That’s the kind of offensive production, especially in the rarefied fastpitch talent of the Class 2A state championships, that created another very important other statistic for the tournament’s home team: two wins.

The Selah Vikings jackhammered their way into their second straight semifinal berth, battering Fife 13-3 and Interlake 11-0 at Carlon Park.

Selah players line up at home plate to congratulate Kaylee Fullerton, left, as she crosses the base after hitting a home run in the third inning of their game against Fife at the 2A state softball tournament at Carlon Park in Selah on Friday, May 25, 2012. (Sara Gettys/Yakima Herald-Republic)

The victory moved CWAC champion Selah (24-2) into a 10 a.m. showdown against Tumwater and its powerful pitcher, Kiersten Smith, who had 11- and 10-strikeout games in the Thunderbirds’ 12-2 and 8-1 victories over Cheney and Granite Falls, respectively.

“She’s got a lot of power, and she’s got that good rise ball,” Selah batting coach Ben Graf said. “Our girls will have to be able to lay off that rise ball. As long as we’re not chasing it, I think we’ll be OK.”

Selah’s hitters made Friday’s victories look like batting practice because, well, that’s the way they treated it.

“When we stay really relaxed, that’s when we hit the best,” said senior Carly Minnick, who drove in four runs over the Vikings’ two games while batting 5-for-7 with three doubles. “When we stay relaxed and we keep each other pumped up, we hit like crazy.

“One through nine, we’re all good hitters.”

That was plain to see in the Fife game, when Selah’s No. 9 hitter, Kylee Fullerton, slammed a two-run homer into a blustery wind. And over the two games, the bottom three hitters in the lineup — Minnick, Taylor Rath and Fullerton — combined to bat 11-for-16.

With all of Selah’s offensive highlights, it was easy to overlook the steady performance of sophomore pitcher McKenzie Zerr, who gave up just two earned runs over her two complete games.

“She did real well,” said her catcher, Sarah Bersing, who went 2-for-3 with four RBI and a huge homer against Interlake. “She hit the outside corner all day, she hit her spots really well. It was one of the best I’ve ever seen her throw.”

Ellensburg's Taelor Griffin slides into second past Franklin Pierce's Anna Lennox during the fourth inning of their game at the 2A state softball tournament at Carlon Park in Selah on Friday, May 25, 2012. (Sara Gettys/Yakima Herald-Republic

Tumwater’s Smith got plenty of offensive support as well, most notably from Gabby Vidallon, who batted 7-for-8 with three RBI and Alyssa Ubrun, who slugged a two-run homer.

The semifinal in the lower half-bracket will pit another power-hitting team, Chehalis — which won by a combined 21-2 score in routs of Lynden and Franklin Pierce — against an opportunistic Aberdeen team that did just enough to win. After edging Mount Baker 7-2, the Bobcats upended West Valley 2-1 in the quarterfinals despite an 11-strikeout, three-hit pitching performance by the Eagles’ Kelli Peckham.

Ellensburg was unable to come up with the timely hits and was ousted after losses to Franklin Pierce and Interlake, sandwiched around a 4-3 squeaker over Lynden.

The Bulldogs (19-9) had the defense, especially two sensational grabs by center fielder Josie Savage, which saved probably three runs between them. And they got good plate performances from Taelor Griffin (5-for-7 over the last two games) and Mackenzie Hughes (3-for-4 with a homer in the Lynden game). But there was clearly something missing.

“A few of the girls have been fighting the flu, or something like that,” Bulldogs pitching coach Ken McNamee said. “Ally (Burgess, who pitched two of Ellensburg’s games) been fighting something today for sure. I’m surprised she lasted as long as she has.”

Selah is coming into its fourth consecutive 2A state tourney, which begins today at the Vikings’ home complex, Carlon Park, with a glittery 22-2 record after earning a fourth-place trophy last season. But even though the Vikings’ quarterfinal bracket — opening against Fife with Sehome facing Interlake on the other side — looks like a good draw for the home team, Harris knows there are no sure things.

