Seattle, Olympic NP, Mt. Rainier NP and Oregon coast

We’ve been in the boonies for the last 2 weeks with no internet access to speak of and spotty cell phone service so please excuse me for another long post. I’m downloading photos from Seattle, Olympic NP, Mt. Rainier NP and the majority of the Oregon coastline from north to south.

June 12 thru 15

Welcome to the big city and the plus and minuses that go with it! The weather is cloudy with occasional showers which seem to be the norm based on my short time under the influence of Pacific Northwest weather but the vegetation is lush with a large variety of plants. The roads I chose have been scenic but I don’t get where I’m going very quickly so I spent most of a day getting into Seattle with a stop at an auto parts store for a set of rear brake pads that I changed upon arrival in my new campsite at Dash Point State Park just south of Seattle on Puget Sound. On a trip like this carrying some essential tools is a must and I had what I needed to do the job in about an hour. I’m in suburbia and the area has beautiful trees and shrubs and their golf courses look like they have fake grass it’s so green and lush but as of day 2 I still haven’t seen the Sun and I’m binging to feel like either a prune or a mushroom. I’m not far from the airport and it’s a big one and is very busy but Linda arrived on time and we headed for downtown Seattle to stroll along the waterfront and go up the Space Needle.

Our timing was bad though as we attempted to leave downtown at rush hour. I have never seen worse gridlock in a downtown area and it was about 1 ½ hours before we escaped. They do road signs poorly up here and the street layout of the city is chaos and with the exception of taking an Alaska cruise from here I will never set foot in this city again.  Watching the weather report is not encouraging and our plan was to head for Mount Rainier NP tomorrow for 3 days then the Olympic peninsula and Olympic NP after that but we are reversing our plan. The forecast calls for sun in about 4 or 5 days and we want sun for Rainier. So we’re off to Lake Crescent on the north shore of Olympic Park and on the way out of town we got some sun and blue sky for the drive that is only 140 miles but ended up taking 5 hours. Lake Crescent is another glacier carved lake and is quite long and over 600 feet deep and it has a deep teal blue color. Our campsite is very nice with a view of the lake through the trees.

With the sunshine giving way to high clouds moving in we rushed up a Park road to Hurricane Ridge and had some fairly nice views. It’s a little over 5000 feet up with views of the Parks interior that has numerous snow covered peaks between 6000 and 8000 feet high with many Glaciers. There are also views to the north of the Straits of Juan de Fuca and Canada. We could see the city of Victoria, British Columbia and even watched a few cruise ships that had departed Seattle that were no doubt on their way to Alaska. The Olympic peninsula has a very remote interior with no roads but it is a backpackers dream come true.

June 16 and 17

The weather is consistent since last night…..RAIN and more RAIN. We are determined to see some more of the Park so we headed for a waterfall trail and with our full rain suits on and proceeded to hike about 3 miles in the rain. The waterfall was worth it.

The next day was pretty much the same weather and we headed for the Hoh rainforest on the west side of the peninsula and headed through a small town that has a lot of fans nowadays, Forks, Washington of Twilight fame. Linda and I know nothing of the books or movies but she was talking with a local shopkeeper who said the business that resulted for the town was a godsend but they also looked forward to getting their town back. The grocery store had a display and many items dedicated to Twilight.

The rainforest is amazing and we were there 20 years ago with the kids. They get over 100 inches of rain per year. Since we were close to the Pacific we headed to Ruby Beach on the west side of the Olympic peninsula to see some Sea Stacks that are basically parts of old shoreline that are of harder rock that the ocean hasn’t eroded away. Seeing the ocean we decided that tomorrow we will pack up and head to an Oceanside campground near Ruby Beach.

June 18 and 19

We packed up in rain this morning after rain most of the night at Lake Crescent. It was so wet for our stay here that we never got to enjoy sitting out by a campfire with the view of the lake. However as we got near the beach campground the sun came out and we had blue skies to go with it. We got a great campsite on a bluff overlooking the ocean and we can see kelp beds just offshore. Since our visit to Ruby Beach was in the clouds and rain we headed back to there for a view with sun.

