The Klickitat Haul Road makes a good winter hike, with opportunities to view bald eagles looking for a feast of spawned-out salmon.
The first two miles of the hike are on asphalt, then the pavement ends and turns to gravel for another one eighth of a mile or so before the restoration begins. The road bed has been pulled back, culverts removed and the slope of the river bank restored to allow the river to flow freely. There is a six to ten-foot wide shelf along cliffs -- this is the trail surface. In other stretches where there aren't cliffs and the road bed is back from the river, the route is on the former road now converted to dirt.
After the first 1.5 miles of the hike, Highway 142 on the east bank turns away from the river. From that point on, traffic sound fades and the serenade is from the rushing river and the calls of birds like dippers and kingfishers.
We hiked about 3.5 miles to the turnaround point where the hike reaches a backwater against a cliff. The river shore must be waded in order to continue north.
We found a riverside lunch spot in a grove of Oregon white oaks before heading back to the car. The daylight was rather gloomy with thick clouds draped over the ridges above us. The temperature was 37 when we started and 40 when we returned to the car, but it was dry, which in midwinter is sometimes as good as it gets.
We saw 2 bald eagles, flocks of common mergansers on the river, 35 turkeys on the opposite bank, kingfishers, dippers, lots of Stellar's jays in large, noisy groups, some black-capped chickadees and a rock wren.
Comments