Pullin' Chocks: October 2014

White Pass, WA

We squeezed one more day trip into our visit, and what beauty we saw! Jerry did a little fishing while we hiked and explored around the areas where we stopped. We rode out Rt 12 north up to White Pass and stopped at a scenic overlook where we were surprised by a fantastic waterfall on Clear Creek, jumped over to Dog Lake and finished off the trup with a stop at Clear Lake. The scenery was so great coming back we pulled off a few times trying to capture the beauty with our cameras. Unfortunately it is not fully possible, but it pereserves a memory and gives you an idea of the land.

Scenic Overlook and Clear Creek Falls

Dog Lake

This tree was HUGE!

A reminder to always remain flexible!

Answering the age old question of what exactly is that bear doing in the woods?! There was ALOT of bear scat over a large area at the head waters of the lake. We took this picture and decided to walk swiftly back to the camping area!

Clear Lake

Effluent from Clear Lake flowing into Clear Creeek and onto Rim Rock Lake next.

Effluent from Clear Lake; see the fish ladder on the right?

Silver Salmon spawning in Clear Creek. There were hundreds of them.

Stops and views on the way back to Yakima
Rocky outcropping at Rim Rock Lake

The leaves were just starting to change color...

Big rock, really big...

Chimney rocks

Soon we will start to pack belongings back into our coach and head south through Oregon and California. We hope to see our college pals in CA on the way south to Arizona.

YAKIMA, Washington!!!

We are having a blast here in Yakima, so much so that we have been unable to keep up with events on our blog. This post will try to catch us up and as hard as it is to believe for us, our time in Yakima is almost over and we will be heading south soon. We include pictures below from our visit to the Great Prosser Balloon Rally and side visit to local winerys, fishing trip on the Klickitat River, Jeep ride up Darland Mountain, Apple Picking in lower valley, and scenic drive and hike through the Yakima Canyon.

Great Prosser Balloon Rally

We arrived very early, before first light.

There were lots of different rigs.

First two ballons to inflate

Checkmate retired his balloon after this event.

Great seats right by a balloon Gari & dad Jerry

The business end of the balloon

Posing for balloon pics

Special action poses

Pulling the top plug and deflating the balloon

Sampling the local wine after a hard balloon rally

Fishing on the Klickitat River
We had a couple bites but didn't bring any fish home this day. We did see a few nice sized King Salmon in the 30 pound range caught. This was the first spot we tried. Alan (friend) left and Jerry right below.

up river a bit

Limbo Photographer Steve

A guide boat floating by.

Gari exploring another section of river

nice river scenery

Steep cliffs and falling rocks nearby our spot

Guide boat with a fish on. They landed a 30 pounder!

our last spot; Alan left, Jerry right.

Alan

Jerry

Apple Picking in Lower Valley
This is a relative's orchard and we picked up a couple boxes of apples from the trees that were already harvested. Jerry passing out picking buckets.