Blue Goose ~ Day 26

June 26, 2014 ~ Bonner’s Ferry, ID to Colville, WA

The Kootenai NWR is 6 miles from Bonner’s Ferry. I was there before 0700, poking around near the headquarters. There were beautiful flowers blooming, especially a large patch of columbine. 

A sign showed the trail to Myrtle Falls starting at the parking lot. I had come to the land of gigantic trees, reminding me of Oregon. As the trail entered the forest, it went from light to dark, almost like a tunnel. The canopy cuts off most light but there isn’t dense underbrush beneath these huge trees, rather in this area, a soft carpet of light brown pine needles. I crossed a river over white water (which I thought were the falls) and went on a bit further but had no idea where the trail went or how long it was. Later, I was told that I needed to go further to actually see the falls and that it was only a quarter-mile.  The falls were thundering between cliffs of rock…serious non-navigable water, wild and spectacular of course. Dozens of wildflowers were near the this trail. I met a family from Florida with three kids. We all saw the falls, took some photos and left, glad to have made the slight effort. The river is Myrtle Creek which soon flows into the Kootenai and the impressive falls speaks of the varied habitat - mountains and wetland valleys. 

Back at the Visitor Center, I noticed hummingbirds constantly sipping from two feeders close to office windows. There were three species: Blackchinned,, Calliope (probably my favorite bird name), and Rufous. I took about 60 photos, putting the new Canon to the test.

Calliope Hummingbird at Kootenai NWR - ID

Rufous Hummingbird at Kootenai NWR - ID

Black-chinned Hummingbird at Kootenai NWR - ID

I drove the auto route around wetlands and later went up Lion’s Den road hoping to see a MacGillivray’s Warbler. The woman in the office told me that they had last been reported there. I didn’t see a warbler but saw a Blue-headed Vireo, except when I checked the field guidd, the range was wrong for that bird, but was right for Cassin’s Vireo which looks almost exactly like a Blue-headed. Another life bird!

Kootenai was a beautiful refuge, close to town, open early. I walked the Chickadee Trail seeing only a Red-Breasted Nuthatch. Many species have either moved on to more northern nesting sites or are busy brooding and feeding young. There just isn’t the frenzy of April and May. 

After spending a couple of hours, I left and drove south to Sand Point, ID, where I found a Starbucks, badly in need of caffeine as I was sleepy, and then went west and north and west again to Little Pend Oreille NWR near Colville, WA. The route north was along the west back of the Priest River and through national forests and occasional small resorts. It felt like northern Michigan. I stopped in Usk and, since I had no cash and didn’t want to use a debit card for a bottle of water, I bought zuzu food, like jelly beans and cheese and pepper potato chips and two bottled Frappucinos. I ate half the chips (not that good) and threw the rest out the window so I wouldn’t be tempted later. I then started in on the jelly beans (you know, salty, then craving something sweet, or just boredom) and finally began throwing the white and yellow ones out the window, feeling like Hansel and Gretel. I also had had a Michigan Cherry bar at Starbucks earlier. The day was a nutritional disaster. 

It rained intermittently but would clear in between showers. I got to Little Pend Oreille after it had closed but drove the auto route. Nearly all refuges are open sunrise to sunset; it's just the offices that usually close at 4 p.m. This was a large refuge and is consumptive in that people hunt, fish, ride horses, log and even camp. The road started out well marked, but then I found myself getting deeper and deeper into the refuge, and the road got more and more marginal - narrower, rockier, ruttier, muddier. I went past a logging operation, although no one was there, continued on but finally turned around. The map I had didn't help enough. I had passed a campground with several RVs and horse trailers earlier and almost turned in, thinking how cool it would be to sleep on a refuge since most do not allow that. But I didn’t, thinking that perhaps this was a group of people who all knew each other, and I would be crashing their party. I was not really apprehensive about checking it out; more just ambivalent / lazy. 

I got back on the designated auto route and decided to spend an hour under the Ponderosas. It was a very quiet hour with only a few distant twitterings of birds and no animals, not even squirrels. It was savannah-like under the trees, and I could sense the light slowly fading in the west. I knew I was quite near one of the exits, and that Colville (where I planned to stay) wasn’t far. 

Total quiet: no wind in the trees, no insects buzzing, no squirrels or marmots or chipmunks chattering. One pickup passed in the hour I was there. I find if I can resist looking at the timer until it is past 30 minutes, I am then on the downside of the hour and gets easier. Not that this exercise is unbearable, but it is kind of a meditation which I never do. The success is directly proportional to the choice of venue. This spot was marginal in that “nothing” was happening. It’s harder than I thought it would be to do nothing for an hour. It is something Maria would have been good at. Planning things is often more fun than executing them. But I am adding to my memory bank…..an hour on a June evening in a Ponderosa forest will be more pleasant in retrospect than actuality. 

I got to the Walmart in Colville and drove slowly around the parking lot before picking out a spot. Often I change positions if something looks better once I settle in.

Logging - Colville, WA

Directly across the highway was a logging operation with an immense machine that was several stories high with claw-like pincers that would pick up a dozen or so logs from gigantic piles, move down a track and drop them. Bright lights illuminated the yard. I don’t know if they worked all night but were at it early the next morning.

And a street sweeper type vehicle was careening round the parking lot of Walmart, madly sweeping and cleaning. It passed very near my van about five times but finally retired for the night. And then it began to rain hard; I was secure and sleepy and actually liked the sound of raindrops, although I had to completely close the windows.