I was up until midnight Friday evening helping my neighbor fit a new range in his kitchen. He had our old one, and when we replaced ours, it required some trim and countertop cutting to slide the new one in. His was a different model but we got it temporarily in place and working. Still needs some further countertop trimming to slide it back a few more inches, which he will get other help for. And it was late so we called it quits.
Saturday morning I slept until 8, got up for a bowl of cereal then decided I needed some sun, after a foggy cool week. So a little before 9 I headed over to Ellensburg and the Yakima Canyon road, to do the Rattlesnake Dance Ridge trail, just a mile or so down the Yakima canyon. I took the van for a nice easy drive, got off the freeway in Easton and crossed the train tracks and explored a road up into the hills that I hadn’t been on before. It dead ended about 3 miles in, so I turned around and got back on the freeway to Cle Elum and took the “no-traffic” back road(old Hwy 10) to Ellensburg following the train tracks and hoping to see some train traffic. But nada. At least there were extremely few cars on my road so I held a steady 50 the whole way, just enjoying the clear sunny morning.
It had been foggy in the Ellensburg valley earlier in the morning but was clear when I got there. Bright and sunny, hazy in the distance, clear enough to see all the surrounding valley but not Mt Rainier as I have before.
I did this trail once before, back on June 30 2012. Its short, only about 1.25 miles but very rocky and very steep, pretty much following a ridgeline going up. Hard on the knees, lots of rocky steps. Actually harder coming down than going up, don’t want to slip. Took me 50 minutes going up to the top, which was better than last time as I recall. The view hasn’t changed other than being a little hazy in the distance, so you can see my photo’s from last time.
I met only two people coming down as I almost got to the top, then just one more, a trail runner, on my way down. So I had the top to myself for the hour that I was up there. I found the same flat rock to sit on as last time, and enjoyed the sandwich I stopped at Subway for on my way there. There was one helicopter buzzing in the near distance, apparently just enjoying the day, and he flew low thru the valley only a little higher than I was, fairly close. The breeze was cool but not too heavy or cold, felt good and dried me out.
Finally I packed up and headed back down. Took me the same time to get back down, carefully trying not to slip. Glad I had my poles. After unpacking at the car, I retraced my route back, just taking it slow and easy. When I got back on the freeway in Cle Elum, I just stayed in the right lane going 60, forcing most other cars to pass me by. I didn’t care, it wasn’t so slow to be a danger, and only a few semi’s bothered to pass me. Just so nice out to relax and enjoy the road. As soon as I headed down the hill over Snoqualmie pass, I entered that damn fog again which was solid into North Bend and home. So I got the sunshine that I needed for the day!