New Years Day at Rocky Ford Fish-In (Almost)

I got up early this morning at 4 AM, and headed out at 5:30. A cold hard rain was pouring down and I knew there would be lots of snow in Snoqualmie Pass and all of eastern Washington. I had about 200 miles to drive to get to Rocky Ford.

Tiger Mountain between Auburn and North Bend wasn't bad, just heavy slush on the road. I pulled onto I-90 heading east and the rain was really coming down hard, with the wind blowing it at about a 45 degree angle.

The snow started just east of North Bend and very quickly turned into about 18 inches of pure white stuff. All the big trucks were pulled over getting their chains on. Visibility was rather poor and sometimes the road was hard to see. Kind of like being in a blizzard in North Dakota, something I experienced just last month.

The traffic came to a total stop just about 7 miles from the summit. We sat there for 45 minutes, then they started turning everyone around, we had to head back west on I-90. They had closed the pass due to high risks of avalanches and they were going to have to wait until daylight before they could even begin to assess the danger.

So, I had to miss the fun at Rocky Ford. Too bad too, I had a freshly baked apple pie and an Oriental Chicken Salad that I was taking over for the pot luck lunch.

I sit here now, a fresh cup of Starbucks Sumatra coffee on my desk top and a piece of apple pie in front of me. Boy, is that pie ever good.

Maybe next year for the New Years Day Rocky Ford Fish - In, the pass will tell.

Meanwhile, I have to take another bite of that pie and a sip of Joe.

Larry ---sagefisher---