Week 8: The East Side

5/25 Saturday. Ellensburg, Sunny with clouds. 62 degrees.

Having a chance to get out of gray Seattle to the the warmer east side of the Cascades to observer the local phenology was a great opportunity. The day started early, but we had nearly reached our destination by 10am. At our first rest stop we were lucky enough to see a Red-Tailed Hawk riding a warm current to get some elevation. When we got to Yakima River Canyon just south of Ellensburg we saw a Great Blue Heron! I cheesy as it sounds, I was really excited to cross the foot bridge to enter the natural area.

Some musing I did about the geologic history. The dates were wrong.. (10-15mya)

The east side of the Cascades receives about 20in of rain/year. Because of this the vegetation is quite different. At Yakima Canyon I observed a lot of Sage Brush and Rabbit Brush; I noticed there was a pretty even distribution there. The identifiable difference between the two brushes is the Sage Brush has three little toes at the end of its leafs, whereas the Rabbit Brush as uninterrupted leafs. There’s also Antelope Brush, which has smaller, greener leafs, and is leaf frequent. Along with the brushes, I noticed more rushes mixed in the grassy areas. In a small meadow we found Sarah identified these pretty distinct flowers growing called Yellow Salsifies, which can be identified by their stems which remain cool despite the heat. We also found one cactus in the valley, which looked like the Fragile Prickly Pear from the National Audubon Society Guide., but it could be something else. Other vegetation in the canyon consisted of Nootka Roses and  Pondarosa Pines, which both grew closer to the river. It was cool to see some vegetation that grew on both the west and east sides.

Such a cool flower. Yellow Salsify, Tragopogon dubius  

This was the first cactus I've seen in WA. Could be the Fragile Prickly Pear,  Opuntia fragilis.

 As for the fauna at the canyon site, we did a lot of bird watching. One of the first birds we saw was a Black-Headed Gross Beak, which is orange, black, and white and has a intricate song. We also saw an American Goldfinch and a Lazuli bunting, which looks like a blue-headed sparrow. We spent a lot of time looking for Chats, which we could hear but not find. One eventually flew out, as if to display itself to us, then in less than a minute, dived back into the bushes; they’re so elusive! We managed to see a lot of Cedar Waxwing’s socializing in a dead tree by the river (over five). You could hear crickets the whole time, but they were hard to find in the shade of the bushes. There were quite a few of these small butterflies, which could be the Western Blue-Tail based on their size, location and season. Just before we left, Carter caught a Gardiner Snake which added to the diversity of species observed. 

The Lupine, very pretty. We have these in UBNA as well!

Our second stop was at the top of one a plateau, roughly 1000ft higher than the base of the canyon. The first thing I noticed was how moist the ground was. Everyone was tracking foot prints, it must’ve rained in the past two days. The top of the plateau had just as much Sage Brush but no trees. Some other shrubs in the area were the Lupine, Balsamroot, and Douglas Aster. There was Crustose Lichen on some of the bare rock and shrubs. I quickly noticed the Tent Caterpillar  outbreak and avoided the hives. I’m a slightly terrified of bugs and did not enjoy the outbreak in Seattle about ten years ago. The only bird my group saw at the site was a Sage Thatcher, but we did hear a California Quail which sounds really funny. Apparently the other group found a lizard...

Best shot of the waterfall that I got. I was impressed that the shrubs could grow on the cliffside. The rocks look like they've experienced quite a bit of freeze-thaw weathering.

Our final stop of the day was at the Columnar Basalt Waterfall. I was really excited to see the Basalt columns so I spent most of my time trailblazing to the end. Because we were hiking along a creek, the vegetation was not only more dense, but greener. There was about 100ft along where the trail went through a field of Nootka Roses. Most of the trees were Pondarosa Pines, but towards the end of the trail I noticed a couple of Douglas Firs. The waterfall was only about 30ft tall but fell into a small quarry shaped depression. I liked Tim’s suggestion that the bowl like shaped could’ve been formed by a fault. I spent my final moments at the end of the trail journaling about what I’d seen over the course of the day. It was long, but the east side is beautiful, which makes being outside quite enjoyable. Thanks for another great trip!

I like to sit on rocks and think about life!