A Bare Bones Excursion into the Blue Mountains

After two years of being held hostage by the COVID virus, the WBA Board has decided to go ahead with a study weekend for 2022. It will be held on the second weekend of July in Dayton, Washington. The Board is still finalizing the program as many normal features of our weekend retreat are simply not available. While the program is a little bare bones, the spirit and enthusiasm to gather and discuss butterflies and moths will not be bare bones at all.

On Friday, July 15, we will hold our registration event at the Lewis & Clark Trail State Park which is 5-6 miles west of Dayton. We will meet in the Group Camping area #2 where Board Member Carl Barrentine will be setting up a moth sheet. Carl’s enthusiasm is contagious as he goes about attracting the larger part of the Lepidoptera that we all love.

Again, this is a catch and release activity and few – if any – moths will be harmed. It will be a great opportunity to get an introductory course in Mothing 101.

David James will hopefully be able to present an introduction to the butterflies of the Blues that we hope to see on the field trips both Saturday and Sunday. We are still troubleshooting how we are going to get David a screen and projector but we will have that trouble spot ironed out well beforehand. There will be snacks and drinks available in individual packaging as we are being COVID aware. There should be ample opportunity to meet and greet others in a socially appropriate setting.

For those interested, we have a block of hotel rooms blocked out for you to be able to make your reservations. Please make your reservations before July1 to guarantee rooms are available. The rates are a little higher than what we may remember from years gone by, but COVID changed everything! Standard rooms are $114 per night and we we have re- served several double queen rooms at $124 per night. The Best Western folks are small-town-friendly and will have a breakfast buffet available and there is an indoor pool available for guests.

If you prefer to camp, the Group 2 camping area at Lewis & Clark Trail State Park has been reserved for Friday night for Carl’s Mothing project and is available for tent campers as well. Note that we only have it for Friday night, not Saturday.

The National Forest is also available for camping outside of town. If the mothing appeals to you, Carl will be showing his samples the next morning before releasing them unharmed.

We will gather the next morning (Saturday, July 16) at the east end of the Best Western Parking lot to drive over to

Pomeroy (about 39 miles east to turn up into the National Forest). David James, and Dave & Jo Nunnallee will guide us up to Diamond Peak and/or Mt. Misery – which is quite nice despite its name. With several stops along the way through a forested area, we will emerge into an alpine meadow zone where we can disperse and discover what is flying up high! Thereafter, as we head back down the mountain, we can head to dinner. What dinner will be, is a major hurdle that we have not yet been able to overcome as the excellent local caterer has a wedding dinner booked that night since before COVID.

For dinner Saturday night, we are hoping to set up a pizza buffet at the Best Western put on by Chief Springs Iron and Fire Works Pizza and Brew Pub of Dayton. There is plenty of space available for outside seating where we can disperse. Please bring your own chairs if possible. If pizza, salad, and breadsticks do not appeal to you, there are a few other local restaurants – such as My Dad‟s Place – in town but are unable to host the entire group in a COVID-safe manner.

We will reconvene Sunday morning for another excellent David James field trip up the Tucannon River Drainage, east of Dayton. The Tucannon is a drier ridge area that should offer us a different butterfly fauna to observe. Hopefully the weather and wind will cooperate for the weekend. Dinner is on your own tonight.

There is a possibility of an optional field trip on Monday for your way home. The Spokane area folks could be making a stop at Steptoe Butte on the way home as it is a magnet for butterflies of the Palouse. Those heading west may consider stopping in the Tri-Cities for a rest break and the possibilities of seeing Viceroys in the wooded area near the confluence of the Yakima and Columbia Rivers. More details to come.

Hopefully this gives you an idea of what we have to offer at this point. We hope to see our old friends and colleagues in person for the first time in two years, and the butterflying should be awesome with some new species. Please take care of continued virus awareness and respect the health of others. And anytime that we can get a chance to join Dave Squared in the field is time well spent! Thanks to Dave & Jo Nunnallee and the David James Family for volunteering to preview and lead the field trips. Thank you, WBA Board!

Watch David James’ preview of the butterflies and moths that we can expect to see in the Blue Mountains.

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