A Spring Test Run in Our New Camper

It’s been a hectic few days, pleasantly so, for a change. Leslie and I decided to take a test run in our new Toyota Tacoma and Camper to Eastern Washington and catch a little sunshine in the process. We drove South and over White Pass, the southernmost pass across the Cascades. Unfortunately, it was overcast, if not downright cloudy on the west side of the pass so shots were difficult at best.

I’m not sure any photograph could ever capture the magnitude of these Palisade columnar igneous structures (dacite lava)

Palisade

but they’re definitely a magnificent sight in real life.

They’re wasn’t much snow in the pass itself, but you couldn’t miss it in the Goat Rock Wilderness to the south,

Goat Rock Wilderness in the Clouds

and it looked like they might get even more snow.

Unfortunately, the snow pack in the pass itself was quickly melting.

melting Snow

It looked more like early summer than early Spring, but it’s hard to complain when you consider the drought this year in California and southern Oregon.

We stopped at the Yakima Sportsman State Park ostensibly to let Leslie decide if she wanted to camp there overnight, but I knew I wanted to stop to get pictures of the Wood Ducks that stay there all winter.

male Wood Duck

Their willingness to pose makes the long drive more than worth it.

I’d intended to spend the night at the quiet campground at Brooks Memorial State Park, but it was closed, despite what it said on my State Parks app I checked the day before we left. I was not happy when I got there only to discover it was closed. After that I didn’t trust the app and wasn’t sure where we were going to spend the night. We ended up spending the night at the Mary Hill State Park, which was pleasant enough except for the long trains that ran most of the night. I won’t be staying there again since the only reason I stop is to sleep.

2 thoughts on “A Spring Test Run in Our New Camper”

  1. I’ve been to Washington once back in ’99 and your second pic captures exactly how I remember it. Instant flood of memories as soon as I saw it.

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