The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

As I neared the river, a fog bank appeared on the horizon – an impenetrable wall along the highway corridor. It was disheartening to watch a beautiful January day disappear in the rearview as the sun-shrouding humidity swallowed me whole. Still, the foggy conditions were arguably better for jump-shooting waterfowl. Sunlight glinting from gun barrels and glasses betray me as I sneak through riparian grasses and timber.

Pulling onto the road shoulder, I prepared for the approximate half-mile hike into a serpentine river reach occupied by a healthy flock of mallards nearly every time I visit. I d...