[Jerry]

Taneum to Skull Springs
November 10, 2007

I love it when weather forecasters predict rain and it doesn't. And it didn't. We had an absolutely beautiful fall day and a darned good turnout of backroad drivers when we met at the Cottage Café in Cle Elum, Washington. Our hearty group consisted of:

+ Ed from Clarkston and Bill from Ellensburg in Ed's Dodge pickup

+ Bill & Jolleen from Kirkland in their modified Early Ford Bronco

+ Kelly from Eatonville in his Jeep JK Wrangler

+ Elisha (formerly from Kenya) with friends Sam (formerly from Kenya), Battulga (formerly from Mongolia) and Laura (formerly from Mongolia), all now calling Bellevue home, in Elisha's Nissan Xterra

+ Steve and his son Steven and daughter Korinne from Edgewood in Steve's expedition style Toyota Land Cruiser

+ and me, Jerry from Yakima, in my modified Ford Bronco II


THE MORNING

We were a half-hour late in getting away from the restaurant so we dispensed with the more scenic Peoh Point Road and zoomed up the freeway to the Thorp Prairie Interchange. That's where you may have seen a full-size metal silhouette of an elk standing in someones field. You have to do a double take to decide whether it is real or a silhouette.

At the end of the off ramp we turned on a gravel road that took us to an entrance into the L. T. Murray State Wildlife and Recreation Area. All roads open to public travel within the wildlife area are marked with a green dot on a white post. It's referred to as the "Green Dot System". I had the most current map of the area showing highlighted Green Dot roads, but the Department of Fish and Wildlife can change the status of those roads annually depending upon animal migration and other factors. Long story short, we followed green dot roads, but they did not always conform to the map. It didn't bother us because we were exploring anyway, but it did put a crimp in the tour plans I had made prior to the trip. Before we left Cle Elum I jokingly told everybody I had planned the tour during a gas station stop and as it turns out I think they believed me!

The first road was pretty much in the lowlands surrounded by a sparse pine forest with evidence of recent logging activity. The road was relatively smooth as compared to most unimproved roads under Washington State jurisdiction. The map indicated it was a dead end and we were hoping it would stop on a hill above the Indian John Rest Area where we might pick up a nice view of the valley. But, it ended up going down hill instead and it was not a dead-end as it connected with a power line road that eventually took us to the Peoh Point Road and back to the interchange where we started.

Entering the wildlife area at the same entrance as earlier in the day we veered off on a different fork that led up hill as we drove under a mixed forest canopy of deciduous and conifer trees. We had been making frequent rest stops where we spent time to get acquainted and take some pictures. Most of us had cameras, but Kelly, Steve and Steven were packing professional photographic gear. Steven was the most enthusiastic photographer, taking advantage of rest stops to walk long distances ahead, get just the right shot and get picked up when the group caught up to him. Not that Kelly and Steve wouldn't have done the same (ahem), but they were busy driving. After one of the rest stops we started off again only to be turned around by encroaching brush and a very rough road. Our vehicles were equipped to drive the trail, but they were too nice to be scratched up by protruding branches. So we went back to the last intersection and continued on our journey.

(Continued in THE AFTERNOON segment)