Washington, North Cascades National Park

North Cascades National Park to Bellingham, WA

June 11th to June 14th

We left Heart O'the Hills in Olympic National Park a day early and traveled by ferry from Port Townsend to the port of Kingston on Whidbey Island. The ferry was only 3 years old and beautiful. Very light traffic so we had no problems getting on and off with the RV.The route to North Cascades National Park was once again through small quaint towns and on good roads, but certainly not highways.  We went through Deception Pass which is the bridge from Whidbey Island to the mainland. The travel books tells us that this double bridge gets  more visitors per year than the Grand Canyon! and most get out of their cars, walk the spans and take pictures. We sure did! The current races underneath the bridge and the views of Lottie's bay are wonderful.

Although the mileage for the day was only 167, the day was long due to ferry travel and slow traffic through the towns as well as the mountain roads in the Parks. As we drove through the Park we were enthralled by all of the waterfalls we saw along the road way. The route 20 drive through the Park is considered one of the most scenic in the State of Washington. We entered the west side and only went as far as the Ross Lake overlook to the east and the views were outstanding. The signs along the road say, "Welcome to the Alps of America." We didn't stop this day with the RV, but we will definitely return to them.

Once we arrived in the Colonial Creek campground, we found a nice secluded, flat site by the rushing waters of Thunder Creek. The campfire and toasted marshmallows were welcome this night as we relaxed in the cool mountain air. Actually, we've had cool air our entire trip through Oregon and Washington..much better than hot!

The following day, we walked from our campsite to the Thunder Knob Trail head. We followed the clear rushing waters of Thunder Creek for a short while crossing over it twice on makeshift bridges and then climbed upward.

It was supposed to be a 425 foot increase in elevation but according to Tim's GPS, it was more like 600 plus. The trail was well marked with lots of switchbacks to make the ascent a little easier. We were rewarded with views of Diablo Lake and the Cascade Mountain range when we arrived at the top. Because this is supposedly bear country, I had my bear bell on my hiking stick which I lost along the trail. When we reached the top, a young woman and her son joined us and lo and behold, she had the bell with her. She said,  " I figured I'd find either the owner of the bell or the remains that the bear left behind!"  The hike down was faster and easier of course but the total round trip was 3.6 miles and was great exercise for the day.

In the afternoon, it was cool and windy, but we went off to see the waterfalls from all of the pull offs along the road. We also went in to see the Diablo Dam and we found the parking spot where folks were getting on a ferry to Ross Resort.

Ross Recreation area can only be accessed by boat or on foot. But the Resort has floating cabins to rent as well as kayaks. Most of the people we met go there every year to hike in the wilderness areas. Had we know beforehand, we might have planned a day of hiking over there, but since rains are predicted from this point on, we will forego that side trip.

The Skagit River runs through the Cascades. It is the largest head water that flows into Puget Sound and it was harnessed for power in 1918 by JD Ross with the start of the three dams; the Gorge, the Diablo and the Ross. The Seattle City Light power company controls the flow of the dams and supplies the electricity for Seattle and its surrounding towns from this source. The town of Newhalem houses the administrative buildings and the company store. The population here is now 40 down from 329 in its heyday. Between 1920 and 1940 the only way to get supplies to Newhalem was by railroad up from Rockport. In 1940, the U.S. Forest Service completed a passable road and in 1954 the road was improved and the railroad was removed.

The rain did come and stayed for the following day, so we just drove through the park again stopping as we could for more of the cascading waterfalls which were fuller because of the rains.  The weather wasn't getting any better, so we decided to leave a day early and move on to Bellingham in order to resupply and refresh ourselves before heading across into Canada. We will stay in Vancouver for a few days before heading north once again towards Prince Rupert where we will pick up the Marine Highway in to Alaska.

All in all, the North Cascades National Park is one of the prettiest we have seen with its craggy peaks and cascading waterfalls. There is much more here to see and do than we did. So if you have the chance and are inclined to do  a little hiking.. or maybe a lot.. this is the place for you.

 

Washington State, Olympic National Park

 Washington Coast and Olympic National Park          June 2-June 11, 2014

We continued our trip north on Route 101. What an incredible highway. It wends its way through small towns but mostly right along the cliffs of the coast. We stopped frequently at the overlooks to see the crashing waves on the rocks. Our first stop in Washington is South Beach in the Olympic National Park which was founded in 1938. This is a rustic campground with no running water or electricity..dry camping they call it. Similar to all of the time we spent in most of the other National Parks.  We run the generator a couple of times a day to charge the batteries for our lights etc.

