Catherine Creek and the Harbingers of Spring

The bridge over Catherine Creek

         Yesterday I sent my guru a petulant email.  "Why", I asked," " do we have to travel so far away to see Sara's Orangetip when your book says its found everywhere?" Lucky for me, Caitlin LaBar is very patient.  She said that the orangetip might be found somewhere closer to Vancouver later in the season, but its at Catherine Creek NOW.   

     So us old folks saddled up the BOT-mobile and headed east.  White Salmon, Washington is an hour and a half east of Vancouver on curvaceous Hwy 14.  A few miles past White Salmon the expectant lepidopterist turns left on to Old Highway 8 and climbs around Rowland Lake, one of those curious little ponds created behind Bonneville Dam.  

    The Columbia behind Bonneville used to be a wild river.  Now it is a series of lakes powering our cheap hydro electricity.  The Indian fishing village at Celilo, another ten miles up the river,  was the oldest spot of continuous human habitation in North America until 1957 when the eponymous falls on the Columbia River and the village of Celilo were flooded by the waters rising behind the Dalles Dam.  There are no more falls, from which the Indians used long handled nets to catch the leaping salmon.  Exit fishing Indians, bring on the wind surfers.  

Wildflowers by Catherine Creek

    The Indians have asked the Corps of Engineers if they would mind removing the Dalles Dam, hence restoring the falls, but there is no word on that to date.  Dams have been removed recently on the Klamath River, so its possible this dam might be removed, as well. 

    A few miles on Old highway 8 brought us to the trailhead for Catherine Creek.  I hope you have developed the feeling that we were out in the middle of nowhere, for that is what Sandra and I believed.   Imagine our surprise when we were lucky to get one of the last parking spots at the Catherine Creek Trailhead.  There were over 40 cars parked here on a Monday morning. 

    I proceeded to have a conversation with some people getting ready to hike, which may have involved a fair amount of dissembling.  In any event, we were soon on our way, burdened with binoculars, cameras and net. 

A picture from the net, similar to what we saw, thanks to Bug Guide

     Caitlin wrote:  if you take the trail north of Old Hwy 8 (uphill side), but stick to the right, wrapping around the side of the hill. It’s a short uphill from the parking area, then very gradual uphill to the creek. There is a little meadowy area on either side of the creek crossing and that’s where I always see them. It’s a pretty short hike, about 0.6 mile round trip.

    Her map didn't exactly correspond to her description.  As my phone did not open her map, we went with the description which corresponded with the information provided by our fellow  (prevaricating) hikers.   We made it over the mound and down to a small bridge in short order.  We watched the small patch of wildflowers on the south side of the bridge and within a few minutes we saw at least one small ochre butterfly fluttering about.  It fluttered near us and landed.  I got a quick, but excellent, look through the binoculars. and it was off. 

Silvery Blue, Catherine Creek, April 2024

    We waited awhile and crossed the bridge.  Eventually another orangetip landed briefly and Sandra got a good look. and for orangetip butterflies, that was it.  Over the next hour we did not see another, not even one fluttering in the distance.  Thirty years ago, before the advent of digital photography, this would have been an extremely successful trip.  One is now held to a higher standard;  its better if you have a very good photograph.  

     We did meet a number of hikers, many of them with dogs.  We encountered a gentleman, Robert Berg, who claimed to be a retired biologist and an acquaintance of Caitlin's senior author, Bob Pyle.  And we saw a variety of wildflowers.

      Back on the south side of the bridge  we saw two black butterflies on the wing which Caitlin identifies as Propertious Duskywings, a big  skipper we saw in the vicinity last summer.

Wildflowers, the Columbia and Mount Hood in April

    Finally we caught one of the tiny blues that were just a bit more common than Sara's Orangetip.  He was transported and photographed and Caitlin identified it for us.  Isn't it hard to believe that I can't identify my own butterflies, even from a picture?  Anyway, she calls this unfortunate fellow a Silvery Blue.

    Bob Pyle notes, "  the luminescent silvery blue brings on spring in the open country...like Sara's Orangetip, its frequent companion."  So there you have it, spring wildflowers and butterflies on the steppe above the Columbia in April.  Who knew?

jeff