We finally got to sit by a campfire and threw in a view of the ocean….not bad. As evening approached high clouds returned and rain with them. It rained most of the night but began to clear by morning. Weather systems appear to change rapidly up here. The clouds and rain this morning are heading offshore to the west which seems quite unusual, Linda is watching a line of Cumulus clouds near the horizon that have some very high tops and are staying in view for a very long time due to that height. We are off to explore to our south along the coast. We went to Quinlet Lake and to a Sitka Spruce estimated to be 1000 years old.

We then drove on the beach in the little town of Pacific Beach and stumbled across the Pacific Beach Resort and Conference center that is basically an R&R resort for Military personnel and their families and it’s up on a bluff overlooking the beach and Pacific. The dining room is opened to the public so we got to enjoy a part of the place. It has a long history of Military use dating back to WWII. This evening we were treated to a fabulous sunset that went on for hours as the waning sunlight never seemed to leave the horizon. We sat by a campfire watching it and I kept at it after Linda headed for bed and there was still a glow on the horizon at 11pm while the Big Dipper was shining overhead…..summertime in the higher Latitudes. Tomorrow is the Summer Solicits so the Sun is about as far north as it goes. It got cool overnight with a low of 49 in the clear skies. It doesn’t feel like late June to a Floridian. I’m gonna suffer when I get home!! Check the SPOT link to see where we were.

 myspot
 Latitude:47.60984
 Longitude:-124.37592
 GPS location Date/Time:06/19/2012 22:00:05 EDT

 Message:This is my check-in from Spot. All is well.

 Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/8JefN/47.60984N/124.37592W

 If the above link does not work, try this link:
 http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=47.60984,-124.37592&ll=47.60984,-124.37592&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

June 20 thru 22

With good traveling weather we say goodbye to Kalaloch Beach and we headed for Mt. Rainier. Mt. Rainier National Park was established in 1899 and was our 4^th NP. As we neared Olympia we spotted the mountain on the horizon and it dominates the view. It took most of the day for the drive with numerous small towns. We have now driven a little over 11000 miles and my original “what if” estimates are a joke, we are 4000 miles over at this point so I won’t be surprised if we make 20000 by the time I’m back home. We are camping at Cougar Rock campground on the southwest area of the Park, the same campground we were in with the kids 20 years ago, it’s not bad and $14 a night is real nice. So is the weather. As predicted we have sunshine and therefore a nice view of Rainier which is still an active Volcano and is around 14400 feet high and has 26 glaciers on it. The blue ice of the glaciers are easily visible in this nice sunshine.

 The morning of the 21^st we headed up to the Paradise Inn at a little over 5000 feet on the western facing slopes of the mountain. Paradise averages 680 inches of snow per year and there is lots of it still here and we decide that we won’t hike here on snow packed trails. We headed down to lower elevations and did some hiking to the Grove of the Patriarchs and Silver Falls. The grove contains numerous old growth trees upwards of 1000 years old.

The weather is supposed to change tonight with rain coming in but for now we are enjoying a campfire and burgers on the grill for dinner. While driving back we passed a Ranger heading up the mountain with the emergency lights flashing and then saw an ambulance a little later. As we sat by the campfire a helicopter passed overhead and I commented to Linda that it seemed out of place and I thought it did not bode well. The next day we would hear that a 33 year old Park Ranger fell 3000 feet to his death while on a Rescue mission to aid 4 climbers who had summited Rainier that day and had then problems on the descent. We are very saddened by the news. I am especially thankful for the folks who choose a career in the Park Service and dedicate their lives to caring for the Parks I love so much.  I have seen many young people who are in the Park Service.

As predicted the rains arrived by morning so we decided to leave Rainier a day early and head for the Oregon coast just west of Portland. We drive thru rain most of the way and have a little stretch of Interstate 5 to speed up our journey but it still takes 6 hours. I’ve intentionally stayed away from the Interstates as much as possible on this trip choosing to drive the “backroads” so to speak in order to truly see America and I have enjoyed it thoroughly. Today’s drive includes a stretch of the north shore of the mighty and wide Columbia River just east of its flowing into the Pacific and there are references to Lewis and Clarks expeditions everywhere. We were fortunate to get into Fort Stevens State Park at the very northwest tip of Oregon for 1 night. Just as we got setup it started to rain and continued all night and as I’m typing this morning, the 23^rd, it’s still raining. We may not get to explore this park and the Fort.

