New
Year's Day 2003
Rattlesnake Mt. rises 3500 ft. above
the desert floor.
It is about 10 miles long, and is supposedly
the world's tallest treeless mountain.
Starting
the new year by sitting in front of a box watching other people play was
not appealing. Besides, Adondo had a new pickup which needed trying
out. So we decided on a trip to the forest. Petrified
forest, that is. Past Rattlesnake Mountain, we crossed the Columbia
at Vernita.
Looking upstream from Vernita
|
 B
Reactor |
Bruggeman Warehouse
|
Just visible off to the east is the WW-2 B-Reactor.
It was the world's first large scale production reactor and made the plutonium
for the Nagasaki bomb. The Bruggeman warehouse is also visible inside
its cyclone fence. It was hand made from river rock about 100 years
ago. Before WW-2 & Hanford Atomic Works, this was a farming area,
and was noted for producing the year's first strawberries. Don't
even think of going out there, unless you really really like black helicopters,
machine-guns & guys who never smile.
We crossed the
river & continued upstream.
 |
Looking downstream from Sentinel
Gap, the snowy ridges are barely visible against a snowy sky |
 |
Unusual gateposts. Moving
a few tons of basalt was probably easier than trying to dig post holes
here. |
 |
The view across the Columbia R. toward Umtanum
Ridge from Sentinel Gap. |
| We crossed the river again at Vantage &
it was snowing |
|
Is that petrified sage brush?
I wonder what's over there.....
(I know, I know -- I've already been called
incorrigible. ) |
 |
 .....
|
What well dressed outdoors men are wearing
for 2003
(cost is only 60 IQ points) |
| No tracks means whoever lives in this den
has the sense to stay inside |
|
We went down to the river, but the view was
flaky
| From the cliff top, looking
down at the river through the falling snow was almost hypnotizing |
 |
 |
brush & petrified stump |
|
|
Back across the river. Normally, this
wild horse statuary is clearly visible from the far side off the canyon.
| And you thought WE were crazy? |
 |
With absolutely impeccable timing, we arrived
in back Tri-Cities just as the pecan pie was cool enough to slice.
©MHuntington
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