Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge — Attraction in Hermiston

Visited the Umatilla Wildlife Refuge on a lovely 50 degree February day. Absolutely mind blowing 🤯

Saw bald eagles 🦅, kestrels, red tail hawks, several other hawk species and a great horned 🦉. We walked towards a flock of THOUSANDS of snow geese that darkened the sky as they flew up around us. Then we watched from the Columbia River bank as the sun set behind Mt Hood 100 miles west of us.

No words to describe the awesomeness. Maybe my best day since the pandemic locked us up. Going back next month when the songbirds arrive.

Tip: You can pick up an excellent area map at the Umatilla Wildlife Refuge building on...

Live along it's border and to take the dogs for a drive to look for wildlife. 30 years ago there was much much more wildlife as I have watched it steadily go down hill. After several fires nothing was replanted. Lots of waterfowl hunting goes on but am.not sure how good it is. I know lots of poaching seems to go on as I hear shooting at night out there and the deer population has slipped down to a handful. I haven't seen any kind of improvement out there for years. I do see lots of people driving on the open roads looking for wildlife as I do. Lucky when you see something other than...

This is a great place to go for a walk. There aren't many people here, and the old highway and railroad grade are interesting to see. It looks as though there were a fair number of homes and businesses here before the dams were built and the land flooded as a result. There are plenty of deer, birds, and other wildlife here to see as well.

One downside is that it takes quite a bit of a drive over pretty rough road to get to the back of the refuge. Be prepared to take the drive slowly or have your fillings...