June 23 and 24

We are headed to Nehalem Bay State Park and it’s only a 40 mile drive….yea! I hate to packup the camper wet but we’ll have no choice since the entire weekend (this is Saturday) will be quite wet. It’s supposed to begin clearing Monday so we should get to enjoy the coastline of Oregon.

We only drove 40 miles south but the weather changed dramatically and we arrived in sunshine so the camper got opened to dry out. We later enjoyed a nice Pacific beach sunset and a campfire. We’ll stay here 2 nights and explore the coast a bit. We had some rain showers overnight but it looks like the sun is trying to come back out. The beach here is surprisingly wide and gradual yet nearby there are portions of the coastline that are abrupt cliffs and rocky shoreline. It makes for some beautiful scenery.

We went south along the coast the next day to Cape Mears area where we toured a restored lighthouse that sits atop a cliff on the Cape. It has been replaced by an automated light but is an example of an original style lighthouse that used a Fresnel lens with a magnification of 195 times that allowed an oil based lamp and later a 200 watt light bulb to be seen 21 miles out to sea. The drive south from there proved to be quite scenic and we spent the better part of the day enjoying it with a late dinner of Dungeness crab that we bought in a local market and heated up in our oven in the camper followed by a campfire until about midnight. The weather treated us well for the day but by early morning the rain returned and we had to packup a wet camper once again as we headed south for Bandon, Oregon.

June 25 thru 28

The drive to Bandon took a lot longer than expected. Highway 101 along the coast goes through many towns and it is a windy road so your average speed is SLOW. We stopped in Tillamook and toured the Tillamook Cheese Factory, w also stopped at some overlooks that provided great ocean and coastline views along with some Sea Lions. Based on a recommendation we stopped and had lunch in Newport at the Rogue Brewery Ale House and we could have stayed there all day….goooood beer and they make many varieties. We are camped in another Oregon State Park called Bullards Beach just outside of Bandon and it’s very nice. From what we have seen the Oregon State Park system is the best I’ve encountered in my many years of camping. The stop here in Bandon is special since we get to visit a young man who is the son of some of our dearest friends and we’ve known him since he was months old. He is now the Head Golf Pro at the Pacific Dunes golf course at the Bandon Resort. The resort has numerous courses and sits along the coastline with incredible views of the ocean. Tomorrow I will play one of the courses with him and Linda is going to walk along with us in order to enjoy the location and ocean views. The courses are walking only unless you have a medical need that requires a cart and feeling tired with an achy knee doesn’t count!! But before the golf we headed north with blue sky to a scenic coastal area at Cape Arago that has numerous offshore rocks, a lighthouse, beach areas and a beautiful gardens that was the home of an old sailing ship owner whose captains would bring him plants from faraway places. The majority of the area is a series of Oregon State Parks and is awesome. We finally got to see some tidal pools with Starfish and Anemones.

Later in the day we played the 13 hole par 3 course at Bandon Dunes in a clear blue sky with a light breeze and many folks commented it was the best weather day of the year. The horizon was clear and we watched an exceptional clear sunset with hopes of witnessing the “Green Flash” but did not see it.

June 27

Today we continued our exploration of the Bandon area and its beautiful coastline. We walked on the beach around low tide and were able to see a few tidal pools with sea life and some Harbor seals on the rocks. The stairway down to the beach is heavily protected at the bottom and shows the intensity of the storms that hit the area.

 The harbor area of Old Town Bandon is nice and we walked around and visited some of the shops. We drove south to Cape Blanco and toured the lighthouse and campground, another Oregon State Park gem that if I’m ever back I would go camp at.  I’ll finish describing the area with additional photos in my next post but for now I hope to take advantage of a local coffee shops wifi and issue a new post tomorrow.

Thanks for following our adventure and as usual look for the new photos at https://picasaweb.google.com/103943218564105837637