Subject: Rock Candy Mt Rd-Capitol Peak:Directions
Date: Jul 17 13:52:02 2002
From: Lynn & Carol Schulz - linusq at worldnet.att.net


Tweeters:
Rock Candy Mt Rd is a logging road into the Capitol Forest, which starts
west of Olympia. It heads south to Capitol Peak from SR 8, which is the
main hwy from Olympia to
Ocean Shores. Ryan Shaw & Charlie Wright found Mt Quail on Capitol Peak,
and a lot more species on a big day in May.
The roads up there are logging roads. It is probably best to
travel them on the weekend, although Charlie and I were on them on a Monday
about an hour after dawn, and there was only one logging truck. But other
birders have been stuck up there behind logging equipment when they went
mid-week. There can be motorcyclists and off-road vehicles in the area.
The road is
dirt and gravel, but is smooth, and city cars should manage it fine, even
the steep section at the end to Capitol Peak.
It is 9 miles on
the dirt roads into Capitol Peak which is the highest point on the road (I
think). Despite the road name, Rock Candy Mt itself is a smaller hill that
is closer to the highway, but the main forest road leads around it.
Even though the elevation of Capitol Peak is only about 2200 feet, the
birding up there is more like what you would find at much higher elevations.
I have added Ryan & Charlie's Big Day report below, but have only included
the birds they had on Rock Candy Mt Rd (RCMR) and vicinity. For their full
report about
their awesome Thurston Cnty Big Day, refer to their report to Tweeters. I
believe they got the record high count for a day in Thurston County. Check
out their owls!
Because I had been frustrated trying to find my way on RCMR, I thought I
would expand on past directions to Capitol Peak. There are hardly any
signs, so I took Ryan's directions, and added to them. Here are my
directions, followed by an edited version of Ryan & Charlie's Big Day up
there.
-----------------------------
DIRECTIONS TO CAPITOL PEAK ON ROCK CANDY MOUNTAIN ROAD
Head west to the coast from Olympia, WA on SR 8. West of Olympia the hwy
drops down to Mud Bay. Note your mileage there. The hwy starts to climb up
into the Black Hills. Near the summit in about 5.8 miles, look for a sign
saying SUMMIT LAKE/ROCK CANDY MT. Turn left (south) onto a dirt road.
Birding in this area on the flats near the highway can be good for
Townsend's and Black-throated Gray Warbler and other species. There is a
little wetland off to the left (east) and you can walk or drive bumpy dirt
roads down here near the power lines.
To start climbing to Capitol Peak, reset your odometer where Rock Candy Mt
Rd exits the highway! Turn on your headlights, and watch for
logging trucks. The dirt road to Capitol Peak is confusing but after going
west for awhile, it goes
generally south.
EXIT FROM SR8 - ODOMETER SET TO ZERO:
Follow the main dirt road. 0.5 mi stay right at the Y. (There is a stake
that
says Rock Candy Mt.) 1.0 mi stay on main road past a ranch. Don't turn
left.
1.7 mi stay on main road. Don't take sharp left turn. 2.7 mi Big
intersection.
Go SW in same direction as power lines. Don't turn right. 2.8 left at the
Y (under power
lines). 3.2 left at Y onto C4000. 4.0 right at Y. 5.1 Big intersection.
Left on main road (says C-4). 6.0 Intersection. Take right fork of the 3
roads in the intersection. 7.0 straight through clearing. 7.3 go straight
(at trailhead and a sign to left that says C-4500). As you go straight
ahead, you will start to climb more steeply (from about 1500 ft elev).
There are lookouts and wide spots along the road on the top of a ridge. We
had good views and up-close Hermit Warblers. Look for Mt Quail and Ruffed
Grouse. Elev approx 2200. 9.0 Big Intersection w/ trailhead signs.
CAPITOL PEAK. Elev approx 2200. Look and listen and walk about for Mt
Quail. Look and listen for birds flying by overhead, possibly some species
usually seen further north in higher mountains... We noticed that we still
were on C-4000 at Capitol Peak.
When you turn around to come back bear left at the clearing. After that it
is not quite so confusing coming down, although the main road will look
pretty narrow in places.
Now see below Ryan Shaw and Charlie Wright's report about their Thurston
County Big Day w/ the birds of the Capitol Forest.
Yours, Carol Schulz
DesMoines
linusq at att.net
-----------------------------------
>From Ryan Shaw, May 9, 2002 - Thurston County Birding: MOUNTAIN QUAIL
[Edited version of the bird list-Capitol Forest & vicinity]
Greetings all,

