Selah Cliffs Natural Area Preserve — Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020

Ethan, Brenda, Jonah, Karen, & I took a walk at the Selah Cliffs Natural Area Preserve today.  This hike was to celebrate (2 days belated) my 75th birthday.  I have had a cold, so something close and level was what I needed and Selah Cliffs fit the bill.  We walked up the trail/2-track to the Fred Redmond (I-82) bridge, then backtracked a ways and climbed up the south facing hillside to a nice lunch spot with a view down Selah Creek Canyon and out to Mt Cleman & Rainier.  We relaxed in the sun for 45 min or so, but then it started to cloud up, so we hiked up the side canyon just west of the freeway to the right-of-way fence, then went back down to the main canyon and back to the cars.  On the way in we heard a canyon wren and saw a couple of small raptors in their mid-air mating ritual and as we were walking into the side canyon, we watched what appeared to be a mature and an immature bald eagle lock talons and cartwheel almost to the ground.  What a sight!  We also saw a few desert parsleys starting to bloom and 3 or 4 other parties in the canyon.  We were in shirtsleeves much of the time.  What a nice way to celebrate my 75th birthday, even if I was still a little bit under the weather.