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Washington Trip Report - part 2 - Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge
On my first day in Washington I went to Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge nearr Cheney, southwest of Spokane. Turnbull is a mixture of wetlands, Ponderosa Pines, and steppe grasslands in a region known as the channeled scablands. November was not a very good time for finding birds there, but I found enough to make it enjoyable, plus I found interesting mammals.
None of you will be surprised that I took loads of photos. I'll start with the scenery and leave the critters for the next installment of my trip report. (After starting this post, I find I need to correct this to say I'll start with some of the scenery and leave the critters and plants and other stuff for several posts from now. I see now that the scenery isn't going to fit in one installment.)
As usual, clicking on the photos will take you to larger versions of them at Smugmug.
This is the entrance road, near the gate. This is pretty typical of the way a lot of the refuge looks.
( Pine forest )
There are open grassy areas with scattered boulders and rocks.
( A closer view of random boulders )
The Pine Lakes Loop Trail goes around a wetlands area with several ponds.
( Photos from the trail )
Blackhorse Lake Trail is a longer trail. It went past a pond then up into the woods. I turned around after a while rather than walking the whole thing. I just didn't have time for more than that. It is hard to fit a lot into the day when the sun sets at 4 PM. I saw a nice Marsh Wren in the vegetation at the pond but Marsh Wrens are secretive and unsurprisingly, I didn't get any photos of it.
And I think this is enough photos for one post. More later...
None of you will be surprised that I took loads of photos. I'll start with the scenery and leave the critters for the next installment of my trip report. (After starting this post, I find I need to correct this to say I'll start with some of the scenery and leave the critters and plants and other stuff for several posts from now. I see now that the scenery isn't going to fit in one installment.)
As usual, clicking on the photos will take you to larger versions of them at Smugmug.
This is the entrance road, near the gate. This is pretty typical of the way a lot of the refuge looks.
( Pine forest )There are open grassy areas with scattered boulders and rocks.
( A closer view of random boulders )The Pine Lakes Loop Trail goes around a wetlands area with several ponds.
( Photos from the trail )Blackhorse Lake Trail is a longer trail. It went past a pond then up into the woods. I turned around after a while rather than walking the whole thing. I just didn't have time for more than that. It is hard to fit a lot into the day when the sun sets at 4 PM. I saw a nice Marsh Wren in the vegetation at the pond but Marsh Wrens are secretive and unsurprisingly, I didn't get any photos of it.
And I think this is enough photos for one post. More later...