Saturday we left, a little later than planned, and took Highway 1 to Abbotsford and the Sumas border (we also had our last Tim Hortons for the month)! We then took Highway 20, or the North Cascades Highway. We took a quick "stretch-your-legs" break at the Gorge Lake Outlook Trail, and were tempted to take do the whole 1/2 mile trail. Alas, that will have to wait till next trip! And we will go this highway again, because even though it's a bit longer, it's totally worth it.
We traveled through Winthrop into Eastern Washington. We think we found Ger's birthplace along the way, but figured we'd avoid dropping in, since they were probably in town for Winthrop's 49er's Days (festivities included a barn dance and cowboy poetry!).
Once we got near Coulee City, we had a bit of a storm scare. The clouds were huge and gray, and all converging on what looked to be our final destination: Banks Lake. I tell you, driving into big gray swirly clouds seems very ominous. But we lucked out and they missed the lake mostly, though the weather overnight was positively frigid!
Sunday morning we got up and hiked up to the top of Steamboat Rock. It was already starting to get hot, and when we saw this, we knew we had to make sure and drink lots of water:
The hike was lovely as usual and only took us about 40 minutes. Then we jumped in the truck and got on the road. We meant to make it to Boise, but alas, since we got a later start AGAIN, we decided we would start looking for campsites regardless of where we were by 8:00/sundown. We traveled most of the way on Highway 17, cutting through eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon. Pendleton had amazing views, where the hills turned bright green and were rolling in perfect spheres. We got pics, but they are on my camera, which hasn't been uploaded yet :( We continued on the I-84, through the hills by Baker City, where we saw this amazing cement factory that seriously looked straight out of A Brave New World. We also crossed into "Mountain Time", and realized we had missed our 8:00 campsite-finding deadline. Luckily, the sun still hadn't set, and we found a nice little spot to camp at Farewell Bend State Park, nestled within the hills along the Snake River.
The night was less cold, though we woke in the morning to gray skies that continued through our journey through Idaho. Gotta say, southwestern Idaho was mostly a throwaway, and Boise itself did not seem too inviting. Twin Falls, where we pulled off to get beer before hitting Utah (3% beer? What??) had an amazing view from the road, which Nick managed to grab a snapshot of:
We also encountered a hailstorm and some other nasty looking clouds, but honestly, once we crossed the border into Utah, the weather cleared and the scenery doubled in beauty:
We're being hosted in SLC by my friend Nolte and her husband Trevor, who are absolutely lovely, and experienced climbers in most of the areas we are going, so we've gotten some handy tips! Also, they are going to take us on a tour of the town today, to see Temple Square (which we caught a glimpse of on our way in) and to see some of the canyons outside town. We're definitely looking forward to it, and promise more and better pictures to come!
~Brie~
whoa that's a lot of weather!
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