Salmon Industry- Fish Ladders

The Columbia has always been a great fishing place for Salmon. With the construction of Dams (to tame the river and provide hydroelectricity), fish ladders had to be put in place so the Salmon could swim upriver to their spawning grounds. Here is a fish ladder at Cascade Locks...the water is then funneled through a small area so they can be counted.
There is a person who sits and visually counts every fish that swims through, denoting the species and entering the information in a computerized database. The data is used to calculate the amount of salmon and the numbers needed to release the raised fingerlings.

The local Indians are allowed to catch and sell Salmon, being their principal source of income. I purchased a Cojo Salmon and Royal was nice enough to filet it. When I told him I used to farm crawfish, he said they catch large crawfish in their nets and offered to save them the next day, but it was pouring rain and I did not return.

Riding the Sternwheeler

I took a ride on the Columbia Gorge Sternwheeler, a replica of an 1890 Steamboat. It was a 2 hour excursion that was absolutly delightful! Sternwheelers were used by early white settlers to navigate the river, move people, supplies and products through the Gorge from 1850-1938. That era ended when a dam was built, the railroad came through and the construction of a steel Bridge of the Gods. The ferocious funneling winds that this part of the Gorge is famous for attracts Kite Boarders and Windsurfers from around the world. We passed many of the fishing platforms still used by the local Native American Indians.

The Columbia Gorge

The Gorge is named after an 80 mile section where the Columbia River cuts through the Cascade Mountain Range. Water carved the Gorge during the last Ice Age, 19,000-12,000 years ago. According to one source I read , when the great ice dam of Lake Missoula burst, it let loose a "catalclysm unimaginable to modern eyes". Ten times the flow of all the rivers in the world surged down the Columbia in a wave of water, ice and house-sized boulders, exposing 40 million years of volcanic history. Photo above shows White Salmon, WA perched on the cliff (left side), town of Bingen on the water and across the river is the town of Hood River,OR.

The Columbia River

The Columbia River is a main artery for Transportation....there are highways and train tracks on both sides of this mile wide river. The Snake River (the one I was camping on in Yellowstone) joins this river upstream. The Columbia River begins in British Columbia, Canada and flows to the Pacific Ocean. It's also the boundary between Washington and Oregon. This is the river that in 1804 President Jefferson dispatched Lewis and Clark to explore the American interior and record what they saw.
Barges are a frequent site as well. That's the town of Hood River, Oregon across the river. Tunnels are abundant as the highways follows the river.

White Salmon, Washington

I have arrived to my most northern point of this trip...White Salmon, Washington on the gorgeous Columbia River where my brother lives.
The weather is Amazing....warm (78) and sunny during the day and cool (48) at night. This is my 3rd time here but still there are sooo many things I have not done or seen. Am making a berry cobbler for my brother Clint, right now so gotta go...more later...

Driving through Idaho

Weather was moving in (the reason I left Yellowstone, Wyoming) as I drove through Idaho....
I spent the night at Craters of the Moon National Monument. When I left the Park and headed West there were many lava flows that I took the opportunity to climb in and around...when I came out of this one...I looked away from the rising sun and Voila...there was a complete rainbow! It was sprinkling and the camera lens got a few water spots...I couldn't believe how close the ends were...I could have run across the road, jumped the snow fence and touched it!!

Grand Tetons

The Majestic Tetons are just incredible....not like any other mountains I see....there are no foothills as they were created by a Block Fault.

Reflection of the Tetons in Taggert Lake on a 4 hour hike...it hailed on me last year on this hike....this time I was packing a raincoat!
This black bear is the only bear I saw...and it was from the road as I was driving through the Park.

Leaving favorite campsite on Snake River

There is something about this particular spot that draws me back again and again...this is the 3rd time I camped here on the Snake River. The abundant wildlife, closeness to the river, and the views of the mountains are the biggest reasons. It is remote but not too remote...no cell phone service which filters out a lot of people. There is just enough people action to make it interesting..there are 4 campsites here and I have met the coolest people.....this family I met here last year!! They have been coming here 32 years and it was just by chance (or not) that they were here at the same time. They are avid fishermen and of course I got invited to a fresh trout dinner!! It was like coming home to my Yellowstone family!!
I missed, by 1 day Gary and Terry who I was hoping to meet up with. I did meet some more very interesting folks....a Glassblower from Seattle and a Wolf Photographer from Idaho. As I ready to leave the Ristras are hanging in the van....we will see how far they make it as they continue to turn red and hopefully will dry out...not sure as I head to cooler and wetter Pacific Northwest!

Yellowstone Geysers and more!!

Old Faithful blows about every hour!! Another Geyser not far away...notice the rainbow!!

Microbes are responsible for the colors!

The first scene as I drove in this morning!

Lake Yellowstone and West Thumb Geyser Basin in the distance.

I found a beach!! on Lake Yellowstone...AND there were seagulls!!! I swear!!

I am now at Old Faithful Inn writing to yall and listening to a great piano player and warm in a beautiful Lodge!

Yellowstone....my happy place!!!

I just LOVE this place....something about it draws me back!! For me to head NORTH at this time of the year is just plain ODD!! But the weather is amazingly WARM during the day anyways! I bought a burlap sack full of New Mexico Green Chilis and so I had to roast them as soon as I arrive to camp. Quite a chore to keep the fire stoked, roast the chilis, peel them!!! and made 2 Ristras!! I just love being here....then sat and ate the Tunas (cactus fruit) from El Cerrito, New Mexico...yummy!!
Saw this cow moose across the river munching on the willows...she probably stayed there a good hour.

Another road trip!

I have started another Road Trip!! Going for 6 weeks, 6000 miles Started out in Alpine, Chinati Hot Springs, Big Bend, Texas....
New Mexico... Colorado.....just too many pics to go through so will start with where I am now.......

El Cerrito, New Mexico

I just LOVE visiting this little village on the Pecos River in New Mexico...I have come to think of it as one of my homes..someday I may live here!! Very sweet place! I drove out here and Brock rode with me..him and Dick bought the schoohouse here in 1980 and have rebuilt the adobe structure. I have been coming here for over 10 years now..the first time was to help in the Annual Ditch Cleaning. One of my jobs was to design and put in the greywater system for the schoolhouse. I had lots of help..we put in 2 pipes (ABS) that ended in a rock enclave, then goes into a mulch basin of hay and planted a fruit tree at the end of each one. One of the 11 residents in this village has vowed to keep them watered as noone lives in the schoolhouse.

I camped in the backyard next to the Acequia (irrigation ditch from the Pecos River) and built a fire in the Horno every morning as it was brisk up here at 5800 feet elevation. The first morning it was 38 degrees!
Then we took a side trip to Las Vegas, New Mexico and about 6 miles from town there are the Montezuma Hot Springs..Robin and I have a soak.