September, 2022
My last full day here. It was a gorgeous day. I decided to head out on just a day-trip with the big white truck, north on a two-lane paved road into the Yakima River Canyon, north of the town of Yakima. The canyon road hugs the Yakima River with extraordinary geology and plants alongside and views of the river.
The big, main interstate highway/freeway (I-82) headed north out of Yakima too but was over to the east of the river with no views of the river or the canyon. I wanted to see the river and the canyon!
The canyon road (state route 821) bans commercial truck combinations (semi trucks with trailers) from May 15 thru September 15 due to the summer volume of traffic, and the overhanging rock walls, and the neccessarily narrow roadways (between the rock walls and the river, and you’ll notice the almost complete lack of a shoulder or pull-outs in the videos below), and a few really tight curves and switch-backs along the road. It even bans RV’s more than a certain length.
After driving the canyon road today, even though I would have been allowed to take my 21′ trailer, I would not have wanted to. It’s just too tight and narrow in some spots. There is no shoulder for most of the road. And the drive was just too gorgeous to spend the time under tension and not be able to enjoy the views. Towhee the Trailer happily stayed back in the campsite in the campground back in Yakima … today I had just the big white truck with me and she handled these roads with not a care in the world.
The Yakima River Canyon is a 27-mile gorge through basalt cliffs and rolling hills. Eagles, hawks, and falcons are common sights. It’s a popular destination for anglers, campers, and river-rafters. Plate tectonics, glacial floods, and volcanic eruptions shaped this landscape over millions of years. Huge folds of the earth’s crust, created by the clockwise rotation of the Pacific Northwest and the compression of the North American continent, are often evident (I read that on a sign).
Online research provided this info about the canyon road … “sections of the highway are closed for day-long events that are held annually, including a cattle drive in January or February.” In fact, a full-time resident and rancher that I talked with today told me this is not a “tourist” cattle drive … it is real people moving their cattle from their ranches down into the town of Yakima for sale. Maybe someday I’ll see that.
The first video below was taken as I was entering the south end of the canyon, heading north, uphill, into the canyon.
Ok, let’s get on with our ride up into the canyon in the big white truck. 🙂
Oh, one last comment from me … I figured out a way to secure my camera on top of the dash of the truck so I no longer have to hold the camera in one hand to take videos while I drive with the other hand, and I no longer look at the video being taken with one eye and watch the road with the other eye, yikes. Of course, not that I was doing that, no sir. But, the camera is now secure on the dash so both hands are on the steering wheel and both eyes are on the road. 🙂 So you folks don’t need to worry about my driving, just settle back and watch the scenery.
There were several campgrounds and recreation areas along the river. I’ve taken just a few photos to show what they look like. And I’ve included a couple of photos of the precise campsite number of my prospective favorite future campsites. 🙂
I was here on September 18, just a couple of days past the date of the semi-truck-trailer ban, so you’ll see at least one semi-tractor-trailer rig legally heading south on this canyon road in the video below.
The foot bridge above led to a long, likely wonderful, walk up into the canyon of a small tributary to the Yakima River.
The video below shows the northern part of the canyon. The video ends with the canyon road climbing a bit uphill and away from the river, then the road drops back down to the river, and then both the river and the road proceed directly out onto the flat land to the north of the canyon. Just before the end of the video, the canyon road crosses a small waterway, Wilson Creek, which is a tributary that empties into the Yakima River just a bit south of where the road crosses that creek at the end of this video. What might seem like such dry environs is actually full of dozens of small creeks and waterways.
And then I pulled off onto the side of the canyon road, turned the big white truck around, then headed back south, downhill, southbound this time, down in through the canyon back towards Yakima.
Southbound, but near the north end of the canyon (above).
Southbound, near the south end of the canyon (below).
One last photo below. Fun with faces! The rock wall below was near the south end of the canyon. Remember the other one or two blog posts here in the last year or two where we all found faces in the rocks? This rock wall even has a whole body in it! At least I see a whole body. 🙂 What do you see? How many faces? I see 18 faces.
UPDATE: As promised to Reader Wanda, here’s a photo (below) of the rock wall (above), but with the faces that I see circled in RED … and the body of the woman holding a child (or a dog) circled in YELLOW. I now see 40 faces! See the comment below from/to Wanda with a link to a larger resolution of the photo of this rock wall that you can enlarge for better searching.
First to comment! 🙂
I saw 20 faces in that rock wall, no bodies.
What a great drive. I really like that you shared so much of the drive in videos. People can opt out of watching the videos if they want or, like me, watch every nano second of them. I’ve been up and down that canyon road more times than I can count, but I saw MORE on your trip than I’ve seen on mine. Obviously, you stop a lot and take photos, and you probably actually look around, and talk to people, think of that! I haven’t done that. I just drive through. Ok, another drive for me coming up soon on a nice sunny winter day.
Gosh, thanks Paul. I thought you might have commented that you’ve seen all that, since you live in Yakima, but you saw more in these videos than you had on your own trips. Sometimes seeing something through someone else’s eyes does that, yes? I really appreciate your comments. Yes, do another drive and let me know what I missed! 🙂
Have American western movies been made there? It seems a perfect place for that. The maps and videos are wonderful, give such a feel for the place. I see 16 faces. I will look again.
I don’t know of any American western/cowboy movies made around Yakima or in that canyon, but it sure does seems a good spot for a movie like that. 16 faces is great, Henry. Thanks for such a nice comment.
15 faces and one body (the woman holding the baby?). what a great drive, hope you get back there and go camping.
