22 September ‘09
After having a great time on the Skykomish, we decided to head across the mountains and camp beside the Yakima River. We have driven through this great canyon many times but have never taken the time to stop and enjoy it. There are 3 or 4 BLM properties throughout the 30 miles of the Yakima Canyon that you can camp at and, as of the 15th of September, it’s free camping for up to 2 weeks. Well we didn’t have the time to stay the 2 weeks, but we sure enjoyed the week we were there. Bonnie and Doug drove their camper down from Mount Vernon for a couple of days. We enjoyed kayaking the river and just hanging out and thanking God for the great weather. One morning the four of us drove out highway 410 to hike into Boulder Cave.
After having a great time on the Skykomish, we decided to head across the mountains and camp beside the Yakima River. We have driven through this great canyon many times but have never taken the time to stop and enjoy it. There are 3 or 4 BLM properties throughout the 30 miles of the Yakima Canyon that you can camp at and, as of the 15th of September, it’s free camping for up to 2 weeks. Well we didn’t have the time to stay the 2 weeks, but we sure enjoyed the week we were there. Bonnie and Doug drove their camper down from Mount Vernon for a couple of days. We enjoyed kayaking the river and just hanging out and thanking God for the great weather. One morning the four of us drove out highway 410 to hike into Boulder Cave.
Boulder Cave was made by water running across and finally through, basalt rock and making this cave that runs about 100 yards. Its home to the “Big Eared” Bats which unfortunately we couldn’t see because of the blackness of the cave, but we were told they were around. Leslee, Lena, and Vinnie drove in from Yakima a few times and Lena and I got a chance to do a little paddling one afternoon. We were able to float the river about 8 miles through some beautiful areas filled with a lot of wildlife. On one float, Bonnie and Doug saw a doe with an albino fawn, a herd of mountain sheep, and a lot of waterfowl over the 8 miles. After everyone went their way, Louise and I took a hike through one of the many canyons. From the first day we arrived in the canyon, we were told to watch for the “rattlers”, and on this hike we were hiking through some tall desert grasses that they can and do hide-out in.
I guess we were a little late in the rattler season as we didn’t come across any. We did see a couple of young ram with their curled horns,
a large herd of mountain sheep,
and a beaver dam with a large tree toppled beside it.
Finally taking the time to stop in the canyon paid us lots of great moments and we will stop again. We’ve been searching high and low for a good class “C” motor home that we could use on for our trip through Mexico this winter, and while at Leslee’s I checked Craigslist one more time and found one that “just might work”. First thing the next morning, we pulled out of the canyon and headed to Ellensburg. The motor home we called on was located on a farm just outside of Ellensburg, and seeing as how “the good ones” don’t last, we wanted to be there early. Well sure as heck, it was nice, but a little longer than we were looking for but nice. A little bit later and we were the proud owners of another motor home.
and onto Salmon Le Sac. After riding around the reservoir and getting back to Roslyn, the town that was built by coal,
just after noon, we opted to have lunch at “The Brick” Saloon. The Brick is the oldest continuously operating saloon in the state of Washington. The bar was shipped around Cape Horn from England to Portland over 100 years ago.
The building was built in 1889 of bricks that were made in Roslyn and the chairs and tables were purchased from Sears and Roebuck just after the turn of the century.