Selah’s Laura Steiner, right, tries to avoid the tag of Ellensburg catcher Melanie Swanson during a game on April 27 at Carlon Park in Selah. (Sara Gettys/Yakima Herald-Republic file)

“State tournaments are fickle,” Harris said. “Anything can happen on a given day. In a game where pitching is dominant, if it’s an off day hitting, sometimes you get one bad break on defense and that can decide the game.

“And you may only get a few scoring opportunities, and if you squander the two or three times you do have a chance, maybe you don’t get that fourth chance.”

Sophomore pitcher McKenzie Zerr stepped up in a big way for the Vikings this season, stepping up from the JV following the graduation of last year’s senior ace and CWAC co-MVP Sierra Weedin. Zerr worked extremely hard in the offseason, Harris said, and then maintained a splendid 0.86 earned-run average during the regular season under the guidance of Vikings pitching coach Mark Seward.

But the Vikings will have to do without Weedin’s league co-MVP from last year, senior second baseman Mary Michael Graf. After leading the team in runs batted in, Graf broke a bone in her hand in the season’s final week and will have to watch the tournament from the bench — where, Harris said, “She’s still our team leader.”

Selah still has plenty of firepower, led by a trio of first-team all-CWAC performers — catcher Sarah Bersing (.507, 28 RBI, two homers, nine doubles) and first baseman Laura Steiner (.557, four homers, 22 RBI) and outfielder Kylee Fullerton (.500). Graf’s replacement, senior Cheyenne Merritt, hits a solid .413, but has only had 29 at-bats. Another super-sub, Carly Minnick, is batting nearly .600 but on just 22 at-bats.

Ellensburg (18-7) nearly reached the regional championship game but gave up two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning in a 3-2 loss to eventual champion West Valley. But like Selah, Ellensburg also goes into state not at full strength, having lost all-CWAC shortstop Lizzy Vick to a knee injury at district.

The Bulldogs still have plenty of firepower, led by two-time all-CWAC pitcher Ally Burgess (.532), outfielders Mackenzie Hughes (.526, three homers) and Taelor Griffin and steady catcher Melanie Swanson. And freshman Allie Kopczynski is a star on the rise, having led Ellensburg in hitting (.630) and RBI (26) and being second in stolen bases (13) only to Josie Savage’s 14.

On the face of it, Ellensburg appears to face a significantly tougher road in the bottom half-bracket than its CWAC rival in the upper bracket. The Bulldogs open with Franklin Pierce, whose 19-1 record includes an 8-7 subdistrict win over defending state champion Sequim, and the winner of that game could face power-hitting Chehalis, last year’s third-place state finisher.

The bottom bracket also features the tournament’s most intriguing opening-round game, pitting 2011 champion Sequim (17-4) against West Valley (22-1).

Kittitas has spent the 2012 season trying to keep pace with Warden and its stellar pitcher-catcher battery of North Central Washington South Division MVP Iris Rodrigues and Bianca Hernandez.

And the Coyotes opened the 2011 state tourney against eventual champion Adna, and were in fact the only team in the tournament to get a lead on the powerful Pirates — though it was short-lived and easily forgotten in the aftermath of Adna’s 23-2 win.

Now they must open the 2012 tourney against Pe Ell, which has played in the last three 1B state title games, winning the crown in 2010.

“I just looked at what the prospects are for the quarterfinals, and it’s not real favorable,” Kittitas coach Nate Phillips said on Monday. “If we were to knock off Pe Ell, we’d have to face a Toutle Lake team that just won their district.

“But I’ve always said if you’re going to get a trophy or have a good showing, you’re going to have to beat one or two teams out of District 4 (Southwest Washington). They’ve been dominating our 2B tournament the last six years or so.”

Senior shortstop Tori O’Shaughnessy is the Coyotes’ top offensive threat, having accumulated more than 30 runs and 40 RBIs while hitting in the .475 range.