Oh, good, you saw the woman holding the baby. That makes me feel better. 🙂 I hope I get back there too, Nevada, it’s on my list.
21 faces! But no bodies.
Got to admit, the steady video camera while the truck is moving makes me happier. Thank you for figuring that out. Not only can I relax but the video is smoother too. I thought I’d be bored with the videos on this drive, but I loved them, made me relax and just ride along. 🙂
Online says there are a number of families who “drive” cattle (actually walk them) down the canyon road and into Yakima each year and that it’s a big deal. If you go camping there to watch it (January/February), you might want to be plugged into electricity for heat in the trailer, brrrrrr!!
Thanks for the input about the steadier camera, Nebraska. I think the resulting video is steadier, but it’s good to hear from readers that it is. AND, I too am happier that I’m not multi-tasking while driving and taking video.
Yes, the only concern I have about being over there during that Jan/Feb cattle drive is how cold it must be and that there could be snow on the roads … and that there certainly will be snow on the ground everywhere else. I’m a warm-weather kind of person. But I’d love to see the cattle drive. I’d be plugged in for sure!! 🙂
Wow, I see about 25 faces in those rocks, some human, some other mammals, a few birds, some maybe aliens, ha! I don’t see an entire person, holding a baby. Love the videos, the traffic, the rock walls, the river, the sky. Are the names of the “recreation sites” from native languages?
25 faces! Ok, I need to go look again! Yes aliens from another planet count for sure. 🙂 They are people too, yes?
Good question about the names of those recreation sites. I didn’t mention that all of them are on Bureau of Land Management (federal) land, so camping there is inexpensive (and I think free in the winter). I’ve now spent the past 20 minutes researching those names (Roza, Big Pines, Lmuma, and Umtanum) and I can’t find anything online that tells me the source of those names … either on BLM websites or other websites. If anyone has the answer/s, let all of us know, ok? Thanks Fran.
The foot bridge across the river and the path up the tributary/stream entices me. Lovely videos and everything else. I’ve been reading about the geology of the area online, fascinating … the ocean was here, glaciers, so much more.
Mary, I almost hiked across that bridge and up that trail, but I wanted to be sure to have enough time to drive the entire canyon, so I kept going. Next time!
Amazing, all of it. What water can do! Whether working … or just reflecting. 🙂 We might learn from that.
I’m looking for things/areas like this near where I live. Thank you.
Ah yes, “reflecting” … I liked that. 🙂 Thanks, Babe.
Nice drive. And nice of you to pull over and let folks go by. It does seem dry there since there aren’t many plants except right down next to the river. But I’d bet there’s simply not much dirt, it’s mostly rock, volcanic rock, so what water there is probably just filters down through that rock, there’s no dirt to hold the water. It also seems that this river didn’t dig this canyon, but that the water found the low spot through the hills and that happened to be this canyon, well ok maybe some eroding by the river but mostly by glacier. Yes? No?
Lots of volcanic rock here indeed! So yes, I suppose it’s no wonder there’s not much water for plants, though I hadn’t thought that through nearly as well as you did, Greg. And at first I figured the river had dug/eroded the canyon, but when I saw the north end of the river on simple, flat land and realized the sides of the canyon were much higher than that flat land, I realized (like you did) that the water simply found the lowest point and flowed through it. So I think you’re right on! 🙂
Courtesy doesn’t take much; I pull over any time I can to let people pass. 🙂
I am so impressed! At least I was. 🙂 You wrote about the clockwise rotation of the Pacific Northwest, that impressed me that you knew that! And then you wrote that you read it on a sign. Ha! Ok, well, at least you remembered what you read. 🙂 Good for you!
Indeed the Pacific Northwest (Oregon and Washington) are moving in a clockwise and northerly direction/rotation, pushing against slower-moving Canada. But no one should worry about this too much. It does cause a few small earthquakes and such every once in a while, but the movement of the Pacific Northwest is only about 1 degree of rotation (of 360 degrees) every, oh say, about every 16 million years or so. So this isn’t happening real fast. No need to pack your bags and go live somewhere else. 🙂
Love this blog. You are so interested in so many things! And you share it so generously. And you write so well. More please. 🙂
Ok, you caught me, Tina. 🙂 That was nice that you thought at first that I knew that stuff, thank you for that. And yes I do read signs and try to learn things.
Wow, cool info about the rotation and northerly movement. I didn’t know that. If it gets critical, I’ll just jump in the truck, grab the trailer, and head for Canada! Or maybe Michigan. 🙂 Or maybe Mexico.
Thanks for the nice words, Tina, makes me smile. I love this blog and all of the comments and questions and education from you and everyone … keep them coming.
I like the canyon and the drive, it was acutally very relaxing. And I found 19 faces in the rocks, and I found what I think is the woman holding a child. And I found aliens! what fun. 🙂 But mostly I love this latest header photo of the dusty miller. Thank you for thinking about the butterflies and the bees.
Butterflies and bees are critical, but I know you know that Ruby. Without them, we wouldn’t bee here. 🙂 Yes … bee here.
Wonderful drive!
Thanks Marge. 🙂
Ann, can you post a photo of that rock wall and circle the faces you see? and the body with the baby? I’m finding 23 or so faces, but I lose track! ha! 🙂
You’ve got it, Wanda! I’ll post the photo with red circles (I now find 40 faces!, and the woman with the baby … well, ok maybe she’s holding a dog). But also, HERE is a link to a larger size image of that rock wall (no red circles).