May, 2022
Earlier this week, my friend and I drove south of the earth dam to see lava tubes and pothole lakes. Then the other day we drove north of the earth dam to see birds at the north end of the reservoir. Today, we’re going south again … but we’re going to drive straight through most of the pothole area and then into sagebrush country. I don’t know much about sagebrush except what I saw as a kid when my brother and I watched TV shows in the 1950s starring Hopalong Cassidy and the Cisco Kid and Gene Autry and Red Ryder and Roy Rogers and eventually (what took them so long!) a TV series about Annie Oakley.
So come on along with me into sagebrush country. Here … right here in the State of Washington is real sagebrush. In fact, this area is one of the few remaining original sagebrush areas in North America. Let’s go. Saddle up! 🙂
We found a small parking area just off the paved road. And we found this nicely maintained trail that led out into the sagebrush. There are Western Rattlesnakes here; they are poisonous. We were happy to have a trail to walk where we could easily see where we were stepping.
On the other hand, those rattlesnakes rarely bite. If you step on one, you’ll likely get bit but otherwise they tend to avoid humans.
We found ourselves fascinated with the sagebrush, the grasses, and all manner of other plants here. So we got off-path a bit, but we were very careful, believe me!
The smell of sagebrush was interesting. It was oily and sort of spicy and sort of sweet/bitter all at once, all at the same time. Not something I would want in my home necessarily, but I bet if one was raised around it, then it might be a well-loved fragrance.
Eventually, we remembered to look up and look back at the truck to make sure we knew where we were.
We spent a couple of hours here. I found that when I took a really good close look at the land, the plants, and smelled how it all smelled, and noticed the sky … and the distant pothole lakes still to be seen … it was fascinating. Some people call this land barren. It’s rich!
When we returned to the truck, I then noticed some signs near that small parking area ……
Here is a very short video I took of the area.
As mentioned, we spent a couple of hours here. It would have been easy to spend a lot more time here and to hike out into the terrain much further. But we were also on our way to take a relatively quick drive through thousands of acres of fruit trees just to the west of us. Eastern Washington has bazillions of acres of fruit trees, and hops, and sugar beets … many areas that my friend and I had each seen on other trips each of us had taken, so our focus wasn’t on those fruit trees for this trip. And so we didn’t take many photos of them. But tomorow we WILL return to the northern wetland edge of the reservoir, in search of maybe just a few more wonderful birds.
Saddle up! I love it. 🙂 I don’t know that I’ve ever seen any horses in this potholes area, but surely there have been in the past. One time when a friend of mine and I were camped out here (years ago!), just camped out on the land, we watched two rabbits do that dance, was really fun to watch. Saddle up!
Whoa, you saw one of those dances of bunny rabbits? That’s cool! 🙂
Don’t know that you want to bring a chair and sit in among the rattlesnakes, but yes, rattlesnakes don’t usually bite, they run off if they can. So, yes, bring a chair and sit in among the sagebrush and watch the sky and listen to the birds and smell the sagebrush and watch the small critters enjoy their lives. I was raised in a very small town in Montana and love the smell of sagebrush. We played out there, WITH the rattlesnakes, no problem. Great memories Ann, thank you!
Tim, it actually sounds really nice to sit in among the sagebrush and watch the world go by. I liked the smell of it. And, ya know, kids used to play with rattlesnakes (maybe still do?) and we used to drink water out of a hose, and all manner of other things that we’re told today we shouldn’t have done … but we lived through it just fine. 🙂
I don’t have any experience with any of this, it’s fascinating. Love the photo looking back at your truck. Nice to know that you weren’t lost out there. Ok, sure, I know one can find there way by sun and such, but I like that you knew where you were. Have lived in western Washington all my life and never knew this stuff about eastern WA.
Yep, it was important to me to know which direction to run to the truck to go get help in case a rattlesnake decided to act up. 🙂 I’m learning a lot about eastern Washington, glad you’re here Ben.
I love the red grass against the, well, SAGE green. It’s beautiful country. I’d be careful where I put my feet too. I am even here and we only have one poisonous snake in our local parks.
I’m hoping to write the post that’s special for you tomorrow sometime. Maybe anyway. I’ll let you know!
Oh, see, you made me see something I hadn’t noticed before, even tho I took the photos … the red grass against the sage green. It’s really pretty isn’t it.
And … thank you for the Towhee photos on your blog!! Towhees are my favorite birds, you know, but I bet you knew that. 🙂
Thanks Dawn.
Nevada, sounds like you are from central WA, or spent a great deal of time here. I’m from, and still in, Yakima, retired from hops farming. Ann’s doing a great job of describing the area. I like how she takes her time everywhere she goes where most tourists would drive in, spend 5 minutes, take three photos and race off to the next viewpoint. I’ve never witnessed the rabbit dance, you were in the right place at the right time!!
Great photos Ann, and yes the sagebrush smells wonderful to me, just like home. 🙂
When he/she first became a reader here, Nevada posted that she/he used to live in Ellensburg, maybe grew up there? So I bet the two of you know a lot of the same country.
Thanks for the nice words, Paul, much appreciated. 🙂
I’m reminded of a book, Riders of the Purple Sage, a good old western tale by Zane Grey. Maybe those “riders” came through this potholes country?
I bet they did! I think I saw some old hoof prints! 🙂 Ok, maybe not, but that’s a nice thought, Wanda. I’ve read a number of Zane Grey westerns and have now reserved a copy of Riders of the Purple Sage from my local library.
Super photos, super history. I could put my chair out there in that sagebrush and just sit there and watch the world (and watch the snakes, they are friends too). Whoever started this idea of just sitting in a chair somewhere beautiful had a great idea!
It’s a great idea, isn’t it? I’ll be making sure my folding chairs are in the back of my pickup truck on my drives in the future.
Sagebrush is sweet. Definitely. 🙂
🙂 I liked it too.
Beautiful story! We used to love riding our horses over there amongst the sage, it’s aroma was breathtakingly wonderful! Sitting around at night listening to all the animals & watching their activities was great! Blessings, M & M
I didn’t know you did that! Oh my, more stories to share. 🙂
Love and hugs.
Ah, another “M&M” here. 🙂 Although it seems, Melly, that you know Ann, and we don’t. As a young girl, a bunch of us girl friends used to ride horses in the sagebrush in the southwest. We loved it! The smell of sage was divine. We too camped out with our horses. What wonderful memories. Thanks for reminding me, Melly. And thanks Ann for this blog post. Really special.
Yes, Melly and I certainly know each other, we’ve been relatives for probably thousands of years, ok well at least in this life anyway. That’s so cool that you used to ride out among the sagebrush too, M (of M&M). I bet you have stories to tell, and tons of great memories. 🙂
Whenever we travel through a sagebrush area, I always cut some to take with me. I love thesmell. It reminds me of central Oregon camping trips as a child. I keep it until there is no smell left.
That’s cool. 🙂 What a nice memory. I loved the smell too but didn’t think of cutting some. Next time!