Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park Backcountry — Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018

I led my first Winter Walk of the season for the Cascadians to the Ginkgo Backcountry on this sunny, cool day.  We walked out the very distinct game/boot trail along the bench above the cliffs out to the small canyon on the south side of Sternberg Point.  At the back of the canyon we cut off the main trail and followed a much fainter game trail that traverses the slopes above the cliffs of Sternberg Point out to the nose of the Point where we found a spot for lunch out of the breeze that had views up and down the Columbia and back up Hole-in-the-Wall Canyon.  There's lots of nice petrified wood in this area, so after lunch we explored around the Point to see what we could find.  It's a felony to remove any, though, so we took only photos.  Afterwards, we headed back the way we had come.  Along the way we saw a couple of herds of bighorn sheep, a couple of bald eagles soaring on the updrafts, and a number of times scared up a flock of chuckars.  Except for the wildlife, we had the place to ourselves.  It was a beautiful day!