Klipchuck Campground and Early Winters Creek



If you read my last post, you'll remember that we went camping last weekend in Eastern Washington. Technically it's the center of Washington, but to 'coasters' like us, anything east of the Cascade Mountain Range is 'eastern'. This is where we spent our second night. The campground is called 'Klipchuck' and is situated about 20 miles outside of Winthrop, Washington.(Klipchuck means 'deep water.') Early Winters Creek runs through a ravine below the campground. We fell asleep to the sound of the waters dashing against the rocks.



There were warning signs posted about rattlesnakes in the Campground. Since there are virtually no poisonous snakes in Western Washington, we were a little wary after reading the signs. However, a knowledgeable forest ranger assured us that it is much too late in the year for rattlers to be out and about. She said that they hibernate in dens below the earth and rocks. There can be hundreds of them in a den. She went on to say  that even if we did encounter a stray snake, it would be too lethargic to strike. Hmmm. Well, since we came to hike, we donned our boots and headed down to the creek, still a bit uneasy. This is also cougar and bear territory. We've decided to purchase some kind of a weapon to take when hiking in wilderness areas...but we haven't gotten one yet. Now I'm not fond of guns at all, but cougars are pretty mean, so I've relented on my 'no weapons policy' so that we can tramp about the woods safely. It is nice to have Koda dog along. We know she'd smell another animal long before we saw it. I half expected to see a cougar crossing the creek on those fallen timbers. But I didn't. The only wildlife we saw were squirrels, deer, eagles, and bluejays.

I wish you could smell these pine trees.

  Pine trees make me feel all cozy...like Christmas and log cabins and patchwork quilts.

When we got home I dug this half-finished needlework project out of the sewing bag. I'm gonna finish it... to remind me of our stay at Klipchuck and Early Winters Creek.