Charlie Wright and I did a Thurston County Big Day today starting at
Midnight until 5:00PM, when exhaustion finally prevailed. We had a total of
123 species, birding most of the county, from Scatter Creek, Mima Mounds,
Rock Candy Mountain road in the Capitol Forest, Weir Prairie, Nisqually NWR,
Tolmie State Park, Mud Bay, Budd Inlet(East Bay Marina), and Lake Lois in
Lacey.

Our major highlight occured at 5:30AM about 9 miles up Rock Candy Mountain
towards Capitol Peak (accessed from Rock Candy Mountain Road and Highway 8)
when we came upon 4 MOUNTAIN QUAIL in the middle of the road at fairly high
elevation (high for the Black Hills that is). We also heard another 6 or so
calling quite loudly in the general area.

I knew this area had good potential for Mountain Quail, but have not heard
of anyone finding any recently in the Black Hills. Any previous County
records from you County listers?

The Capitol Forest was also real productive for owls. Having Northern
Saw-Whet, Western Screech, and Great Horned Owl calling during the night,
and at dawn we had several Northern Pygmy Owls calling all over.
Surprisingly no Barred Owls...all the other owls were responding to our
Barred Owl immitations, except the ones we were immitating. Hope that
doesn't mean our Barred Owl calls suck ;-)
Anywho, here's the list of birds for the day.
RUFFED GROUSE - Capitol Forest. Sitting in the road!
MOUNTAIN QUAIL - Capitol Forest
KILLDEER - Various. 1st bird of the day
SPOTTED SANDPIPER - Mud Bay
BAND-TAILED PIGEON - Capitol Forest/elsewhere
WESTERN SCREECH-OWL - Scatter Creek Wildlife Area/Capitol Forest
GREAT HORNED OWL - Scatter Creek WA/Capitol Forest
NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL - 8 birds calling - Capitol Forest
NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL - 3 calling birds - Capitol Forest
RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD - Capitol Forest/elsewhere
HAIRY WOODPECKER - Capitol Forest/Nisqually
PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER - Capitol Forest/Nisqually
CASSIN'S VIREO - Capitol Forest/Mima Mounds
HUTTON'S VIREO - Capitol Forest
GRAY JAY - Capitol Forest
STELLER'S JAY - Various
CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE - numerous-conifer zone
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH - Capitol Forest
BROWN CREEPER - Capitol Forest/Nisqually/elsewhere
BEWICK'S WREN - Capitol Forest/Nisqually
WINTER WREN - Capitol Forest
GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET - Capitol Forest
HERMIT THRUSH - Capitol Forest
AMERICAN ROBIN - Various
VARIED THRUSH - Capitol Forest
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER - Numerous
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER - Numerous
BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER - Various
TOWNSEND'S WARBLER - Various
HERMIT WARBLER - Capitol Forest
MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER - Capitol Forest
COMMON YELLOWTHROAT - Various
WILSON'S WARBLER - various
WESTERN TANAGER - Capitol Forest/Tolmie
SPOTTED TOWHEE - Capitol Forest
SAVANNAH SPARROW - numerous
SONG SPARROW - numerous
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW - had one in full song at 1:00AM
DARK-EYED JUNCO - Capitol Forest/Weir
BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK - various
RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD - Numerous
PURPLE FINCH - Capitol Forest/Elsewhere
HOUSE FINCH - Mud Bay
AMERICAN GOLDFINCH - Various
EVENING GROSBEAK - Various
Just call us the duo that can't find a Bushtit or a Coot if our lives
depended on it! Let alone a Barred Owl...sigh...

Ok, time for sleep.
Cheers and good birding

----Ryan Shaw
----Lacey, Washington
----rtshaw80 at hotmail.com
----(360) 491-1084
----AIM: RTShaw80