Katrina's Travels

After leaving Grand Coulee Dam I headed southwest on Rte 155, past Banks Lake and some amazing geological formations. The sun was setting but I managed to get quite a few photos before it got really dark.

( Panoramic views behind a cut )













( More photos )

All too soon it got too dark to see anything and eventually I got onto the interstate highway and drove to Yakima to find my hotel room. Sadly, I passed the Wild Horses Monument (whose proper name is "Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies") in Vantage well after dark and thus couldn't see it at all. As far as I'm concerned, the wild horse sculpture is the best reason to get on I-90 at all, so not getting to see it was disappointing. I wasn't disappointed enough to want to spend time retracing my path to go back to Vantage the next morning, although I did consider doing so.

Continuing with my wandering drive west across Washington....

Eventually I came to a place where I could pull off the road and get out of the car to take photos. This spot is on Manilla Creek Road in Ferry County. The view was stunning.

Panoramic view ( behind a cut because it is wider )


The lake seen here is the Sanpoil River arm of Lake Roosevelt.






The far horizon looked like it was sunset, although it was only about 2:45 in the afternoon. (The actual sunset was a few minutes after 4.)




( More photos )

Coming up next time: more roadside photos and the Grand Coulee Dam

After I finished wandering around at Fort Spokane I checked out a nearby park on the shore of Lake Roosevelt then headed north around the lake. I'd meant to go a different direction but somehow that's not the way I went. Rather than turning around, I just kept going since it didn't really make any difference to me. Either way, there was nice scenery and a little ferry to take across the lake. I was somewhat amused by taking a ferry in the middle of Washington instead of taking any of the well-known big ferries on Puget Sound. (Don't get me wrong, I like the big ferries. I got really good looks at orcas from one once. The big ferries just didn't fit into my plans this time.)

Clicking on any of these photos will take you to a bigger version.

I liked this bridge over the Spokane River. There was something pleasing about its shape and angles.



( Another bridge photo )

This is a view of Lake Roosevelt from a little park that was not far from Fort Spokane.




( A panoramic view of Lake Roosevelt, cut because it is wider )

( More photos from the side of the lake )

The drive north took me away from the lake edge some of the time. This is what the area looked like.



( More photos from the drive north )

The Columbian Princess, otherwise known as the Inchelium-Gifford Ferry goes back and forth between Inchelium and Gifford. There's no schedule. You just pull up and wait for it to arrive. I think there's talk of replacing it with a bridge, which I would find far less satisfying. The ferries of my childhood got replaced by bridges and I think the world is a less interesting place without them. I suppose a bridge would be more convenient for people living in the area though.

I find it a bit ironic that one end of this ferry's route is in Ferry County, which was not named after any actual ferries. It was named after Washington's first governor.




( More ferry photos )

Coming up next: driving around the west side of Lake Roosevelt.

My main reason for being in Spokane was the Spokane Fall Folk Festival and that's where I spent November 9-10. I had a great time, both with volunteering at the festival and listening to music. The performers all relatively local people who volunteer to be there and everybody I listened to was good. I didn't take a lot of photos because I was too busy with other things, and the ones I did take were taken from wherever I happened to be sitting, so they're not from the best of angles. These are a few of the performers I enjoyed.

Caridwen & Greg Spatz




Bigger Boat





Kevin Brown





Hank Cramer and Dan Maher





If anyone is interested in hearing some of what went on there, Spokane Public Radio broadcast two hours of the festival. It can be listened to here

The mammals were the stars at Turnbull NWR, but the birds were interesting too. I didn't see very many different species of birds, but most of the ones I saw were different from what I see at home.

This is a Pygmy Nuthatch. There were a number of them in the pine trees along the entrance road. They're hard to photograph because they don't sit still.



( Another view of a nuthatch )


A Hairy Woodpecker - this is one that I do see at home.




There are three Northern Flickers in this tree. They are the western, Red-shafted variety rather than the Yellow-shafted variety we have at home.




( Closer views of flickers )


This Northern Shrike was pretty much the last bird I saw there. I occasionally see one of these shrikes at home in the winter, but they're more a bird of northern places and only rarely show up where I live. I saw at least three of them while I was in Washington.



( More shrike photos )

Other birds that I saw included Black-capped and Mountain Chickadees, a Marsh Wren, Mallards, American Wigeon, and Red-tailed Hawks. I'm probably forgetting a few others.

Continuing on with photos of the scenery at Turnbull NWR....

Another spot where I stopped to take a walk was Kepple Lake, where I walked down a path/road that went through the pine trees on one side of the lake.



( Kepple Lake and more pine trees )


A little further down the road there was a trail that made a loop on the Kepple Pennisula, on the other side of Kepple Lake.

There was a beaver lodge but I didn't see any more beavers there than I saw at the first place where I saw their evidence.



( More from the Kepple Penninsula )


Next came the Blackhorse Lake Boardwalk Trail and the other end of the Blackhorse Lake Trail which was featured in part 2 of this report.




( A few more photos )

This was the point where I ran out of time and had to get going.

Coming up next, Turnbull's mammals.