FYI That much of the Telford, Hawk Creek, and Swanson Lakes areas burned over in the Whitney Fire last fall 2020. It is quite a moonscape now, so don't be alarmed if you do decide to still go for a hike. Hopefully the fire will work to our advantage and knock back weeds and benefit native seedbed.

If wanting the type of hike similar to this landscape, the Odessa Craters just North of Odessa, WA is a really great one, tons of native flowering plants in spring.

Cheers!

There are no actual trails, but a fair amount of birds: quail, grouse, meadowlark. We went south and the trailhead was easy to find.

The Telford Recreation Area is BLM land that straddles Highway 2 at the rest stop just east of Creston. Telford Road heads both north and south from the highway. On this hike, I took Telford Road going north from Highway 2 for about 2 miles to reach the trailhead.

There's an old jeep road heading east from the trailhead that comes to an end after about a half mile. That's about it for man-made trails. There are numerous, short-lived game trails and old cow trails, but walking cross-country is easy through the shrub-steppe habitat.

BLM personnel stock maps of the area at the trailhead kiosk, though on this visit there were none. I had one from a previous hike, and it came in handy as my daylong rambling brought me to fences a few times. However, not all fence lines are necessarily property lines. 

The landscape is a mix of open prairie and woodlands. There are several small lakes and ponds. Low elevation mesas are numerous and fun to climb atop for a view of the surroundings. Mysterious mima mounds are numerous.

Mine was the only car at the trailhead, and I saw no one else during my wanderings. I made a roughy circular route that took me past another trailhead that's about a mile north of the one I started from. The scenery isn't spectacular, but it's a good enough dose of nature and off-trail exploring to call a fun time.

Kristy & I returned for a visit to Telford to try to get some spooky photos at the old farmsite.  We we rewarded with a super spooky doll head on a fence post at the exact point we walked to access the farm!

There are some excellent fall colors at Telford, although I think we were about a week or two too late for peak.  The hawthorn had already lost their leaves, and the ground beneath them is littered with red leaves which would have been beautiful to view before they fell.  Most of the wetlands also have aspen groves, and those have lost about 50% of their leaves.

I chose "minor obstacles" for trail conditions since there isn't really any trail at all.  We picked a route of cattle paths and interesting features on the horizon paired with our Gaia app since we wanted to eventually end up at the old homestead.  Walking this area is relatively easy despite the lack of official trails.  "Brushy" areas are majority sage, which smells wonderful as one hikes through tight spots! 

It's currently hunting season, but we didn't start particularly early in the day and met several hunters who were exiting as we arrived.  We made sure we were all decked out in bright colors, including Jasper pup, but we didn't encounter any hunters once we were inside the gates. 

A friend & I drove to Telford Recreation Area to do a little exploring on a cold but incredibly sunny Saturday in February.  This BLM Recreation Area has three trailhead access points and 11,000 acres to explore.  The area is also adjacent to both DNR parcels and the Swanson Lakes Wildlife Area for additional exploration, although we didn't cross over to the DNR or Fish & Wildlife land during this hike.  

We started at the southernmost trailhead and did a 4.75 mile loop hike from the TH on Telford South Road.  The parking area has room for several vehicles and a kiosk with a sitemap.  We followed a combination of cattle paths, game trails, and occasional old farm access roads to create our big loop; there are no official/marked trails here.  The landscape is wide open and fairly easy for exploration, but some map/compass skills are advised.  Our route took us through giant sagebrush, open grassy areas, past a few big pines, near vernal springs with aspen groves, and even to an old abandoned farm.

After we completed our loop on the south, we crossed Highway 2 and traveled to the northernmost TH to explore that side of Telford.  We parked in a small widespot near the main road, but discovered there is a more developed parking lot down a little access road.  It was wet & muddy today, so until it dries out our roadside parking spot by the green gate is probably the best starting place.  We walked down to the parking area, and then to the edge of the property before striking out crosscountry to follow fencelines and hike to any interesting feature that caught our eye along the way.  This part of the Recreation Area has a lot more pine trees and open grassy areas, but also includes sagebrush and a few vernal ponds with aspen.  We hiked 4.67 miles in a big loop on this side of the Recreation Area, and there's so much more to explore for next time!

This recreation area will definitely be worth a return trip once the wildflowers get started.  Even this early, we could see that there will be a lot of arrowleaf balsamroot and bitterroot blooming here in the coming months.