Just returned from the Owl Farm. Dividing the long drive to the North Cascades, I stopped at my sister's place in Welches, near Mt. Hood. Carla and her husband, Bob, have a beautiful cabin on the Salmon River.Made a few other pit stops along U.S. 97: one for my annual contribution to the Yakama Nation (read: I purchased a nice variety of fireworks) and another for some cherries, now in season.
As the cherries are out, so are the mosquitoes: I spent the first few minutes after arriving at the Owl Farm putting up a new screen tent. The bugs weren't unbearable, but they certainly make their presence known. You'd best cover up outside or use bug dope to deter the little bloodsuckers this time of the year.
When I was a kid, I'd swell up quite badly when bitten by a mosquito. Now, after tens of thousands of bites, mostly from my time as a wilderness ranger, they hardly affect me. Oh, the mosquitoes still bite, but after a quick scratch, that's it.
In addition to doing the usual chores preparing the place for guests later in the season, I scouted out the road to Maverick Saddle on Entiat Ridge for a hike sometime this summer to the Blue Creek Guard Station on the Mad River Trail. As expected, the "all-weather" surface was kind of rough and rocky: four-wheel drive is recommended.
Entiat Ridge, the longest continual ridge in the State of Washington, extends nearly 60 miles from the remote Glacier Peak Wilderness Area all the way to the Columbia River, north of Wenatchee. In 1980, I patrolled the area as a wilderness ranger for the U.S. Forest Service.
A broad ridge with a plethora of flora and fauna, the upper Mad River area on Entiat Ridge is spectacular. Walking a ridge that almost kisses the sky, a hike provides a view through miles of empty air to Glacier Peak, which lords over dozens of icy/craggy sentinals like Buck Mountain and Seven-Fingered Jack in the upper Chiwawa River basin.
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