"Assorted Photos from January 3, 2009" William Finley National Wildlife Refuge Travelogue by glabah

While there is a definite lack of green duirng the winter season, the lack of leaves on the trees plus temperamental cloud cover allow for some great landscapes.

All of these photos were taken during my January 3, 2009 visit to the refuge.

The photo above was taken at the southern end of the Campbell Memorial Trail. Supposedly moss doesn't grow on trees that are in the sunlight, but whoever thought that hasn't been to the Pacific Northwest! Here on the south side of this forested area, facing the pond, these trees actually receive more sun light than most of the trees in this forest! The sunlight filtering through the moss creates an eerie "forest of doom" type appearance.

bare winter trees on the Campbell Memorial Trail

During my January 2009 visit, the entire length of the Campbell Memorial Trail walkway was above water - the entire forest was flooded.

I was particularly pleased with the colors of the walkway that show up in this photograph, and perhaps on some future visit I will be able to get something where the trees also have a bit of color to them.

distant Cascades mountains from Woodpecker Trail

From the top of one of the hills on the Woodpecker Trail, it is possible to see a number of peaks in the Cascades range. However, today the mountains were obscured by clouds, and it is only possible to guess as to what may lie under them.

Mill Hill Trail:broken tree limb balanced on other

The Mill Hill Loop Trail passes through old Willamette Valley oak savanna. This is a very rare ecosystem these days.

Along the trail, I found this one tree that had a blown off branch that was balancing on a lower branch in the same tree. I expect that during the next heavy wind storm, the branch will unbalance and fall the rest of the way down the tree.

view south from Campbell trail photo blind

I already have a photo taken from the Campbell Trail Photo Blind here, but this was taken in a somewhat different angle. There is a little bit different cloud formation and parts of the pond visible here. I really liked the way the clouds reflect the sunlight during this day. There were just enough clouds to keep the sky interesting, but not enough of them to obstruct the views of many parts of the Willamette Valley and Cascades Range in most cases. Parts of the Coast Range were completely blocked, but that's always a hazard with the Coast Range!

Indeed, my other photo taken from the photo blind that day illustrates what the Coast Range can look like even during a good day.

old homestead with Cascade Mountains in background

While the primary purpose of the National Fish and Wildlife Service is to preserve spaces for the wildlife placed in its custodianship, there are certain cases where the service has a bit more to take care of.

Here you see the Cascade Mountains in the distance, and a wonderful cloud formation, but you will also see there is a house in refuge. In fact, there is a historic homestead here, and so the refuge has both a historic man-made component and a wildlife preservation component here.

It is thought that at least one of the buildings on the refuge dates from around 1855, which pre-dates the incorporation of a number of Willamette Valley cities. Some of the structures are off limits to public access all year. Some of the barns are used for storage of refuge related equipment.

some of the historic buildings next to refuge pond

Here is another photo that features a few more of the historic buildings located on this National Wildlife Refuge. While none are as historic as the original farm house, some of these are considered of local historic interest.

This photo was taken from the Mill Hill trail, from a point very close to the trailhead on Finley Refuge Road.

long trail back: Campbell trail in flooded forest

We return back to the flooded forest through which the Campbell trail wanders before it gets to the photo blind.

There are a few benches located along the wooden walkway, for those who would like to sit in the woods and let the wildlife come to them. However, this trail seems to be quite busy, even on a cold winter day, and so I would think that under those circumstances most of the wildlife will be scared away.

It would be much better to find a time when there are fewer visitors. I really do suggest maybe coming by in very early morning, when the refuge first opens. Wildlife is reasonably active then, and people are less apt to be out - unless they are serious bird watchers.