Our Travels in (and to) the Okanogan

June 17, 2018. The river west of Leavenworth can be a nasty bit of work, we are talking serious white water in season. But after the big surge of meltwater runoff settles down, the river west of Leavenworth is wider, shallower, and the rapids far less alarming. You can see lots of rafts and even inner tube-type floats drifting down the river at this time of year. (My photo captures three, but another six floated past within a few minutes of these.) Several rafting companies will float you downriver and then drive you back to your vehicle, very handy. (This is still on my bucket list, so I can’t make any outfitter recommendations yet.) What a great way to make a day of your trip to or from north central Washington. 

June 3, 2018. Both east and west of Grand Coulee are many other coulees, many of them not so grand, but far more up close and personal. A particularly charming one is Dry Coulee that runs into Grand Coulee from the east. There is only a dirt track through most of it (would love to see that part), but you can check out the higher SE end by heading south out of Coulee City on Pinto Ridge Road, then turning right on good gravel Dry Coulee Road. You can practically reach out and touch the canyon walls. The mock orange shrubs are in full bloom, dazzling on the talus slopes and wedged into crannies in the cliff faces. A bright contrast to the soft bluish green of the sagebrush at the base of the cliffs. There is also a big ranch in this coulee, and the biggest stack of hay bales I’ve ever seen. In a few miles you’ll hook up with Hwy 28 on the plateau. 

June 3, 2018. Head south out of Coulee City on Pinto Ridge Road. When you get to Dry Coulee Road (on the right), go a few feet farther and look for a dirt road to your left.  The sign for Summer Falls is way, way back from Pinto Ridge Road, so unless have your head cranked to the left to spot the sign and the track, you’ll drive right by it. The falls themselves are a surprise in that rocky desert terrain, cascading over the top of a basalt cliff into a lake. There are restrooms, picnic tables, shade trees, and moist, cool, green lawn. It’s a nice place to stop for a midday snack and a dip in the lake. Warning: there is a memorial at the park for three teenagers who were caught in the falls’ undertow, so keep your distance from the cascade.    

June 3, 2018. What a charming native shrub, loaded with meaty cream flowers (4 chubby petals apiece). I have a native growing in my yard, and frankly, it’s fragrance isn’t that strong, but maybe Seattle dampens its spirit. I haven’t clambered cross country to do a sniff test in the wild. But just to see these bushes along the verge and up the mountainsides and cliffs of the coulees in eastern Washington is a real treat. Every bit as lovely as the more delicate saskatoons (aka serviceberries) that bloom a few weeks earlier.  

June 3, 2018. It may look like it, but all that white fluffy stuff in the air and on the ground is from cottonwood trees. It doesn’t last long, so I’m always thrilled when I’m out in the Okanogan when the cottonwood catkins go crazy.  

April 29, 2018. road heading south on plateau

April 27, 2018. apple blossoms, orchards

On a daytrip with my dad and his pal Maureen, we did a loop from Tonasket up through Chesaw to the ghost town of Molson in the uplands, then north and west on 9 Mile Road to get down to the border town of Oroville in the lowlands of the Okanogan valley. Where 9 Mile runs due east-west, it is paralleling the US/Canada border just a few feet away. The typical ranch barbed wire fence by the side of the road is the actual border, no kidding. There is a small sign that you can only read when heading east (we were heading west). We got out to look line of sight east along the border, and Maureen spotted a camera in a nearby tree, so don't get any ideas about jumping the fence in search of a Caesar (Canadian national cocktail -- Bloody Mary made with Clamato juice, and yes, it is good but not worth going to prison for). 

April 7, 2018. A sunny day would have been nice, but at least the leaves are off the big tree so you can see more of the fabulous local stones stonework on this old Presbyterian church one block off the main street in Okanogan. 

 April 6, 2018. If you need a caffeine pick-me-up, a Bigfoot sign, fridge magnet, coffee mug, footprint cookie the size of your hand or head (with M&Ms for toenails), or real egg nog, stop in at the Index Village Espresso Chalet, and while you’re there, take selfies with the two ginormous chainsaw sculptures of sasquatches. I’m not really sure why Bigfoot is big in this area, but who cares. If you need a Bigfoot fix en route, this is the place for you. I don’t know if they stock any books; I know they don’t have “The Making of Bigfoot” by PNW author Greg Long, which rather rains on the sasquatch parade. But since I’m on board with Santa and the Easter Bunny, Bigfoot works just fine for me.  Look for the chalet on the south side of Hwy 2, about a half mile east of the turnoff to Index. 

 April 6, 2018. No matter how early you head over the Cascades, chances are XO will be ready to properly caffeinate you for your journey – they open at 4am. And if the java doesn’t get your attention, the barista’s attire will. Or rather, the nearly complete lack thereof. Order a latte and while you wait for your brew, admire the fine physique of a working woman in her prime and a few scraps and strings that would do a private poolside in Miami proud. Takes me back to the days when I, too, had thighs that firm (and it was just a matter of days, believe me). This is a regional woman-owned chain, and the women manning the machines are real people, with husbands, kids, bills to pay, college classes to go to, all of that. And if they can make bigger tips in less time by showing off what they’ve got while they’ve got it, I’ll drink to that.  

February 7, 2018. That's right, 180 degrees. After taking the preceding storm shot, I turned back to the car and fell in love with this darling little outcrop peppered with a few pines. I love all the rock formations in the Okanogan region -- granite cliffs scrubbed and plucked by massive ice sheets and the resulting gravel beds that make up the tiered lower valleys, and of course the fantabulous basalt columns of the southern coulees gouged out by the super floods from Glacial Lake Missoula. 

February 7, 2018. For the second winter in a row we've managed to cross the Cascades on bare roads, even though our trips were often only a day or two before or after some nasty road conditions. This time I was heading back to Seattle in a mad dash to beat the westbound storm. There is a wonderful pullout on the cliffside of Alt Hwy 97 north of Chelan about a mile and a half from its connection to regular Hwy 97 -- the view south to Beebe Bridge over the Columbia is outstanding. 

February 2, 2018. It's not all about the outdoors over here. Sometimes a gal just has to dress up, and not always in rhinestone cowboy boots. I've been waiting for the Red Chandelier to open for months! Just 5 blocks north of my Kokanee Cottages at 121 2nd Ave N in Okanogan. Owner Rachel has decorated it just like Nootka Rose Cottage -- lots of chandeliers (of course) and shabby chic furnishings. Red Chandelier is now also the only place to purchase the coin rings made by Don Maloney, may he rest in peace.