Length: 7-ish miles, roundtrip (not 8 like the WTA site says)
Elevation Gain: 1,750 ft
The Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area is in Kittitas, 2.5 hours outside of Seattle. I know. Whiskey Dick? It gets its name from Whiskey Dick Mountain, but how the mountain got that name, I… don’t know the backstory. Maybe there is none. Maybe it was named by a 13-year-old boy who thought himself quite hilarious.
The drive was a breeze — I was on paved road the entire way (I-90 to small town streets), which is important because I drive a very not-for-offroading sedan. Once I was inside the Wild Horse Solar & Wind Facility (which is where the wildlife area is located), I got my recreation pass from the main visitor’s building. Despite what the WTA website says, I didn’t need a Discover Pass to hike here.
A mile back down the same road is where the trail began. This was marked by a tiny stone with a plaque on it.
And I mean tiny.
This place was nothing like the green old growth forests of Western Washington, so I can imagine that some people might find it kind of boring. But I loved the tumbling hills of low sagebrush as far as the eye can see — it just made everything that much more vast, especially since I also hiked this on a clear, cloudless day. The sky went on forever.
I think most days the entire area is windy — it is a wind farm, after all — but this day was only slightly breezy. There was no cover on this hike, and even though I slathered sunscreen on my arms before heading out, I ended up lightly roasted by the end. I didn’t see anyone else the entire time I was on the trail.
The wildflowers were lovely, but quite a few are also losing their bloom. There were still plenty of fragrant lupines, camas, and balsamroots, though. One of the reasons why I picked this trail was to check out the wild hedgehog cacti, and there were definitely some in bloom near the top of the ridge! If you do this hike and want to see them, hike up to the top and then look at the ground on the valley side of the ridge and you should be able to spot a good number of them.
The trail was easy to follow, though about a mile in, it seemed to disappear into a meadow. But I kept walking forward to the end of the meadow and found a small path leading up through the sagebrush — the right one was marked with helpful neon pink tags tied to the sagebrush.
The trail rose steadily from there, and while it was not technically difficult, it sure was exhausting. I stopped to pant and chug water more than once — more than thrice. Maybe more like 17 times. The trail ended at a series of gravel roads at the top of the ridge. There was no real place to sit, so I just picked a nice rock and hunkered down there to admire the valley below and all the oddly soothing wind turbines. If you want shade, walk down the gravel road to the shadow of one of the turbines — just don’t get too close to it (you have to stay at least 300 feet away from them for safety reasons).
I actually remembered to pack binoculars this time, so I could check out the various birds. I spotted sage sparrows and what looked (and sounded) like an American pipit — as well as some very vocal ravens. There was one little bluebird box near the beginning of the trail, but I didn’t see any bluebirds. Bummer.
As a bug magnet, I was worried about flying things getting all up in my grill, but this was mostly unfounded. There were quite a few butterflies and moths out, but also quite a few annoying flies that went nuts every time I stopped to sip water. And even worse than those was the one ornery bee I encountered. While photographing some hedgehog cacti, I was chased off by an angry bee that wouldn’t leave me alone until I had run a good quarter mile away. It didn’t sting me, but was pretty adamant that I get the hell out of there. No biting insects, though, which is always a plus.
I’ll likely visit this area again to check out some of the other trails, and hopefully spot one of those elusive bluebirds! I finished this hike in about 3 hours, including a short rest at the top.
A disappointing thing I saw on the remote drive out here.