“And she’s been on fire lately with better competition,” said Kittitas coach Nate Phillips. “She seems to be really coming on lately. I think most of our hitters prefer the better pitchers and the stiffer competition.”

For the Coyotes (17-5), O’Shaughnessy was joined on the all-league first team by pitcher Ashley Hayes, who has built an 8-3 record this season, and center fielder Caitlyn Steiner.

Klickitat earned a spot in the Class 1B state tourney, also set for the Gateway Sports Complex.

The Vandals qualified for state for the first time since 2002 by defeating Lyle-Wishram 10-5 in Saturday’s District 5-6 title game in Goldendale. McKenzie Schlangen was 3 for 4 and Chelci Curtis was the winning pitcher and went 2 for 4 with two RBI.

Klickitat will open at 1 p.m. today against Wishkah Valley, which was ousted in three games in the 2011 state tourney. Defending champion Colton is also in the Vandals’ half-bracket.

Gary Fairbanks, right, talks to customer Bill Jones at his shop, Fairbanks Outfitters on Wednesday, May 16, 2012. (SARA GETTYS/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Alas, it hasn’t been bringing enough of them often enough. That’s why, in a few short weeks, that front door will be locked up for good. Or, at least, until another business moves into the Yakima Avenue space occupied for the past seven years by Fairbanks Outfitters, the latest incarnation and extension of Fairbanks’ love for fishing.

Fairbanks has sold fishing gear at four locations around town, the first three of them as Gary’s Fly Shoppe. But it wasn’t the lures, the reels, the rods, the line or any of the other gear that has been bringing in longtime customers in droves since Fairbanks’ recent announcement that he was selling all of that inventory at closeout-sale prices.

It has been the chance to say “so long” to an icon.

“A lot of expertise is going out the window,” said Todd Smith, who began as a customer and, since retiring following the sale of his own business, has become such a regular at Fairbanks’ store that he helps keep inventory on the shelves.

And that expertise includes local knowledge — when and where to fish the local lakes and rivers, what flies or lures to use where and why.

“Gary’s a guy you can just come in and BS with as far as local fishing areas, instead of going into some place where they just want to sell you stuff instead of talk to you,” said Todd Bernhardt of Gleed. “I’ve been coming in here for 10 years now, and if I don’t have an answer about what the fish are hitting, Gary does.

“He gives you ideas. He doesn’t try to sell you on one thing.”

Or on a whole bunch of stuff you don’t need, according to Smith.

“In any fishing industry, I’m going to say two-thirds of all the fishing tackle that manufacturers make is for the fishermen and not the fish,” Smith said. “You can have a wall full of items and maybe only a portion of them will really work. So Gary tries to limit that.”

Fairbanks’ suppliers know his store depends on his personal relationship with customers, Smith said, the kind of mutual trust forged through years of his shooting straight with them. “Say, a new item will come out that may have 30 colors and they’ll say, ‘Realistically, these six or eight will do — don’t buy them all.’ They know he’s not going to be gullible and just buy everything.”

The expertise isn’t just about the inventory, though he’s been known to special-order a single piece of gear just so a customer could see if he liked it. But the inability to sell more of the inventory — along with the free fishing advice he’s been shelling out for years — has become an issue since online sales have become so prevalent.

“It boils down to the economy and the Internet,” Fairbanks said. “Lots of people come in here and want me to line up reels for them. I look at the reel and I sell that reel, but I know I didn’t sell it to them, so I say, ‘So where’d you get this?’ And they say off the Internet.

“I can’t make a living selling line. I need to sell rods and reels, and a good friend and customer of mine told me not long ago, ‘Sometimes to make money, you’ve got to stop losing money.’

“And I took that to heart.”

So he’s selling out, quite literally. Everything in his store (423 W. Yakima Ave.) is on sale for at least 25 percent off, and that discount will likely increase as the inventory dwindles — until, finally, Fairbanks cracks, “I’m going to pack it up in crates and boxes and, just like everybody else is doing, I’m going to put it on eBay and get rid of it.”

