Wandering Central Washington

Guy Miner

Master Loader
Apr 6, 2006
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A favorite trip of mine, I spent the weekend with good friends, wandering and camping in the sagebrush covered hillsides & canyons of Central Washington, just a hop, skip and a jump from home. It's a mildly challenging 4wd route. This fall we enjoyed terrific weather! Sunny, with highs in the 60's and a fair bit of wind. Last year? Same trip, some of the same folks, and we got snow! :)

I'll post up some photos I grabbed today & yesterday, sort of explain the trip that way.

Allstown (or Alston) a semi-ghost town in wheat country:
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Moses Coulee - part of the "great floods" when the ice dams broke. Now ranches, and a bizarre failed 1970's resort community...
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Just up from the entrance to Slack Canyon. That's Douglas Creek running below. This country is vast. I often hunt here for mule deer & chukar, sometimes for coyote:
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The fall leaves are mostly gone, the wind has stripped them away. These are in a sheltered canyon and remain. For now:
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Crossing Douglas Creek on Saturday. No, that's NOT my Jeep! :) Belongs to my friend Judy. Our Jeeps are near twins. Hers is an actual Rubicon, mine is a pretend Rubicon. ;)
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Judy's Rubicon climbing the rocky slope on wet tires:
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JR is Judy's husband, driving his old Toyota and doing a mighty fine job of it. 325,000 miles on that thing now!
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JR built last night's campfire!
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My campsite:
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Breakfast this morning. A three-egg omlette, with jalapeno pepper jack cheese and some overly scorched onion bits, as well as some good coffee:
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Today, on the way home. I live in the valley below, where the Columbia River flows:
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Great weekend, great people, pretty good weather, incredible scenery. Quite a bit of wildlife, but sightings were fleeting. I had my 30-30 Glenfield in the Jeep, and a compact 9mm Kahr on my belt. We were a pretty well-armed group. Some of the route we took out of there today was pretty danged hairy. Everyone handled the steep climbs, washouts, rocks etc just fine. :)

Guy
 
That is a great photo essay, Guy. That is a pretty hot campfire, by the way. Lovely country, to be sure.
 
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