with people correctly that the Manhattan Project, national Historic site today is those three different places that you talked about, including Hanford.

Correct? That, um, yes. So your job, , as Park Service employees with Manhattan Project. National historic site is really to sort of steward this story in part.

It, our, the Manhattan Project, national Historical Park, was established to share.

The sites, stories and legacies of the Manhattan Project. So we really focus on the World War II context, the development of the weapons. 

Yep. 

But we have that legacy piece. So we touched a little bit on the legacies. 

Yep. 

, But not a whole lot about cleanup because that's Dee's responsibility. 

Yes. And that's.

Department of Energy, 

right? Yeah. Department of Energy. And then the Manhattan Project, national Historical Park is co-managed with the Department of Energy and the National Park Service. Yep. And as you mentioned, we have the three sites. So we're one park. 

Yep. 

Three uh, three sites. And countless stories is our logo.

So we're the only park co-managed with the Department of Energy. And located in three different time zones. 

That's, that's quite a job. Becky, there's a, there's a lot to a lot to unpack here. Thank you. Yeah, 

it's, it's a crazy little park, but really, really impactful story. 

Yeah. I, I'm also just gonna say, I think I.

Told you this previously when we talked that, , listeners, if you're looking for a good Instagram follow, I would really recommend Manhattan Project. NPS, I think is the name of it. 

Mm-hmm. 

It's fan, it's fantastic. I mean, your, honesty about things that have happened and uh, is just, you know, give, telling the story.

Okay.

Tell us about how, , this location went from being home to the production of plutonium to being a national monument. What happened there? 

Oh, the entire story is long and complicated and political, so I'm sure 

it is. 

Uh, so of the, 520 square miles, the outer ring of Han, the Hanford site was, devoted to protection of the.

The nuclear facilities, , plutonium, processing plants, et cetera, in the middle. And those areas were left primarily. , They were primarily left alone with the exception of the military presence, uh, to protect, protect Hanford. When the, . Plutonium production shut down. Uh, and doe's mission switched to cleanup.

Those outer lands were really no longer needed for, for,, those purposes. , They were relatively pristine, uh, and so there was a push to, use them for other reasons. One protection as a, park-like, uh, facility. There was also a push for other uses like irrigated. , Farmland, et cetera. Any rate,, long and short of it is that, 25 years ago, , well, I guess now we're in 20 year, 26, , president Clinton used the Antiquities Act of 1908 to create national monument of that outer ring of land that wasn't necessary to, , clean up.

And hence we have 196,000 acre national monument out here surrounding Central Hanford. 

Yeah. And it's managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, right? 

Not all of it. Uh, okay. There are some chunks that are, primarily managed by the Department of Energy. It, it's 

okay. 

It's entirely owned by the Department of Energy.

We manage, . Select areas, both on the north and south side of the monument. Mm-hmm. But the, the Department of Energy manages the river corridor and some lands up near Venita. 

Okay. . And listeners, I think it's helpful to know that national monuments have. A national park is created with an act of Congress, but a national monument, like you were saying, Dan, , is created by the president can just take a pen and be like, I want a national monument here.

And so. There are like different ways that national monuments are structured and managed. So Mount St. Helen's National Monument is part of the Forest Service. So there's, you know, a lot of different ways that can look. That's why I was asking. And then it makes sense that it's more than one agency.

Okay. So. Can you, uh, I mean, let's start with you Dan, but Becky, you can, you can weigh in as well. What is kind of unique about this environment today? 

Well, uh, shrub step habitat in the state of Washington, or, or anywhere in the West is, is a decreasing resource. Mm-hmm. You know, there are push, . Demands for other uses of these lands.

So having a large block of land, of shrub step habitat, , preserved all in one location is kind of unique. You know, there are a few other blocks, floating around, some of them in other national monuments managed by other agencies. So that's. That's why it's nice to have, have a chunk of remaining shrub step, left in Washington.

Set aside for recreation, for conservation, uh, for protection of plants and wildlife. 

Yep. Do you wanna add anything to that, Becky? 

Yeah. What I really like when I go out hiking on the monument, it's beautiful. You get to see the shrub step habitat, but there's also sand dunes. There's just a really unique, you get to see the river.

But what's also really neat is you get a great view of the Hanford site. 

Yeah. 

And so you can see the reactors along the river, like the K basin and, and uh, so you can see just like it's a, a story of dichotomy. Yeah. You get these great, you know, shrub step habitat, there's birds, there's wildlife. Really beautiful setting.



You can see that early farming era we talked about.

'cause you can see the original Handford high school and the, the white bl fairy landing. So when you're walking out there, you really, you, you get to enjoy the, the plants, the animals, and the beautiful landscape. But you can also see some of these, , cultural resources out there as well. So be able to blend the history with nature

yep, for sure. Okay, so Dan, , what are some of the hiking trails that are in the monument that are great for hikers to check out? And then are there other types of recreation you can do there too? 