What longtime customers like Mike Iasella, a retired Yakima periodontist, want can’t be found online.

“You can get things a lot of different ways, particularly on the Internet, but the service aspect Gary has goes a long way,” Iasella said. “You break a rod, you bring it to him, he packages it up and sends it to the manufacturer for you. Same thing for anything you return, he takes care of it for you.”

Iasella is a fly fisherman who ties his own flies, and he pointed to all of the fly-fishing classes Fairbanks offered; all of the times he will go out of his way to show a new customer how to fly-cast; the support he has provided to the annual fly-tying seminar put on at West Valley of the Nazarene Church; and, in general, the base of operations he has provided for Yakima County’s fly-fishing community.

“With my fly-tying,” Iasella said, “it’s going to be a real loss not having Gary there.”

Fairbanks is well aware that, with Cabella’s opening up a store in town to join an already healthy lineup of outdoor-related specialty stores, a lot of fishermen won’t really feel a loss. But, Fairbanks said, it isn’t the Cabela’s move into the Yakima market that is moving him out.

“That wasn’t a deciding factor, because they don’t carry everything. Myself and other retailers would look at what they’ve got and carry things they don’t carry,” he said. “Actually, having Cabela’s here would probably have helped a little bit, because Cabela’s would become friends of mine; Cabela’s would send people to me for stuff they didn’t have, and it might even bring in new customers. They’re a good store, with good people. I think they would have been a good competitor.”

But the customers that are nearest and dearest to Fairbanks’ heart, the fly fishermen, will feel the loss of his store the most.

“The worst thing about this closeout is the fly fishing,” he said. “You can buy all this other stuff at BiMart, Grumpy’s, Hammer’s, Kmart, Walmart — but the fly stuff, nobody has it. I’m really disappointed. I offered to some local businesses the fly-fishing department, because when I’m gone, people will have to go to the Internet or go out of town.”

Maybe that’s why some of the farewells have been so emotional.

“Since I started this closeout, I’ve actually had a couple of customers who have come in and cried. They literally have cried,” Fairbanks said.

Fairbanks has got plans in the works, things he isn’t willing to talk about publicly, at least not yet. But with considerations out there on the horizon, his tears haven’t been falling.

But his prices, oh, they’re definitely plummeting. Until everything’s gone.

Highland hadn’t dropped a boys soccer match all season heading into Saturday’s Class 1A state quarterfinal on the Scotties’ home field against Chelan. For that matter, the Scotties had trailed only three or four times all season.

But on Saturday, they trailed the only time it really mattered — for the final two minutes of their 2-1 loss to the Goats, in which Highland was simply unable to apply the kind of offensive pressure with which the Scotties had worn down and put away their first 18 opponents.

Highland High School senior Jorge Marin reacts to Chelan High School's second goal in the final minutes of the state 1A quarterfinal soccer match that sealed Chelan's victory 2-1 in Cowiche, Wash., on May 19, 2012. (TJ Mullinax/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Chelan junior Eleazar Galvan, the Caribou Trail League’s player of the year and already part of the U-23 Seattle Sounders program as a mere 16-year-old, scored the game-winner with barely over a minute remaining in regulation.

Galvan took a long pass from Alejandro Angulo — who had scored the Goats’ first goal just 41/2 minutes into the match — and simply outran Highland defender Armando Lopez. Highland goalkeeper Antonio Gonzalez, facing the possibility of having to defend a one-on-one shot at point-blank range, opted to come out and force Galvan to make the play early. Galvan popped a little hopper just over Gonzalez’s reach, and it settled into the back of the net.

Galvan’s sensational speed made the goal possible. Lopez and the other Scottie defenders had done a gritty job in keeping him in check, but he was simply too fast when it counted.

“I wouldn’t say (Galvan) outruns people. It’s how he uses his speed,” said Chelan coach Jaime Richards, whose 16-5 team will face Royal (a 5-1 district-tourney loser to the Scotties) in the semifinals. “Not many 16-year-old kids know how to use their speed like he does — the stop-and-start, and his burst.

