Prairie Pictures

A spring day, not far from home....

near the point where Marcellus Road.....

crosses Crab Creek.....

north of Ritzville, Washington.....

called Rocky Ford. There is another place.....

on Crab Creek between Moses Lake and Ephrata.....

which is also called Rocky Ford. This Rocky Ford, shown here....

is upstream from the town of Odessa, though.

Crab Creek runs in a coulee east to west, below higher ground.....

to the north and south of it which is mostly.....

dryland wheat fields. Along the creek, there are many....

ranches which irrigate hay fields growing Timothy and Alfalfa.....

as well as fields of corn and grass seed......

Crab Creek is the longest continuously running creek in North America, beginning at a place near.....

Reardan, Washington, and emptying, finally, into the Potholes Reservoir.....

below Moses Lake. Not very many roads follow it.....

probably because, in early days, it flooded the coulee from side to side.....

making travel impossible. Finding crossings and places to view the creek is difficult.

But not impossible.

Lovely spring skies.....

an old schoolhouse near the ford....

and the creek bubbling along on its merry way.