Before leaving the house little Bert poked his head out from the covers to say goodbye:
On the way to the TH I realized I had forgot my hat so when we stopped at the market in Lyle I picked one up. There were some hilarious(and offensive) caps to choose from with the fronts of the hats reading "Border Patrol" "Buck Hunter" or "I Love Jesus". Complete with a camo backdrop and a Bull Elk on the front brim
I thought this one was the best, hiking is an "outdoor sport" right? 
After many jokes about how my large melon didn't fit into the hat very well anyway we trudged on our way to the TH off Harms Road:
The Centerville Turkeys were running about a little ways before the TH:
I always have to wonder what the folks from the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railroad who built the line 110 years ago would have thought if they'd known the line were to become a rail trail 90+ years after it was established. But so goes history and now the 31 mile trail treats hikers and mountain bikers a like to a great tour of Swale Creek and the Klickitat River as it makes its way up towards Goldendale. The trail takes off upriver for 10 or 11 miles from the town of Lyle, Washington before it splits off into the remote beauty of Swale Canyon. Up towards the Harms road side the creek was barely a trickle:
There were holes drilled in the creek bed near one of the railroad bridges:
Cant forget the area near the shrine:
The Sagebrush that lines the old railroad grade was blooming and a few pollinators were hard at work:
We had never been here in fall before so it was cool to see it in bloom:
Ponderosa Pines and Acorns too:
We hiked about 5 miles from the Harms Road TH and much of the creek was still pretty dry, but incredibly beautiful too:
Pano of the creek with Jojo in upper middle for scale;
A little further down stream we encountered some of what I think are those invasive New Zealand Mud Snails
And a Craw daddy claw with lots of them swimming around:
Some of the trail art along the way:
After a nice lunch under a large pine tree we hiked back up the Canyon toward the TH:
You have to walk through a few cattle gates as you near Harms Road:
Another TH pano:
After the hike on Swale Creek we decided to explore the back roads of the range land a little bit and head through the tiny town of Centerville. From Centerville we backtracked a bit and then headed north toward hwy 142 crossing over the Little Klickitat River:
Onto hwy 142 and we took a quick stop off at the Wahkiacus TH and headed up the canyon to the spot we turred around at last year. There were lots of fishermen on the river but once we took off up the canyon a little ways we didn't see a soul:
After the short little add-on hike we drove back to Lyle via hwy 142 and crossed the Columbia back over to Oregon at Hood River. I-84 driving back was crazy with the stormy weather and we opted to take the old highway a few times to go at a slower pace. Not sure that was a good idea as there were car sized limbs falling from the trees as we made our way from Ainsworth to Angels Rest
A quick stop at home and then it was back out to a warm pub and some good food after another awesome day on the trails 