“The kid’s a phenom.”

“He’s really everything for them,” Scotties coach Greg Wagner said of Galvan, whose swift attack down the left side had paved the way for the Goats’ first goal as well. “You take him away from them and they’re an average team. He’s good.”

Highland’s only goal came as the result of a furious flurry off a corner kick by freshman David Paniagua.

Paniagua’s arcing kick sailed perfectly to Jorge Marin, but Marin’s header hit the crossbar and bounded back. Scottie junior Jesus Gutierrez, whose 31 goals earned him SCAC MVP honors, kicked the rebound toward the corner of the net only to have goalie Ruben Medina block it … right back to Marin, who slammed it into the net.

But that was it for Highland’s offense, and only a sensational save by Gonzalez in the 58th minute kept the Scotties in the game until the end.

“They just wanted it more than we did today,” Wagner said of the Goats. “They fought for it harder.”

The 18-1 Scotties, Highland assistant coach Miguel Delgado said, “were expecting the ball to come to their feet instead of going to get it. Like ‘We’re Highland, the ball will come to us.’

“It doesn’t work that way.”

First half: 1, Chelan, Alejandro Angulo (Erik Garcia), 4:25; 2, Highland, Jorge Marin, 28:00.

Second half: 3, Chelan, Eleazar Galvan (Angulo), 78:30.

Starting this morning (Wednesday, May 16), the lower river is now open for salmon fishing  from the Interstate 182 bridge in Richland to the Grant Avenue bridge in Prosser.

Saturday’s expected opening of the river’s upper portion, from Union Gap to the railroad bridge just below Roza Dam, was also approved by the WDFW’s Olympia headquarters.

Regional fish program manager John Easterbrooks said he expects the lower river to remain open through the end of June, while the upper river would likely be open through July, considering the lateness of this year’s run.

About 5,000 adult hatchery spring chinook are expected to return to the Yakima River.

Daily limit will be two hatchery chinook, identified by a clipped adipose fin. Wild salmon (those with an intact adipose fin) must be released unharmed without ever removing them from the water.

– Scott Sandsberry

The fishery’s opening will be staggered similar to last year, with the lower portion of the Yakima River, from the mouth to the Prosser Dam, expected to open today and the portion of the upper river from Union Gap to the railroad bridge below Roza Dam opening this Saturday.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s decision to open the Yakima River fishery now follows last week’s sudden upriver movement, ending what had been virtual gridlock at Bonneville Dam.

After not having a single 5,000-salmon count day at the Bonneville Dam all the way through May 5, which is usually just about the middle point of the entire run, the Bonneville fish ladders haven’t had a single day under 5,000 since.

More than 30,000 were counted over Tuesday and Wednesday last week; Sunday’s count was nearly 9,000, pushing the season total to 110,514, not far off the 10-year average of roughly 124,000.

The springers began coming through Prosser last week as well, with 210 counted there as of last Thursday (141 of natural origin). The preseason projection of 12,000 springers to the Yakima River mouth has been downgraded to 9,600, which is still plenty to sustain a fishery.

But the recent run of warm weather is likely to have a negative impact on fishing success.

“The river was actually dropping and getting into shape there for a while,” said John Easterbrooks, the WDFW’s Region 3 fish program manager. “But now with these 90-degree days this whole thing could be moot. I was hoping (temperatures) would drop back into the 60s and 70s and the river would be very fishable. But two days in the 85- or 90-degree range, and it gets questionable again.

“But either way, the fish are coming. They’re going to come through whether you’re out there fishing or not, whether the river’s in shape or not.”

Hooking mortality study

Fishermen in the upper section of the river between Selah Gap and the railroad bridge who hook a wild springer can expect to be asked to do their part to help state biologists with a hooking mortality study.

State fishery biologists are doing the study at the Yakima River’s terminal fishery at Roza to get better data on what percentage of caught-and-released wild springers actually survive the experience and continue upriver to the spawning beds.