We don't maintain any trails, but there are several trails that have developed over the years. Yep. Mainly following the white bluffs themselves. 

Yeah. 

One of the nicest trails is the short trail out to the sand dunes at the top of the white bluffs.

And it is kind of unique to be able to hit sand dunes. Well anywhere in the state and Yeah. Especially with that size. So they're quite massive out there. 

Yeah. 

I will also add, , that, , there are other ice age floods features to see out there.

Yep. On the, north side of the Saddle Mountains, it, that was a, erosional zone. The flood stripped things from there on. Hanford side of Saddle Mountains. That was a deposition zone, as the water piled up behind Wallula Gap. 

Yep. 

We had, uh, we have massive, uh, ripple marks on the landscape. We have.

Huge gravel bars. There are bird mounds where iceberg's carrying gravel, grounded out, melted away and left mounds of gravel. Those are unique. We have erratics, uh, huge boulders, usually granitic rafted down on ice from, uh, upper Idaho, Montana, and you can find those on the landscapes., So. Tying back to your Ice age floods From there.

I will also say the other thing, you can see out there is you can see the remnants of the defense of Hanford from the top of Saddle Mountain if you go up there. 

Mm-hmm. 

The, foundations are still left, in the ground from the Army barracks that were up there to originally protect, Hanford from, I guess well invasion.

Yeah.

The Saddle Mountains is on the north side of the river. Okay. Entirely open to the public, north of Highway 26.

Cool. 

It's offers some of the best views of the monument and of the surrounding area. Uh, it, anytime anybody asks where they can go to see a broad view.

Yeah. Love that. That's a great tip. I didn't know about that. That's cool. And, that Bluffs hike, that is one of my,, top five hikes in Washington. It's just so unique and so. Wonderful for all the reasons you both mentioned, and it's not a super steep hike. I mean, there's some climbing here and there, but it's not like you're trudging up climbing over rocks or anything like that.

It's pretty gentle. Although the dunes are a little. Slippy. 

It's a good workout. Climbing, 

it was like walking uphill on a beach basically. It always 

is. Uh, yeah. Yeah. The other nice thing about Hanford is you can hike cross country out there, you know? Yeah. If you do it in a national forest, you may end up getting lost.



Yeah. 

You're gonna be hard pressed to get lost out on Hanford. 

Yeah. 

For don't anticipate to head off, off trail in, in areas open to the public. Of course. 

Yes. 

On the other hand, make sure you're wearing gators and whatever to avoid picking up Cheatgrass seeds because they're miserable. But uh, but yeah, head off trail.

Go, go explore. 

Yeah, that's really cool. And there's not a ton of places where you can do that. So that's a really. Unique thing about Hanford National Monument for sure.

, Also out on the, . Area open to the public. You can access, uh, Nike missile sites.

I mean, the missiles are long gone of course. 

Yeah. 

And there really isn't a whole lot to see beyond the pads themselves, but that was the second round of defense for. For Hanford originally it started out with the manned artillery, um, on top of the mountains and eventually Nike missiles were developed and those sites are still out there.

You can access two or three of them within the open areas of the monument. And the roads themselves out there are historic in their own way. I mean, yeah, they exist because they were military roads that were all developed to in protection of Hanford. 

Dan, tell us a little bit, so we've talked quite a bit about the landscape, what about the plants and animals? What are, some of the things that people are likely to encounter visiting the monument? 

Yeah, the landscape is, takes a little bit of, getting used to, to appreciate everything that's out there.

Yeah. 

If you know what you're looking for, and you don't have to look hard, but if you know. What you're seeing, , the, that these bunch grasses, uh, exist because, uh, because of moisture and resistance to fire. In the fall when you're looking at the landscape turning gold from rabbit brush, blooming, uh, et cetera, it's a.

Beautiful landscape once you understand what's out there. And I hope people take the time to learn a little bit about the landscape that, they're seeing out there. As far as wildlife that you might see while you're hiking, more and more and more, Rocky Mountain Elk are showing up on the north side of the river in the area open to the public.

So there's a decent chance you'll see elk or you might just see them on the south side of the ri. Um. The river from your hiking location., you're likely to run into mule deer, , and especially on the islands. Watch the islands,, in June, they, the deer will often head out to the islands to have their fawns out there to, to.

Uh, as protection against predators. 

Hmm. 

You're likely to see coyotes. , After the salmon are done spawning, try and get near the river. The coyotes will come down to the river to feed on the spawned out salmon. Um. I think my record was 35 coyotes in one day. Down there. 

Wow. 

Feeding on salmon.

That's intense.

Check the trees out carefully along the river. We have an amazing number of porcupines out there. So there's a decent chance of seeing porcupines. And who doesn't love porcupines? Um, they're 

really lovable despite their. 

You gotta look for prick. Much easier to see , in the winter when the leaves are off the tree.

