I extended my Memorial Day Weekend by taking a vacation day, and what better way to follow up a weekend of hiking than taking another hike. I turned to our nearest wildlife refuge and returned to Baskett Slough for a quick morning hike. This would be my fifth visit (far too few) with the most recent having been last April (post).
I started out at the Baskett Butte Trailhead and hiked up to the Rich Guadagno Observation Platform on Mt. Baldy hoping for a colorful Sunrise.
The best of the color was while I was still at the trailhead.
Checkerbloom
Common madia
Meadow checker-mallow and vetch
The platform
Too late for any color.
From the platform I headed out to the Morgan Lake Loop. There didn’t seem to be many birds around until I got to Moffitti Marsh.
There always seems to a western meadowlark or two on Mt. Baldy.
Spotted towhee
I went left to hike the loop clockwise.
Moffitti Marsh in the distance.
Geese flying over.
Snake in the grass.
Pied-billed grebes
Common yellowthroats
Gadwalls
Moffitti Marsh
Dove
Beyond the marsh the trail follows a fence line along farmland where I spotted a northern harrier. Normally these birds fly off quickly, but the one sat on his post as I slowly got close enough to get some decent zoomed photos.
When he finally flew off I continued to the Smithfield Road Trailhead then continued on the loop toward Morgan Lake.
House finch
Swallow
Sparrow
Crow
Goose family
Common yellow-throat (female)
Roses
Columbine
White-crowned sparrow
Ookow
Tolmie’s mariposa lily
After completing the Morgan Lake Loop I returned to the trailhead by completing the Rich Guadagno Memorial Loop.
Waxwing
After returning to the car I decided to check out a part of the refuge that I hadn’t seen before by driving out Coville Road to a parking area at Cottonwood Pond. It was a quarter to 8am and I wanted to avoid joining the morning rush hour traffic on the highway. It turned out to be a good decision because, as luck would have it, an American Bittern was sitting in grass near the mostly dry pond.
I watched the bittern for a few minutes then hopped back in the car and headed home. This was a 4.9-mile hike with 340′ of elevation gain.
Cottonwood Pond is in the lower left corner.
This was a nice way to end my long weekend leaving me plenty of time to do things like write these trip reports. Happy Trails!
Flickr: Baskett Slough 2024
wanderingyuncks 