Several fishery technicians will be in the fishing waters just below the railroad bridge and, whenever a boat or bank angler reels in a wild springer, the technicians will be hurrying over to clip a special radio tag on or near the dorsal fin.

The study calls for 150 of those tags to be clipped to the caught-and-released wild fish, which will then be scanned and the data collected at the Yakama Nation’s fish-count facility at Roza Dam. Technicians there will also radio-tag 150 uncaught wild and hatchery fish that come through the facility, to compare the spawning success of those released wild fish against those that were never reeled in.

On fishing the west bank

In another development that should be of real interest to the sporting public, anglers will be able to cross the dam to fish on the west side of the river.

Normally anglers are not allowed to cross at the dam, but the Bureau of Reclamation is planning to issue a special use permit to the WDFW allowing fishermen to cross the dam and fish some of the popular bank spots on the other side.

But anglers should consider this a trial run: That is, don’t screw it up or it’ll be a one-time deal.

Officials with the WDFW, Bureau of Land Management (which manages a second, overflow parking lot near the dam) and Bureau of Reclamation, as well as private landowners in the area, have complained about fishermen leaving behind their garbage or their own human waste along the banks.

Easterbrooks said the state will be putting in portable toilets and large garbage receptacles at both the parking areas. If the banks, the roadside or the government’s property are used as trash cans or toilets, Easterbrooks said, the upper-river fishery below Roza could become a thing of the past.

“If we have poor behavior on the part of fishermen, we could lose that access point,” Easterbrooks said. “It would be a shame to lose public access at Roza Dam. We need to respect the public property, use the trash receptacles that are provided, use the port-a-johns that are provided, park in the designated areas. That way we won’t have a problem. But if we don’t do that, we could lose that prime fishing spot.”

Easterbrooks is asking anglers who see other fishermen abusing the privilege, by not using the toilets or trash cans provided, to alerting WDFW enforcement at 575-2740 or the state hotline at 877-933-9847 (WDFW-TIP).

“All it takes is a couple of idiots up there,” Easterbrooks said, “and we’re out of there.”

How to report violations can be found on page 13 of the WDFW’s state fishing rules pamphlet.

But for anglers waiting not-so-patiently for the slowest and latest spring salmon run on record to get serious, that time finally seems to be coming around.

Wednesday’s count of 18,436 at Bonneville Dam was the fifth-largest daily count in more than 40 years, maybe even going as far back as 1938, according to Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission biologist Stuart Ellis.

And that was just the highlight of a week that has finally started to see the gridlock open up at Bonneville. Through last weekend, there hadn’t been a daily count above 5,000 all spring; then Monday’s count topped 9,000, Tuesday reached 12,000 and then Wednesday’s shot through the roof.

Meanwhile, Prosser Dam had had but a single spring chinook come through all season, and that one was so early — April 5 — that it might have been misidentified. Prosser had 54 springers come through on Tuesday and another 50 on Wednesday, and Thursday’s early count was 33.

Looks like things are finally starting to move. Won’t be long now before the Yakima season gets rolling.

Now if only the river will clear up …

– Scott Sandsberry

This Saturday, though, it will be pretty much an all-day thing at the Toppenish National Wildlife Refuge. Or, at least, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.

That’s when the refuge will officially celebrate International Migratory Bird Day, with all kinds of bird-related activities — including a bird banding demonstration, lots of bird watching and a live raptor program, raptors being a bird even non-birders can get excited about.

For the banding demonstration, you’ll have to be there early — it begins at 7 a.m. A bird-watching walk follows at 8, and a program with live owls and hawks will be presented by the Raptor House Rehabilitation Center at 10.

The refuge headquarters will have children’s games and learning materials to keep the kids occupied, and they should also enjoy the event-ending hayride. The event is free and is co-sponsored by the Yakima Valley Audubon Society.

International Migratory Bird Day, held annually on the second Saturday in May, was created to draw attention to the nearly 350 bird species that migrate between their nesting habitats in North America and their non-breeding grounds to the south in Mexico, Central and South America.

