The glorious days of Indian summer are here

The fall is upon us and the days are getting shorter. Now is the one of the best times of the year to get outside and enjoy the incredible beauty of the world we get to live in.

The Tri-Cities is now experiencing the wondrous days of Indian summer, with crisp, clean, cloudless and windless days in the mid to upper 60s and cool moonlit nights with star-studded skies and even the chance to see the auroras.

Salmon season on the Columbia River has closed and the armada of boats has pretty much left the water with many of those intrepid, outdoorsy folks heading up into the hills for hunting season.

But wait! You don’t have to leave the water quite yet. There’s more.

You can still fish for salmon, steelhead, walleye, bass, crappie, catfish and pike minnow if you know where to go.

The Aug. 31 Emergency Rule Change from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife keeps fall salmon and steelhead fishing open on the Snake River. It is open from the mouth of the river (Burbank to Pasco railroad bridge at Snake River mile 1.25) to the Oregon State line (approximately seven miles upstream of the mouth of the Grande Ronde River).

With a limit of one salmon or steelhead per day, anglers can catch and keep adipose clipped fish but must use barbless hooks. Keep the fish in the net in the water to identify what you catch. Do not remove any Chinook or steelhead from the water unless it is a clipped fish that you retain as part of your daily bag limit. Let everything else go.

Walleye fishing is also available on the Columbia and Snake rivers. While Oregon and Washington regulators have lifted possession limits for walleye, bass and catfish in the Columbia, the fish are going to get harder to find as the temperatures drop.

Of course, getting outside while the weather is good to catch and bring home some of these delectable eating fish is well-worth the effort. And the chances of catching are pretty good since most of these fish are stuffing themselves silly getting ready for the winter.

It’s a great time to just go on a fall color country road excursion. You can take your pick on which direction to go. If you haven’t yet gotten to see the incredible golden yellow larches, just head up White or Chinook Pass, or head south and east of Dayton and Walla Walla and take a forest road up to higher elevation to view the incredible views from above.

The fall is also the perfect time to do some last-minute hiking in the hills. The leaves are changing and the color contrasts are at their peak. You can hit the park trails along the Yakima and Columbia rivers right in the Tri-Cities, or head up into the mountains in just about every direction. While the wildflowers are pretty much gone, the higher you go the better the vistas will be.

Birders are also having a great time in the area. Take along binoculars and look at the trees and shrubs, and you might see Pileated and Lewis’s woodpeckers, Steller’s Jay, ruby-crowned and yellow-crowned kinglets, purple and house finches, red crossbills, dark-eyed juncos, and a variety of multi-colored sparrows. If you are down by water, you might see scoters, coots, grebes, mergansers, woody ducks, ruddy ducks, and if you are lucky, even loons.

It’s also a fine time to head down river into the Columbia River Gorge, where the Forest Service has been clearing trees and opening trails from the Eagle Creek Fire that occurred a year ago. The 6-mile paved section of the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail near Cascade Locks has been reopened.

There are dozens of day-hiking opportunities along Interstate 84 in Oregon and State Highway 14 in Washington to choose from. Just remember to plan your trip, get a good map, bring food and water, dress for the weather, take the essentials, and wear brightly colored clothes like day glow orange.

And finally, night-time astrophotography enthusiasts are having a pretty good time capturing the aurora borealis as the clear skies this week. The Space Weather Woman reports that a northern coronal hole on the sun has rotated and placed the earth into the strike zone for solar storms. This is triggering some dazzling late-night multi-color light shows that can be seen if you get away from the city lights and look towards the north. The solar activity may also be strong enough to interfere with radio, GPS and other electronics here on earth.

Keep your eyes on the horizon. And if anyone wants some recipes for fish tacos ...