The next day (8-8)
was very similar to the previous one. We had another major climb in the morning, followed
by a long downhill in the afternoon. This time it was Wauconda Pass (elevation 4310), a
little easier than Sherman Pass. We rode to Omak, a town of about 4500 people, and stayed
the night at the Omak Stampede Campgrounds. Unknown to us, the Omak Stampede is one of the
better known rodeos in the Northwest, and we were fortunate not to have arrived a few days
later or there wouldn’t have been any place to stay in town. From the campground, we
could see a very steep dirt hill that dropped to the river (Okanogan), but couldn’t
figure out what it was for. At breakfast the next morning, we found out that the featured
event of the stampede is a "suicide race" down the hill and across the river on
horseback. We also found out that the event was cancelled for this year due to high water,
and is also under attack by animal rights activists as dangerous for the horses.
The highlight of Omak was
finding a Dairy Queen after several days of searching. David had the same kind of
hankering for Dairy Queen desserts as I had the other day for spaghetti. I joined him at
the Dairy Queen, and it was good.
We had one minor glitch at
the campground. Due to the upcoming stampede, the campground had banned tent campers to an
area near the entrance to save the "real" campsites (with electricity and
hookups) for the expected onslaught of RV’s. We saw the sign to that effect as we
came into the campground, so we set up our tents where we thought we were supposed to. A
bit later, however, the attendant came around to collect and suggested that we move
because the city hadn’t yet shut off the automatic sprinkler system for that part of
the campground. It was a nuisance to move, but we did so because it would have been a lot
bigger nuisance to have a sprinkler go off under the tent at 2:00 in the morning.
(Great
Adventures to Scenic Places)