South Beach is a treasure. The ranger at the first visitor's center told us to just go grab any sight and relax and enjoy...and that we did. We were camped on the cliff overlooking a field of driftwood and the beach below. The driftwood, however, was much larger than any you could imagine. They were logs of enormous girth and had been there for a while. Now they tend to guard the rest of the sloping hills from further erosion.

Sunset at South Beach

RV view from the beach

Kate in front of beach log

Beach logs protecting the cliff

Imagine and Old Man Reading his Paper

After two days enjoying the sea breeze and solitude, we moved on up the coast about 150 miles to a heavily wooded Mora Park which again is in the National Park where we spent 3 days. Down the road about 3 miles is Rialto Beach, which is another beach heavily laden with huge trees that are now driftwood. We walked this beach down to Hole in the Rock about 2 miles each way.

Ochre Sea Stars

Kate taking pictures!

Hiking on Rialto Beach

Smooth Sculpted Rocks from Wave Action

Hole in Rock

Purple Ochre Sea Star

Sea Anemone

Eagle flying overhead

 There we found wonderful tide pools in the outgoing tide and incredible vistas of rock formations. In the tide pools, we saw bright green sea anemones and ochre starfish, both reddish and purple which we had never seen before, and tons of mussels. We started out all bundled up against the cool wind, but quickly shed the top two layers as the day heated up and the wind subsided.

We encountered two different groups of school children that had hiked down from Ozette to Rialto Beach along the coast trail. Evidently, this is a rite of passage for middle school children here. They all seemed to have enjoyed their five days on the trail and camping on the beach. Maybe more of our adolescents should partake of the outdoors instead of their electronic games!

Driftwood on Rialto Beach

While at Mora, we explored Forks and La Push which is heavily populated with native American Indians. There are eight different native American tribes in the Olympic National Park. They are the Lower Elwha Klallam,  the Jamestown S'Klallam, the Port Grande S'Klallam, the Skokomish, the Quineault, the Hoh, the Quileute, and the Makah who all ceded their lands and water rights and signed treaties with the federal government in 1855 and 1856.  They now all have reservations on the shores of the Olympic Peninsula.  In addiiton, there is a northwest section of the Peninsula where  the Ozette Reservation lies, but for some reason it is not listed as being in the park itself.The closest one to the campground is the Quileute in La Push which has quite a good size and prospering fishing harbor.

Harbor at La Push

On the sides of the road were really pretty flowers which we tried to identify. Tim kept saying one of them was hemlock and it sure did look like it. Come to find out it is called Cow's Parsnip and is not poisonous but can be irritating to the skin...could have fooled me, they were really lacey and looked like Queen Anne's lace! The other was yellow and called Witch's Broom which is really an invasive weed taking over some of the fields of young saplings. Pretty but not good for the environment they tell us.

Cow's Parsnip

Witch's Broom

One day was spent visiting the Hoh Rain Forest. The 50 mile Hoh River runs through it from Mount Olympus down 7000 feet into the Pacific Ocean. It meanders through the rain forest but encounters many log jams as it goes from the falling conifers. We are told that the mild winters and cool summers and up to 12 feet of precipitation produce the giant conifers here in the rain forest. The Salmon spawn there and die leaving protein for the scavenging animals. Nature takes its course. There is an abundance of big leaf Maple and a plethora of mosses, ferns and plants.

Most trees have overgrowth of moss hanging and there are many downed and rotting trees upon which other trees take root. These are called "nurselogs." There is much moss overgrowth virtually everywhere!

Phone booth at Hoh Rain Forest

On the way north along the coast, we would see the typical rough rocked shore with fantastic vistas.

Washington Coast lighthouse

Our next stop was Heart O' The Hills Campground at the base of Hurricane Ridge. We tried to find the most level spot we could on the hills of this campground and actually took a chance on the most level site that had HOST stamped on its signage. Usually, HOST sites are reserved for folks who volunteer to oversee the campground in exchange for free camping. No one was there and judging from everything else we have seen thus far in this park, none of the rangers or hosts really start until about June 20th. So we took the site, paid the normal fee and all was well.

The literature told us the best views of Mount Olympus was from Hurricane Ridge, so off we went on a about a 15 mile ride up a windy road and gained about 3500 feet in elevation. Mount Olympus is the highest in the Olympic Range at 7,980 feet and has the third largest glacial system in the contiguous USA. The views were outstanding! We hiked a trail for about 3 miles round trip and were rewarded with panoramic views of the Olympic Mountain Range.

