1 min
Overview
The hike along Swale Creek is the most remote section of the Klickitat Trail and was also the area of greatest controversy when the railroad decommissioned its right-of-way. Hikers began using the old track, but local ranchers also strung fences across it. Eventually, three bodies, the Klickitat Trail Conservancy, the U.S. Forest Service, and Washington State Parks, worked out a management agreement and local landowners and hikers reached a pact of sorts. In Swale Canyon, no longer are you accompanied by the wide, rushing Klickitat River; here, Swale Creek flows quietly between canyon rimrock and balsamroot-carpeted slopes to the cascading calls of canyon wrens. Beginning from either Wahkiacus or Harms Road takes you into the heart of the canyon, far from human settlement; the final section of the trail to Warwick is rarely hiked. Spring is the best time to visit here. Note that Swale Canyon is closed to hiking during the summer fire season; when the trail reopens in the fall, the creek has become just a series of tepid pools among the mineral-stained rocks. This can be done as a car shuttle; the descriptions below are written as in and out hikes from the Wahkiacus Trailhead or the Harms Road Trailhead. 1. Lower Swale Canyon Directions: From the Wahkiacus Trailhead, the old rail bed leads into the depths of Swale Canyon but first the hiker needs to negotiate a fair distance rimmed by rural dwellings. Keep strictly to the trail in this section: the relationship between locals and trail hikers has not always been rosy. Cross Schilling Road and then pass a closed gate. Note an oak-cloaked hillside up to the right. White alder rims Swale Creek on the left and there are patches of pungent desert-parsley in the spring: this plant harbors legions of ticks waiting to brush off on unsuspecting passers-by. Small cottonwoods also rustle above the stream. The hillside becomes more mixed, with ponderosas and Douglas-firs among the oaks. The track becomes dirt with some rain puddles and then you encounter your first
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Photos
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