May, 2019
A day out and about …
In my first blog post about this camping trip, I mentioned a crop called “hops”. They grow a lot of hops in the Yakima River Valley area … a LOT of hops! Several websites I found say that most of the commercial beer that’s made in the USA use hops that are grown in the Yakima area.
On this particular morning, I jumped into my big white truck and headed out away from the town of Yakima to see what I could see in the countryside. Hops! And more hops!
Here’s a wikipedia article about hops. Interestingly, this wikipedia article lists the Yakima Valley (in the State of Washington) right along with Germany and the Czech Republic as the largest hops growing regions in the world.
I was here fairly early in the spring, so the hops crops (hop crop?) were/was just starting out (above). If you look closely (or click on the photo), you can see the hops tendrils starting to climb the lines.
There were many different configurations of supports for hops. I could have spent hours taking photos, but I had places to go and things to see.
From Yakima, I drove down I-82, then turned south at the small town of Sunnyside onto state road 241, then jumped over to the Mabton-Bickleton Road. There were lots of crops (hops and other crops too) between Yakima and Mabton, but they began to peter out after Mabton.
The home and farm above is about 3 miles south of Mabton. It’s the first house south of Mabton. When I looked at this farm on Google Earth after I got home, it appeared to cover about 4,000 acres. The fields start up those hills in the far distance, but the fields stop before the land gets very steep.
What is the crop? At this time of year, early May, the plants were about a foot tall. What are they?
The Mabton-Bickleton Road continued on through land that held a lot of nothing, it seemed to me. Eventually the road wound up a steep grade and over that ridge of hills behind that farm above. I was on Glade Road, and had been seeing signs for Township Road. Wow, maybe some civilization. Maybe some things to see … or people to talk with.
Ok, here I was!
Township Road above. Hmmm, not much of a “township” there, eh?
I elected to stay on Glade Road and continued on … down a steep grade, then across a long valley, then up another steep grade, and down again. Every few miles there would be a home and farm, but again, the land seemed so empty to me. Not a tree in sight. And most of the land, by far most of the land, was not cultivated.
I was becoming complacent and a bit bored, but at one point I noticed some white dots off to the left out of the corner of my eye. I almost didn’t look, but then … whoa … look at this!
There was no shoulder on this road, none at all, anywhere, but there was also no traffic, so I simply stopped and started taking photos out my driver’s window.
While my truck was moving, these folks above paid no attention to me. As soon as the truck stopped, however, they moved away. They didn’t run, but they were serious about leaving me behind.
Once they got far enough away for their comfort, they stopped and looked back at me. And then I could zoom in and focus on them with the camera fairly well, though they were 300-400 feet away from me by then.
I believe they are Pronghorn, erroneously called antelopes. Pronghorn are the only surviving members of the Antilocapridae family, and have been in North America for more than one million years. I was so pleased they posed nicely for a photograph.
Eventually, they continued on up along the hillside.
And I continued on down the road.
My destination this morning was the VERY small town of Bickleton. I did get there, and had lunch there with some local folks in the only establishment that was open that prepared and sold meals. I was certainly made to feel welcome. I will tell you all about Bickleton in the next post.
If you take your time driving those fields border roads, you will find lots of wildlife live out there. The mule deer used to hunker down in depressions in the fields to hide from view. I had forgotten about the large herds of pronghorns I used to see. Thanks for the memories of a good time in my life.
Barney, must have been reading your mind. Later in the trip, I thought maybe I should have taken that “Township” road, just like you said, for the wildlife. But I had Bickleton on my mind that day so kept on going. I’ll try to loosen up my mind a bit in the future and be more apt to change plans at the drop of a hat.
There used to be a great place for a cheezeburger on the Bickleton blue bird road..
If you ever down that way again check out the C.O.E. campground at Plymouth Wa..
Right on the river at the day use area, the campground is a bit ways back…
Close by is the local tavern with again..good cheeze-burgers…
Hope you aren’t a vegan..if so..never-mind..eh?
Yes, I ate lunch in a place just off the Bickleton blue bird road, I bet that was the cheezeburger place! But I didn’t have a cheezeburger darn it. If I ever get back there … it’ll be a cheezeburger for sure.
Just checked out Plymouth campground on Google Earth … right on the Columbia! Ok, it’s on my list too. 🙂 Thanks Upriverdavid.
Great pictures! Nice to be out in the wide open spaces and see wildlife.
I liked that Yakama Nation museum a lot. But yes, it sure felt good to be outside and exploring the “real” world and seeing fascinating stuff out there too. Thanks Ginger.
I remember one area we were touring (and can’t remember which – maybe California?) where they actually had little placard signs along the road to tell you which crops were being grown. Maybe in DelMonte? haha. Amazing wildlife photos!
Yes! I’d forgotten about the signs in California. Yes, they do have signs that tell us tourists what the crops are … at least on state route 99 which parallels I-5 for many miles. I would like it to be a rule please that all farmers everywhere do that. Can we make that a rule, Robin?
For those of you who come back and read these comments … here’s a link to history of the small community of Mabton. It’s quite interesting! https://www.historylink.org/File/10419.
Mabton history was cool! Small towns can have the best history. The history doesn’t get washed away by big city commercialism. Thanks Ann!
I love small towns. The people are so welcoming. Maybe that attitude is there because it too doesn’t get washed away in big city commercialism. Thanks Nevada.
We feel lost on those wide open plains. We always yearn for trees. But the plains do have their own charm. Love the Pronghorn and didn’t know they aren’t truly antelope. As others here say, we sure learn things here. Thank you Ann.
You are welcome, Marge. My next camping destination will definitely have trees … and water … both of which I missed in the Yakima area.
I agree with what everone says here Ann, great blog. I like that new header with the little bird. Wife says it’s a Junco.
Yes, your wife is correct, Tim. That little bird in the new header is a Dark-eyed Junco. I took that photo in my back yard while the Junco was perched on my back fence. It seemed to be posing for me just like those Pronghorn did.