Just a few posts for Sunday morning.

Looking west down the Snake River as it winds north from Silcott Island.

Ann and I, accompanied on Friday by her son Daniel, drove east from Pasco to go camping for a few days while the non-freezing weather lasts. We left Friday afternoon and drove through the barren, rolling wheat fields of eastern Washington. Our goal was to spend the night at an Idaho State Park called Hell’s Gate, just a couple miles south of Lewiston, Idaho. For those that don’t know, Lewiston, Idaho, and Clarkston, Washington, sit adjacent along the Idaho-Washington border at a spot where the western flowing clearwater river joins the northern flowing Snake River. They continue as one, flowing north, then west, then south until reaching the Columbia River near Pasco. The cities are (obviously) named for explorers Lewis and Clark, the pair ventured through the area during their initial trek West.

Map of Trip from Pasco to Lewiston/Clarkston area.

Closeup of the Clarkston/Lewiston area.

As we drove east on highway 12, we passed Chief Timothy Park, an Army Corps of Engineers managed park. The park sits on Silcott island on the Snake River  just west of Clarkson, Washington. Surrounded by large hills, and with the trees on the island golden with falls colors, It looked like a beautiful spot to camp. But we continued on to Hells Gate State Park. When we arrived, though it sits right along the Snake River, it was situated across from a large number of houses on a hill. It wasn’t nearly as picturesque as we expected, so we turned around and headed back to Chief Timothy Park for the night. important note: Chief Timothy is not a Washington State Park, so the Discover Pass is not honored. However, though they don’t advertise it well, we discovered (after paying of course) that the Army Corps honors federal passes like the ACCESS pass. Fortunately, my broken wife comes with an ACCESS pass, which gives us half-off on federal park fees.

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