We have been looking at lightweight travel trailers for a few years now and were lucky enough to find and purchase a 16 ft. Scamp this May! We had to give our Scamp a nickname so ‘Birdie’ we decided was a fitting title. Our first trip with Birdie we went all the way to the south east corner of the state to Field Springs State Park to see the Blue Mountains. As you’ve read in previous posts we visited Walla Walla and every time we’re there we see the Blue Mountains and have always wanted to visit. We finally made the trip and it did not disappoint.
To get to Field Springs State Park from the west side you do not drive through Walla Walla but instead stay on Highway 26 like you’re driving to Pullman, but then head south at either Washtucna or a little further down which cuts you over to Highway 12 which takes you down to the Clarkston/Lewiston area right on the Snake River. From Clarkston you head south on a really windy and steep road that takes you back up from the river to a plateau where you’ll soon reach the state park.
Field Springs State Park was a beautiful little state park, with only about 20 campsites it still provides flush toilets and showers, a ranger station with really friendly rangers who will sell and deliver you ice and fire wood, and a trail to hike. On the way to the park down along the Snake River we saw American White Pelican (notice the yellow plate on the bill of on one in the photo gallery below, this signifies it’s a breeding adult). Also once you reach the plateau just a few miles before the park there are incredible meadows and farm fields, we saw many Western Meadowlark’s and Red-tailed Hawks here on the drive.
From our campsite we saw many birds and the deer photo’d below. We spent our second afternoon hiking the Puffer Butte trail which is an easy 4.4 mile loop that takes you up to a meadow with views south to Oregon and the Wallowa mountains (another trip we’d like to do!). We saw many wildflowers on the hike, I’ve added some of them to the photo gallery below. Identifying wildflowers is a bit more difficult than birds in my opinion – so feel free to comment and let me know if you think I got any misidentified!
Things to Note:
- Field Springs is dry and arid like most of Eastern Washington – but it is also at quite an elevation. Make sure to prepare for both sun and cold, you’ll want layers here as it got chilly in the evenings and was forecast for snow the day after we left in the middle of June!
- Bring sunscreen – even in winter there is a good chance for sunshine and sunburn! We like to use high SPF spray sunscreen as it’s easier to apply.
- Bring insect repellent, this state park is not immune to mosquitos, best to be prepared.
- Please check out our resources page to learn more about the equipment we used to take these shots!
Useful Links:
- Most of these shots were taken with the Sony a7 along with the Sony FE 200-600mm lens.
