Juniper Dunes Wilderness — Thursday, Apr. 18, 2013

Central Washington > Tri-Cities

It is a coincidence that a seldom visited hiking area like the Juniper Dunes Wilderness receives two trip reports within a few days of each other. The main reason is that the area is best visited in the spring before it gets too hot and while the desert flowers are sprouting. In order to drive to the northern entry trailhead, the access road description by Bob&Barb (29 Apr 2006) was very accurate and very helpful. You travel 3.5 mi. on paved Snake River Rd., 2.4 mi, on very good gravel, but very dusty Blackman Ridge Rd. and 2 mi. on gravel Joy Rd. to the turnaround loop at the end of the road by the cattle corral. In order to access the wilderness from here, one must traverse private property owned by Juniper Dunes Farms. A sign at the entrance limits the period of access to three months in the year (March, April, May). Be careful to close each of the three metal gates behind you and do not shortcut across the wheat field, but follow the perimeter of the field to the pumping station at the well with the electric power pole. After passing through the third metal gate one ascends a ridge and on top of the ridge is a barbed wire fence with a narrow entrance passage, a dilapidated sign marking Juniper Dunes Wilderness and a visitor register. There are no marked trails in this wilderness, you are just left to your own route finding skills, in particular for the return trip, when your boot prints have been erased by drifting sand. A compass would be helpful on days when the sun is not out. During the hike, I recorded several way points on my GPS and superimposed them on the aerial photography after I returned home. The linear distance between my start and turnaround point was less than two miles, but it felt like a lot more with all the ups and downs. Prior to leaving home, I had also downloaded and printed aerial photography from MapCard and Google Earth to help me navigate through this maze of dunes and valleys. It is best to follow trampled trails that stay on top of one of the ridges where one has a good overview of the area. Amazingly, from the highest point of one of the dunes one even has cell phone reception. On this visit, this year, it may have been a bit too early to enjoy desert wildflowers in full bloom. I only saw Sand Dock (Veiny Dock, Rumex venosus), lots of Pale Wallflower (Erysimum occidentale) and one lonely larkspur. And an unidentified shrub with yellow flowers (see attached photo, please help to identify). Many trip reports posted on the WTA web site lament the poor condition of the other access roads. Looking at the aerial photography, it seems that if you like sand dunes, then you should enter from the north. If you want to see more juniper shrubs without walking more than four miles, then you would enter from the east entrance. I did not see any snakes or any other non-aviary animals.