Ginko Petrified Forest

Jacquelyn and I went on a day drive Saturday.  We visited three sites in Eastern Washington.

The first stop was Ginko Petrified Wood State Park.  I'm sitting on a tree trunk that was petrrified into stone.  There are only a half dozen places in the U.S. that have petrified wood.

 There were some beautiful views of the Columbia River.

 Petroglyphs carved on some stones by ancient inhabitants of the area.
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 We went on an interesting trail that stopped by exhibits of several different trees.  This spot is known for having a diverse variety of trees, including the prehistoric Ginko Tree.

 Saw some wild big horn sheep.

 Stopped at the nearby rock shop and bought some petrified wood.  There owner owns some land nearby and digs up his own petrified wood to sell.

 Second stop was Lenore Lake Caves.  The Indians used these as temporary camps when  travelling down the river to hunt and collect plants for medicine.

 A closeup of the largest cave.  They were just indentation in the rock cliffs where the facing had eroded and fallen down.

Third stop was Soap Lake.  People go here to bath in the mud on the bottom of the lake.  We waded out into the lake and you can walk for length of a football field and it's not even knee deep.

This is an example of the mud that they smear on.  It's shiny black and supposed to be good for your skin.  We had a nice day out together.