HORSHOE BASIN IN THE PAYSAYTEN WILDERNESS
25-26 SEPTEMBER 2004



A fine weather forecast prompted Ellen and I to set off Friday evening to Horseshoe Basin in the eastern Paysayten Wilderness Area, an area of high summits and basins in the northeastern Cascades. In my mind, this is the most accessible area of really expansive alpine habitat in Washington, the gateway at Sunny Pass, a five-mile hike. Not only is this remote region accessible, but the area is truly beautiful, with alpine terrain mantling the broad rounded summits all around. It's a world away from the jagged, wet, snowy, and glaciated North Cascades only 30 miles to the west. This is a long trip for a two-day weekend, though. For us, it is a 275-mile drive to the trailhead at Irongate Campground, the final five miles being on a primitive track.



We arrived at midnight; here we car camped here in a forest of Lodgepole Pine and Engelmann Spruce. I played a tape for Boreal Owl, but had no response through the night. Before sunrise on Saturday, a Pine Grosbeak called loudly right above us, a good start to our weekend!



Once along the trail, we soon noted many of the mature Engelmann Spruce trees were dead or dying, caused by a Spruce Bark Beetle (Dendroctonus falcipennis) epidemic, as they are in the Tiffany Mountain area just to the south. American Three-toed Woodpeckers seemed to be everywhere, taking advantage of the obvious diseased trees. We counted at least 12 along the trail on the hike in. We heard Pine Grosbeaks along the trail, too, but only one small party of Boreal Chickadees. I heard a Spruce Grouse "bubbling" from the woods, but we couldn't find the bird and it shut up as soon as we started crashing about the fallen timber trying to get a view.



At 6,800 feet elevation, below cliffs with Whitebark Pine, a Black-billed Magpie called, a rare upslope wanderer in fall. Most notable, though, were three White-breasted Nuthatches (480 57' 21" N 1190 55' 47" W) working the diseased spruce in this area, my first for the upper subalpine in Washington and among the very few I've observed in eastern Washington away from Ponderosa Pine.



We set up camp by the meadow edge in Horseshoe Basin. After a little rest, we took advantage of the beautiful afternoon to hike up Horseshoe Mountain a mile or so to the east. We noted several alpine habitats on this peak. The broad, south slopes were mantled in a dense sward of Idaho Fescue grassland, attractive to roving loose flocks of Horned Larks, American Pipits, and Lapland Longspurs. The localized areas of north-facing slopes on the mountain were typically stony, with Dryas mats and alpine and arctic willows. We missed ptarmigan, the target bird of our hike. Besides Lapland Longspurs, we saw a number of raptors, including a Northern Goshawk and our first of the fall Rough-legged Hawk.



Though I've heard Boreal Owl in Horseshoe Basin (twice in July), the only owl we heard Saturday night was a distant Barred Owl, calling from the lower, wetter dense timber down valley.



Early on Sunday morning, we started up Armstrong Mountain, usually a good bet for White-tailed Ptarmigan. On the way up, there was a flurry of activity about 10 am when a number of raptors became visible, including Northern Harrier, all three Accipiters, several Golden Eagles, and a dashing Merlin. Well above timberline, at 7,700 feet elevation, we flushed two Blue Grouse from the south slopes of Armstrong Mountain. Ellen suggested these grouse were feasting on ripe Kinnickinick berries.



Just south of the summit (480 59' 30" N 1190 56' 33" W, 7,865 feet elevation) in rocky alpine habitat dominated by fescue, I noted a large squirrel which, on first glance, I took to be Columbian Ground Squirrel ( Spermophilus columbianus), the expected species here. It appeared too large and bulky for this species, so I took a closer look and determined it was a Yellow-bellied Marmot (Marmota flaviventris), unknown at this altitude and habitat in Washington (Johnson and Cassidy. 1997. Terrestrial Mammals of Washington State. WA State Gap Analysis Project Final Report-Vol. 3).



As usual, Ellen and I canvassed the alpine separately, but within earshot, while combing the bouldery slopes for ptarmigan. While I was slowly ascending below the summit boulder field, she was above. By and by I heard her holler, so ambled off in her direction. "I just spotted four ptarmigan, off that direction about 50 feet." I peered in that direction and saw nothing. It turned out I was looking way too close in the rocky terrain; the ptarmigan were more like 100 feet. They were mostly white! As the minutes passed, our count increased, as the grouse popped up from the boulder field. Our final tally, 14 birds! Given all the raptor activity, we were both surprised these birds were so casually wandering about the snow-free slopes in the open. In the prior hour, we'd seen at least six potential predators fly over or near the ptarmigan: a number of Cooper's Hawk, one Northern Goshawk, and two Golden Eagles. Yet these grouse, as conspicuous as a blazing beacon, were ambling about in the open as if invisible. Hadn't anybody suggested to these "chickens" this was risky behavior?



On our way out, we lunched in the warm September sunshine at Sunny Pass. This was yet another good vantage to watch migrating raptors and other birds. In addition to Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, American Kestrel, and several more Golden Eagles, we noted a distant flock of geese-like birds heading southeast in V-formation. Though far away, several times we heard them utter a garrulous "garr-rooo...garr-rooo" call, Sandhill Cranes. We also had time to admire the sublime scene here: mile after mile of gorgeous subalpine meadows and forest in the broad valleys, with alpine habitats unequaled in their extent anywhere in Washington. An exaggeration you say? Well, go see for yourself! And, at this time of year, you seem to have the whole half-million acres of the Paysayten Wilderness Area to yourself.



>From Sunny Pass down to Irongate trailhead, the trail passes good Spruce Grouse habitat, so we kept alert for one, but didn't note any. While driving out, we spotted one by the roadside at Daisy Creek, our final "good" bird for the trip.



Bird species observed:



Northern Harrier - 7

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 4

Cooper's Hawk - 3

Northern Goshawk - 3

Red-tailed Hawk - 6

Rough-legged Hawk - 1

Golden Eagle - 7

American Kestrel - 2

Merlin - 1

Spruce Grouse - 1

Blue Grouse - 3

White-tailed Ptarmigan - 14

Sandhill Crane - 25

Common Snipe - 2

Barred Owl - 1

Hairy Woodpecker - 3

Three-toed Woodpecker - 13

Pileated Woodpecker - 1

Horned Lark - 120

Gray Jay - 15

Steller's Jay - 2

Clark's Nutcracker - 5

Black-billed Magpie - 1
Common Raven - 15

Mountain Chickadee - 25

Boreal Chickadee - 4

Red-breasted Nuthatch - 8

White-breasted Nuthatch - 3
Brown Creeper - 7

Winter Wren - 1

Golden-crowned Kinglet - 12

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1

Townsend's Solitaire - 1

American Robin - 15

Yellow-rumped Warbler - 8

Golden-crowned Sparrow - 5

White-crowned Sparrow - 50

Dark-eyed Junco -50

Lapland Longspur - 25

Red-winged Blackbird - 1, overhead, just after dawn

Pine Grosbeak - 7

Red Crossbill - 5

Pine Siskin - 25



Andy Stepniewski

Wapato WA

Steppie at nwinfo.net