The refuge is located at 21 Pumphouse Road, off Highway 97 southwest of Toppenish. For more information, call the Mid-Columbia River National Wildlife Refuge Complex at 509-546-8300.

– Scott Sandsberry

Monday was May 7, which was the date in 2011 the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife opened the lower section of the Yakima River — from Richland to Horn Rapids Dam — to spring chinook anglers.

This year? The river is all but unfishable right now and the bulk of the Cle Elum-bound hatchery springers are nowhere near the Yakima.

May 7 also happens to be the date that was essentially the middle date of the last five years of spring chinook runs through the Bonneville Dam — the date at which, cumulatively speaking, half the fish had made it through the fish ladders at Bonneville.

And this year they’ve barely even begun.

“The cumulative count today (Monday) is only 42,000,” said Easterbrooks, regional fish program manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. “So it’s going to be the latest run on record, or it’s going to be coming in a lot lower than anticipated.”

As depressing as that sounds, though, last year’s run was also late — not to the extent of this year’s, of course, but quite late nonetheless — and came in better than projected. The 2011 run to the mouth of the Yakima was forecast at 10,000 adults, and it ended up being 13,400 adults plus another 4,500 jacks.

And, in a way, the lateness of the run could end up being a boon to anglers, because it means all those harvestable hatchery springers — of which 5,680 are expected to be heading to their home waters at the Cle Elum hatchery — aren’t barreling upriver through the muddy mess that is the Yakima River right now.

“The river’s been out of shape ever since we had that 90-degree day a couple of weeks ago. Then we had rain on top of that, so the river was just chocolate,” Easterbrooks said.

Just a couple of days ago the Yakima was running at 12,000 cfs at Prosser Dam and at higher than 10,000 cfs at Parker Dam.

“That’s kind of a flood-stage event,” Easterbrooks said. “You’re not going to be fishing and you’re not going to be catching any fish in water like that. Today it’s at 8,600 at Prosser and 6,400 at Parker. That’s still a lot of water. That’s better, but it’s still too high to be fishable or to catch many fish, even if the fish were here — which they aren’t.”

Easterbrooks is still expecting to have an eight- to 10-week fishery on the Yakima River, in the lower river as far up as Granger and then in the middle stretch from Union Gap to below Roza Dam. Because it begins costing the state money — primarily for enforcement and creel-monitoring activities — as soon as the fishery opens, though, the state wants to wait until the right time.

“I don’t like to open (a fishery) and have two or three weeks of meaningless fishing opportunity,” Easterbrooks said. “I want to wait until we can have a reasonable expectation that there will be people out there trying to fish, and also a reasonable expectation that they’ll be catching some fish.”

The late run may mean the fishery may extend to mid-July or even later, as long as springers are still coming through Prosser Dam, Easterbrooks said.

It hasn’t yet been determined whether the Yakama Nation, which has jurisdiction over the river bordering the reservation between Granger and Union Gap, will open that “Boundary Reach” to chinook fishermen.

The likelihood of this May 1-June 15 closure of motorized trails shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, as the subject has been in the wind for months and has been the focus of much discussion among user groups at Trails and Wilderness Interest Group (TWIG) meetings and on motorized-use online forums.

District Ranger Irene Davidson said the decision came “after considerable effort to communicate our intentions to the public,” and that the closure is intended to minimize damage to trails and reduce the demand for maintenance.

Since a significant amount of the district’s motorized trail system is still under snow or wet from the recent rainy stretch, the closure — at least for the time being — shouldn’t raise much of a ruckus among even the most vociferous of trail users.

The district is honoring one very important request of many of the area’s conscientious user-group clubs, that “officially sponsored” volunteer groups be allowed to perform trail maintenance during the closed period. Those groups received the same exemption during last year’s similar spring closure.

“Our volunteers are very conscientious,” Davidson said. “They all refrained from working on trails in wet conditions last year.”

