My wife Eileen and I took a drive the other day, and drove from Leavenworth, over Blewett Pass to Cle Elum. We then drove down I-90 to the turn off to the Yakima River Canyon Road. We were interested in seeing this area particularly evidence of the fires that burned through here recently. I was very pleased to see little fire damage on this whole circuit.

The town of Cle Elum was busy. The Troutwater Fly Show in Cle Elum was busy and they reported very good fishing on the Yakima River. When we drove through the canyon we saw lots of drift boats, along with tubers and rafters. We also stopped and got some photos of the bighorn sheep that inhabit the canyon and often can be seen from the road.

The only time we saw burned hillsides was when we took highway 97 from Ellensburg to Blewett. The area around the Wind Machines is burned pretty good. From what we saw I would encourage people to visit the Cle Elum and Ellensburg area. Sometimes the media makes things sound worse than they really are. I plan to hit the Yakima myself very soon.