Mm-hmm. But, but there's quite a few out there. Then of course there's the birds, great blue hair, and, great egrets ganzer ducks, , ants, uh, there's a good chance you'll see, um, a merlin. It's a small, uh, predatory hawk in the winter, especially bald eagles concentrate along there.. So there is a quite a bit to see.

You have to be quiet, uh, because everything can see you too from a long distance. Uh, so you know, it gets a jump on you. But, there's still many, many, many things to see. And if you get a chance to get out on the water trail as, as we call it, get. On the river, then you're really going to see wildlife, especially in the summer and look underneath the trees.

'cause the deer will come down to the river, uh, feed in early mornings, afternoons, and spend the day under the trees,, near the river. 

That sounds really awesome. Craig. Has done the, a paddle through the whole monument and said it was just absolutely amazing.

Okay, I'd love to ask both of you, when do you feel like is the best time of year to visit Hanford National Monument?

You wanna go first, Becky? It's not in the middle summer when it's super high. 

Yeah, 

I've been out there, so it's great. 'cause I, I love to go out there hiking, but also I, I enjoy fi um, photography. Oh. So the birds are great, but I've seen Beaver out there and,. The coyotes. So it's really neat. Great place for wildlife photography.

Yeah. 

So earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon, if you're trying to do some wildlife photography, I've been out there in like November and we had a, it was a pretty cool. Cold morning and there was a lot of who, frost and everything. It was gorgeous and that's beautiful. The beautiful, then the fog lifted and just the way the, because it was super foggy and then the fog lifted and just, it was just beautiful landscape covered in all these sparkly crystals.

Winter's a great time out there. Depend, you know, you gotta watch the weather and make sure it's not, , really bad weather. 'cause like Dan said, you can go and hike around, but make sure you have good visibility. If it's a super foggy day, you might wanna rethink it. Yeah. 

Yeah. 

Spring is great.

Lots of good wildflowers out there. Fall. Yeah, the summer summertime's pretty hot. I've been out there in like June. It was pretty toasty. 

Yeah. If you're one of those people who's always wearing a sweater in Seattle, then you can go over there and bake a little. The little summer. 

Yeah. 

Yeah. Love that. Okay, Dion, what do you think is the best time of year to visit?

Well, my favorite time is the fall when the rabbit brush is in bloom. Mm. 

The 

point is beautiful. And the insects that come to the rabbit brush are fantastic. 

Oh, cool. 

Especially if you like moths, butterflies, uh, bees, uh, obviously Spring Wild Flowers in a good 

year. 

Yes. Are, uh, phenomenal. And that's usually around, depending on the wildfire, let's say mid-April, , this year would be a little earlier.

It's been warm and, and dry. But, um, yeah, mid-April, but some of them may have bloomed earlier. Some of 'em,, a little bit later. Yep., Balam root usually comes out earlier. Lupin might be a smidgen later. 

Yep. 

Mid-April. And as Becky said, winter, is can be really nice. You get some great views of storms coming in, if, that's your thing.

Uh, and solitude. Yeah. That's one thing you will have in the winter is you'll probably have the place to yourself. 

Yes. 

You were off tr off road at all. 

Yeah. Yeah. Dion, when you were talking about the rabbit grass and butterflies and you said fall, can you be a little more specific about when, you know by fall?

Do you mean October? Do you mean November? Do you mean 

Ah, okay. Yes. Rabbit brush generally blooms, it's at its peak in say, mid-October. Okay. So somewhere in that range. 

Cool. By 

the time you get into November, it's pretty well gone. Although once again, the wildlife that comes to the river during salmon season or especially after the salmon are spawned out can be pretty spectacular.

Yep. So you're into wildlife photography. Find a spot near the river and and wait for things to come down to feed on salmon carcasses. 



I think there's a lot to see in the Tri-Cities area, like the Hanford.

Each national monument is definitely a hidden gem. There's so much to see and explore out there, for sure. The wildlife, and then of course, the history of this area from the indigenous history to the Manhattan Project and. All of the major time periods in between. There's a lot of great places to learn about that.

And then if you do come to the area, there's also nice,, hikes in town. We have Badger Mountain and Candy Mountain. You can see the Ice Age floods features, , grape flower. I saw flocks blooming on. Badger yesterday. So the flowers are starting to come out already 

mid-March. Woo-hoo. 

Yeah, so it's, there's some other things you can extend your trip to, other hiking opportunities or, , swing by and enjoy one of the, glass of wine at one of our vineyards in the area too.

Or go on a Ranger program and learn more about the Manhattan project history. So there's really a lot to do in the Tri-Cities area., Depending on your interest, if you're out here, wildlife. Photography, hiking, exploring, all sorts of great things. 

. Well, Dan and Becky, thank you so much for joining me today and sharing all of this wonderful in-depth knowledge about Hanford Reach National Monument.

Thank you. 

Well, thanks for having us. 

Our pleasure.

 Thank you so much to visit Tri-Cities for sponsoring us for the month of March and making this podcast possible so we can bring you even more wonderful hiking episodes. So thank you and see you next week.

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