windy days

We are at the intersection of the Columbia River and highway I-90, in the middle of Washington state.

It's very windy. So windy that after the first 10 kilometers of paddling, at a dam portage, some paddlers opted to quit for the day, including our team.

It's hot as well as windy. Did I say that it was windy? Our very large tent is having a hard time--it's such a big sail, and it wears on you.

The country here is spectacular--the river valley is large, and heavily eroded by prehistoric floods. It is very dry, so there is much sagebrush and little grass of any kind. The trees are lopsided thanks to the wind, too. Paddling alongside the high basalt cliffs provide more than respite from the wind--gorgeous to look at, and we saw a herd of mountain sheep. Who needs a foothold? they don't seem to!

This is such open country--big sky, the ribbon of green along the river, and the occasional coulee with water. Very big sky, actually.

This is quite the change from the rainy Lower Mainland.