– Scott Sandsberry

I’ve gone to this event — dubbed GISS for short by another acronym-loving group, KEEN (Kittitas Environmental Education Network, which sponsors the thing) — a couple of times over the years. The first time was to see what it was all about (and get a story out of it); the second time was to take the grandkids on an outing to something they’d really enjoy.  And they had a blast.

And, frankly, so did I.  It’s fun getting out and looking for snakes and lizards, or checking out frogs and pond life, or listening to somebody who’s really into birds talk about how the black one in that tree is different than, say, the black one in that other tree. It’s fun checking out beaver dams — without bothering the busy beavers, of course.

Frankly, it’s fun just getting outside, and it becomes a lot more fun when you can do it in the company people who know a lot more about the outdoors than you do. You might find out birds, or bugs, or frogs or even snakes are more interesting, and perhaps less scary or icky, than you thought they were.

For my money, the coolest stuff to check out is the array of field trips centered at the Umtanum recreation site, but there’s also field trips at Helen McCabe State Park farther up the canyon and even stuff slated for downtown Ellensburg. Check this out for a full schedule of what’s going on when and where.

Check it out.  And bring the kids.  (Or the grandkids.)  Even if you don’t love it, they will.

– Scott Sandsberry

Forest Road 52, commonly known as the Skate Creek Road, runs from Packwood northwest to a junction with State Route 706, which travelers can then follow to the Nisqually entrance to the park and on up to Paradise.

Park visitors from the east and southeast can also reach Paradise by taking State Route 123 to the Silver Falls entrance and following Stevens Canyon Road, but the latter typically isn’t open until later in the season.

Travelers on Skate Creek Road will still need to be wary of downed trees, snow patches and the potholes left over from another rough winter on their way to Mount Rainier.

– Scott Sandsberry

They can find themselves on call, simply by answering a knock on their camper door, at the oddest of hours. (“Excuse me, but the people in the tent next to our site are snoring really loud. Can you do something about that?” The correct answer: Uh, no. Why didn’t you bring earplugs?)

They have to provide their own living quarters. (Their own RV, usually.)  Sounds like the worst of all possible gigs, right?

Yeah, right. That must be why so many campground hosts keep coming back for more of the same abuse.

“We have hosts who come back year after year, and come back a lot of times to the same parks,” said Cindy Jorgensen, who coordinates Washington State Parks’ volunteer program. “We have snowbirds who go south for the winter and then come back to their parks for the rest of the year.”

But because the vast majority of campground hosts are retirees who eventually get around to retiring from hosting as well, every year around this time the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission puts out the word that it’s seeking “enthusiastic and interested volunteers” to serve as campground hosts at its parks around the state.

For the record, I’ve met a lot of campground hosts, and while there might be the occasional grousing — usually about overly demanding or inconsiderate campers — on the whole these folks seem to be genuinely happy about what they’re doing. They love being in the great outdoors or they wouldn’t do it, and let’s face it, a state park is generally set in a pretty nice place to be outdoors. That’s why somebody made it a park in the first place, right?

So, you’re thinking, what do these people have to do?

OK, let’s get right to the question you really want answered. NO, THEY DON’T CLEAN TOILETS.

(Audible sighs all around.)

Hosts do different things at different parks — but, again, no toilet-cleaning. Some are meeters and greeters; some get into knowing the topography, history or other interesting facts about the park and its surroundings and enjoy doing “interpretive” talks with campground guests; some might do general maintenance, help staff with minor carpentry or, in some cases, help man a park store.

Hosts do receive free camping and hookups for their RV/camping equipment (which each host has to provide). A typical host assignment is 30 days, but it can be extended up to 90 days at the park manager’s discretion.

For a list of volunteer and host openings, visit http://www.parks.wa.gov/volunteers/hosting, or stop by the State Parks booth at the Puyallup Fair, May 3-6. If you want to give campground hosting a shot, contact Jorgensen at 360-902-8612 or Cindy.Jorgensen@parks.wa.gov or Laney McIntyre at 360-902-8617 or Laney.McIntyre@parks.wa.gov.

– Scott Sandsberry