Oct 16 (Fri - day 71)
North Bend, Washington
Weather - showers on the west side of the Cascades - sun breaks on the east side - mid 40s low to 50s high(+7 and 13C)



This Saturday is the opening day of sheep hunting season in the area we’d been visiting, so we felt we had one more trip down the Yakima Canyon to see if we could improve on our sheep photos. There is limited hunting for sheep in the canyon, but the addition of hunters in the area disrupts the environment enough that the animals seem to evaporate and being accessible for photographing becomes a thing of the past.



Once over Snoqualmie Pass we’d left the rain showers behind and we headed off on the back roads to avoid the I-90 construction. Our wildlife sightings included a Kestrel, some Red-tailed Hawks and one coyote, which, when we turned around for a better shot, moved away from road but continued hunting. The sun was playing peek-a-boo with the clouds, but the lighting wasn’t bad and we managed to get a few shots while it was shinning.



When we got to the canyon we saw more sheep than we had expected. There were a few sheep right down by the river and we tracked three rams as they moved across the mountains and up the canyon. There were a few small groups of sheep scattered along the mountainsides across the river. Most of them had collected watchers, people (I imagine hunters) who were spotting their location. It was almost like being back in Yellowstone.



Next we wanted to see if we could find some turkeys before it got too dark, but it was getting late in the afternoon and the weather from the west side was stating to creep over the Cascade Range. We could see that shooting turkeys was pretty much out of the question so we headed for the pass.



Oh my…..we forgot it was Friday and two miles before the I-90 construction traffic was almost at a standstill. We managed to get to the pass just as dark settled over the road. Rain and ground fog made driving difficult, and it seemed that most of the drivers trying to make-up time for the slow down in the construction area.



Home at last (at Harold and Carol’s), with cameras amply full of photos, we settled in with some pizza and had a group photo review. The adventure continues……



To see more of our animal images click HERE



To see more of our Central Washington images click HERE



To read more about our travels click 'The Great Adventure 2009'