Hike Of The Week: Whiskey Dick's desert ramble can be a blast

You either will love or hate Whiskey Dick Mountain. You'll be bored out of your skull by the rolling, look-alike hills or be down on your hands and knees with a close-up lens ferreting out wee flowers. If you time it right, you may find yourself in a grotto of sagebrush lit by the psychedelic glow of hedgehog cactus. In fact, that may be the only flower sturdy enough to photograph when it is windy.


		KAREN SYKES
	A hiker follows the old road toward higher ground on Whiskey Dick Mountain. Desert enthusiasts savor the sagebrush steppe here.

Make no mistake. This can be a very windy place and by the time we were through hiking, we felt as if we'd been through a sandblaster. If hiking into a screaming headwind is not your idea of a good time, come back another day or consider bringing a kite and hang on tight.

The 28,549-acre Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area is in the southeastern foothills of the Colockum range, part of the Quilomene Wildlife Area that spans the breaks between the Columbia River and the Cascade foothills. Experienced hikers revisit this region regularly, but we don't recommend it as your first desert hike. There are others with a greater variety of terrain and more well-defined trails such as Umtanum Creek, previously described.

Desert enthusiasts savor the sagebrush steppe with its rocky outcroppings, hidden canyons, floral displays and wildlife, but you'll need to slow your pace to appreciate the soft, undulating hills that stretch for miles without a tree. On a clear day, drink in views of Mount Rainier, the Goat Rocks and Mount Adams to the west and to the east the vivid slash of the Columbia River and miles of farmland toward Moses Lake.

Polish those navigational skills as there are no official trails here. The terrain is laced with deeply rutted roads, some of which dead-end for no apparent reason, and game trails that follow the contours of the land. Though there are moderate ups and downs, the terrain cries out for rambling, not a workout.

Walking these hills under the wide-open sky may inspire you to meditate, read or write poetry -- Walt Whitman comes to mind. Such lonely, windswept country is bound to bring out the poet or philosopher in just about everyone who ventures here.


		KAREN SYKES
	A high point along Whiskey Dick Ridge offers views of the Columbia River and the Cascade mountains.

We hiked a route described in "Desert Hikes" by Dan Nelson and Alan Bauer, starting near the Vantage Highway. Following their directions, we made two right turns on the main road that heads toward the Columbia River and Rocky Coulee, away from Whiskey Dick Mountain. Their map designates a "view" where the road bends to descend into a coulee before it regains the long ridge of Whiskey Dick Mountain, but when we got to it, the road continued doggedly on the same contour.

In all fairness, there is probably more than one view, but we were getting farther away from Whiskey Dick Mountain, our objective, so we left the road and continued cross-country. This was serendipitous -- almost as soon as we left the road, we spotted a group of hedgehog cactus in bloom.

We descended into and then climbed out of the coulee through sage and flowers toward the broad ridge of Whiskey Dick. As we climbed, the hills lost their distinctiveness and it was hard to tell where one ridge ended and another began. Each rocky outcropping promised to be a high point, but by the time we reached it there'd be another one behind it.

We followed the line of the ridge as it led away from the river, first on game trails and then a path that evolved into a gravel road. The ridge is dotted with balsamroot and white phlox and we also encountered flowers that we don't ordinarily see, such as narrow-leafed collomia, dagger-pod and oval-leaf desert buckwheat.

This region also attracts birders -- look for grouse, chukar, quail, songbirds, eagles and hawks. It also provides year-round habitat for wildlife, including a large elk herd, bighorn sheep and mule deer.

As we hiked, the wind picked up and conversation was impossible. My buddy took refuge in a sheltered nook while I went on to the hoped-for high point of Whiskey Dick.

My eyes were watering and it was hard to see. Through tears I could make out the Columbia River far away and radio towers on another high point to the west, but views of the volcanoes were blocked by clouds.

Apparently the high point with the towers is the true summit of Whiskey Dick, but I'd gone far enough. Because I spent most of my time on the high point trying to remain erect, I didn't check my altimeter. It was a relief to descend with the wind at my back.

Rather than retrace our steps, we hiked cross-country to a network of roads that led back to the car, using a blinking beacon as a visual point of reference and the glint of an aluminum roof on a storage shed near the highway.

As we hiked we startled a jack rabbit that scurried off into the sage, our sole wildlife sighting. Back at the car I looked at my glasses and thought the lenses were scratched from wind-driven grit, but it was only striations from dust.

If you go

Getting there -- From Seattle head east on Interstate 90 and get off at Exit 115, Kittitas. Go left (north) over the freeway, through Kittitas and at about 1.2 miles turn right at the stop sign. In a short distance bear left onto County Road 81, continue 1.2 miles and turn right onto the old Vantage Highway. Continue 12 miles, bypass the first entry to the Quilomene Wildlife Area and at 13.7 miles turn left onto another access road and park, elevation 2,000 feet. Four-wheel-drive vehicles can proceed another 0.4 mile, veer right at a Y junction and in 0.6 mile turn right again at the next Y to a pullout about 1.2 miles from the highway. Roads designated with green dots are open to mountain bikes and vehicles that can handle the conditions. A Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife vehicle permit is required.

Trail data -- Depending on where you start, expect about 8-10 miles round-trip hiking with approximately 1,700 feet of elevation gain, excluding ups and downs. There are no Green Trail maps for this region.

Information -- For additional information, refer to "Best Desert Hikes: Washington" by Alan L. Bauer and Dan A. Nelson (Mountaineers, 250 pages, $16.95). An excellent flower guide is "Sagebrush Country: A Wildflower Sanctuary" by Ronald J. Taylor (Mountain Press, 209 pages, $14). For additional information on the Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area, visit the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife at wdfw.wa.gov/. This is a comprehensive Web site with up-to-date information on access, rules, regulations, closures, permits and a wildlife viewing guide. For a crude map, go to wdfw.wa.gov/lands/r3quilmn.htm.

Karen Sykes, West Seattle resident and avid hiker, has been traveling Northwest trails for 24 years and is the author of "Hidden Hikes in Western Washington." She can be reached at hikes4life@yahoo.com.

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