Our next stop was to be in Tacoma for a routine RV servicing, but we found a local RV shop here in Port Angeles to do it, so our next stop is The North Cascades National Park!

Crater Lake to the Dunes

May 25^th to June 1^st 

   

Crater Lake and Klamath Falls

After Farewell Bend, we continued on our way to Collier State Park which is about 45 minutes from Crater Lake. We arrived early enough so that we could get settled and go up to the Lake that afternoon.  Wow was it ever cold and windy! There were snow banks at least 8 feet high at the top and along the road. The views were spectacular. The Lake itself at its maximum width is over 6 miles wide and at its deepest point is 1,978 feet deep which makes it the deepest lake in the United States. Deep blue and crystal clear! There are no springs in the lake or rivers that lead into or out of it. Its water comes from the 44 feet of snowmelt every year and the rainfall. It was formed from a volcanic eruption of Mount Mazama and we were told that it was at least 100 times greater than the eruption of St. Helena. It is unique in that it cracked in a circle all the way around the top and thus is geologically described as a caldera (deep basin.)

We wanted to drive the perimeter of the lake, but the eastern rim, which is about 2/3^rd of the roadway, was closed due to snow. We were able to enter the south entrance and drive the western rim only.

The following day, Tim arose bright and early and walked to the Collier Memorial Logging Museum. This is an outdoor exhibit of logging equipment used in the early 1800s to present day. Tim was particularly impressed by the use of the different type of steam equipment, Mack trucks and Caterpillars. Oregon logging sure has come a long way and is still the principle industry here.

In the afternoon, we journeyed through Chiloquin and then on to Klamath Falls. We pretty much circled the Klamath Lake on our drive coming down the east side and back up the west side stopping at the Rocky Point Resort which is a very quaint old place with great marsh and lake views. The season hasn’t really started yet, so we were pretty much the only ones there other than the owners and workers.

We continued our trek the next day traveling southwest in Oregon on the old Oregon Trail into northern California Redwood Forest to get to Route 101 so we could head north up the Oregon Coast.

Harris Beach

Our first coastal stop was in Harris Beach where we were still bundled up against the wind and the cold. We did stick our feet in the Pacific Ocean, but not for long. The Ranger told us where to see the best sunset and which Viewpoints we should stop and see along the 17 mile section of the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor. We caught the sunset that night and saved the viewpoints for the following day.

We left early the following morning to go to Gold Beach and hitch a ride on a jet boat up the Rogue River. The 1000 horsepower craft  carried about 25 shivering, bundled up folks doing about 35 miles per hour most of the way up the river. We stopped along the way to chat with the fishermen and see their catch.  Our River Pilot was the grandson of the original owner and loved to do high powered spins getting us all a little wet in the bargain. Since we were dressed appropriately, it was great fun.  The farthest we could go on the river was up to the Class V rapids.   Altogether, we traveled 104 miles round trip with a stop at a restaurant in Agnes on the way up for a restroom break and on the way down, for lunch. By then, we had stripped off the rain gear, the heavy polar fleeces, the gloves and crew caps and were in shirtsleeves and ball caps instead. That is until we were about 3 miles from the bay when we had to don the windbreakers again. Cold, cold, cold and windy! We would definitely recommend this trip to anyone. It sounds like a long trip and it was…9:00am to 3:30pm, but the boat seats were comfortable and there was lots to see along the way, deer with fawns, eagles and osprey.

On the way back to Harris Beach, we stopped at the recommended Viewpoints…Arch Rock, Natural Bridges, and House Rock. The Oregon Coast is spectacular!

Dunes

Our next stop was only about a 3 hour ride to Sunset Bay State Park. Our intent here was to be near the famous Dunes.

We first explored the area right near us..the Cape Arago Highway and the Shore Acres State Park which brought us to the Simpson Reef with bellowing Northern Elephant Seals and Harbor Seals all over the rocks; the  Botanical Gardens and views of the Cape Arago Lighthouse. We were so surprised to see the children at the beach and in the water! We had multiple layers on and they made it look like it was July in  Florida!

We traveled up the Cape Arago Highway through Coos Bay and up to Winchester Bay to view the so talked about Dunes. Once we figured out how to get down to the beach and dune access we were able to watch the ATVs zoom up, down and around. Truly, we have never seen dunes quite this large anywhere else!  We watched surfers and had lunch on the beach! Cool and crisp still..hoping to get a little warmer weather soon with a little less wind. Maybe tomorrow.