This past weekend, Sunday evening to be exact, I packed up after my last open house, went home and changed into shorts and hiking shoes and headed South West to the Cheney area for an evening of "Near Nature, Near Perfect" (Spokane's official slogan). Wow! Let me repeat that again, wow! Turnbull Wildlife Refuge is just south of Cheney and features over 130 marshes, wetlands and lakes. In total the park is 16,000 acres in what is called the scab-lands of Eastern Washington. Of that, around 3,000 acres are actual wetlands that is major habitat for for waterfowl that have seen drastic declines in population over the past century...
Being Eastern Washington University (just a few miles north of Turnbull) Alumni, and having been welcomed onto the land by the late Peter Campbell (EWU Native American Studies Program and Tribal Elder) who loved this area tremendously and spoke of it often, I never took the time out to fully appreciate the park by actually walking the land and taking the time to observe the amazing ecosystem right here at our doorstep. I had driven by it several times, and had even shown some land recently at Badger lake a few miles further South, but an article in the Sunday Spokesman Review about Solo, the Trumpeter Swan and his new family of four surviving baby swan, got my attention and so I decided to go out and see for myself. Now I know what I've been missing! This is a tremendous resource and the feeling you get here is one of so much abundance in nature and energy tied up in the entire ecosystem.
While I didn't get a glimpse of Solo, who started a residence at the refuge more than 30 years ago, and only recently found a mate, I did see at least four different types of water foul, several other birds, a deer, and a turtle. One little chick had apparently fallen out of its nest and was on the trail so I stopped and got a picture of this cute little feathered guy...
There's also a five mile or so auto tour that gives visitors access to various trail heads. The only thing though is that it's a dirt road, and I can imagine on a busy day that it can kick up quite a bit of dust. On this part of the road however, I stopped and snapped this shot of a little turtle trying to get somewhere. I've never seen one with red on it's shell like this one...it's kind of on the underside of the shell. When it poked it's head out I noticed how they resemble the shape of a snake, and in Florida anything related, or snake like, with red on it is a "stand back!" for sure! He seemed pretty friendly though and after a while broke into a brisk (for a turtle it looked pretty fast) walk heading for the brush...
I noticed a few places that would make a great picnic area. Along the many trails there are plenty of stop and rest benches too.
There are more pictures, but neither words nor pictures compare to the extraordinary experience of being there in physical reality. You have to just go out there and experience the wonder of it all yourself. There's the scents in the air, the sounds you hear, the feeling of the breeze on your arms, and the visuals that virtual simply can't provide. One thing that I really was blown away by was the sounds. The amount of bird calls and natural sound in the refuge is amazing. It's like a great big orchestra only it's animals, birds and bugs...it actually reminded me a lot of being up at Glacier National Park and waking up in the morning hearing all the sounds of nature.
The geological history of the Refuge makes this a diverse setting with plenty of trails taking you by water in pools and lakes carved out from the largest flood in history, the glaciers in our distant past, and the volcanism characteristic of the region. Day passes to the Refuge are available for $3.00 and a Season Pass is $15.00. You can spend a few hours here, or a whole day. The best times to see the wildlife though, I was told, is early in the morning, or in the evening. It's only about 20 miles from spokane, and if you get to Cheney, just follow the signs from downtown South. Gates close at 9pm. Bring your skeeter spray, but go easy on it because you don't want the scent to chase the birds away!
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