September 27, 2004
Portland, OR – The City, Mt Hood, and Marine Drive
We’ve been having a wonderful time in Portland. Visiting with friends and seeing the sights. There’s a lot to see and do in this area. More than we can handle in a few days. On Friday the girls got a day out together. Jen, Rene, and Diane went into the city and walked around the Vietnam Memorial, arboretum, Rose Garden, and Japanese Garden. The Japanese Garden was a very peaceful and serene place to be. A perfect place to meditate.
The Japanese Gardens
That evening we met up with all the boys at Edgefields – a poor house turned into a microbrewery and winery. It was a campus of buildings with several bars and restaurants. Guitarists played in the wine cellar and workers were mashing grapes in a courtyard. There were indoor bars and outdoor bars. Our first beers were purchased in the old morgue. A very funky place indeed. The McMeneminns brothers converted the poor house and the old Kennedy school (another location in Portland) into these very hip and successful microbreweries.
Saturday we spent near Mt Hood. Unfortunately Rene’s husband, Todd, wasn’t able to join us but this gave Aquiles and Andy a day to play “dada” to little Michael. We hiked about 7-8 miles round-trip to Ramona Falls. Aquiles carried Michael in the “kids backpack” on the way out (Michael slept most of the way), then Andy carried Michael on the way back (Michael was wide awake, swaying, and smacking Andy upside the head). The hike was through forest, with periodic views of Mt Hood, and the falls were a wonderful destination.
Hiking to Ramona Falls
Ramona Falls
After the hike we were all starving as we headed to Timberline Lodge for a late lunch at 5:00pm. The clouds came in while we ate dinner so when we went back outside we found that we were on top of the world. Thick blankets of clouds laid on the hills below us with the sun setting into the clouds to the west, the almost-full moon high above us to the east, and Mt Adams the only other landmark in sight. A magical moment.
Mt Hood from Timberline Lodge
Cloud Shrouded World
Chairlifts Rise Above Clouds
Moonrise over Clouds
Sunday we went for a bike ride along Marine Drive. It’s great to be with friends relaxing and chatting. I loved the boathouses. You can see in the picture below that they have regular garage doors, but they pull their boats in not cars. We biked back to Rene and Todd’s house and relaxed in the backyard having a barbecue.
Biking Marine Drive
Boathouses with Boatgarages
Surprisingly enough we are experiencing some sunny days here in Portland. It’s usually cloudy in the morning but burns off around lunch time. The sun has been tremendously hot, but the breezes keep you cool. We were supposed to leave today for the Portland Coast, but we started to experience some funny noises with our converter fan so we have an appointment at Camping World for tomorrow. We don’t want to end up in a remote area with no power. Just playing it safe.
September 23, 2004
Camping Along the Columbia River Gorge
On Saturday we headed to the Columbia River Gorge and spent the next five days slowly heading west along it towards Portland.
Our first stop was in Maryhill, WA. We stayed at the state park (Maryhill State Park) right next door to Peach Beach RV Park (Jim and Chris’ old stomping grounds – watch out guys we are hot on your trail!). From this base camp we visited Stonehenge and the Maryhill Museum, and we relaxed on the riverbank and watched the huge barges going by. Even though we’re in a desert, this is a big area for wineries and fruit orchards which create interesting patterns of green on the brown slopes.
At Stonehenge
We also took a nice bike ride along Deschutes River at the State Recreation Area on the Oregon side. The mostly flat, gravel trail was an old railroad bed that ran along the river in a desert canyon. The hills were mostly gold grass and volcanic rocks. Some of the rocks had interesting sunburst patterns. While we took our lunch break at an abandoned rail car, we examined all the miscellaneous iron parts and wondered what Dan Klennert would’ve seen in them. We weren’t as creative as he is!
Biking Deschutes River
Biking Deschutes River
Sometimes changing locations requires some time to adjust. It was a dramatic change to be back in an area with small bushes, brown grass and tiny flowers after coming out of such big, bold parks such as Grand Teton and Rainier.
Heading west to our next stop near Hood River we started to notice a change in the scenery. More trees! Our new base camp was the Bridge RV Park in White Salmon, WA. The biggest drawback in the Gorge is the fact that there are highways and rail lines on both sides of the river. So you can’t avoid the noise. Unfortunately this pretty little RV Park was so close to the tracks that the train almost blew us out of bed at night. Losing one night of sleep was the most we could sacrifice to be in this nice area of the Gorge. We did pay extra for a late check-out, though, in order to see more before heading further west.
Our first afternoon we took a scenic drive up to Rowena Crest and did a short hike out onto the Tom McCall’s Nature Preserve. The 25-35 mph winds made it a little hairy to be close to the cliffs, but the views up and down the gorge were pretty. I was also surprised to find, what I would call, two oasis on the plateau – with lakes, trees, and birds – plopped in the middle of a desert.
The Columbia River Gorge
In order to keep the Old Columbia River Highway at a 5% grade, they built in lots of curves. It was a lovely drive.
Old Columbia River Hwy
We checked out downtown Hood River visiting shops and taking a detour to Big Horse Microbrewery with a nice view of the river and windsurfers and kite surfers.
The next day we took a bike ride along the Historic Columbia River Highway Trail. We biked the portion closed to vehicles between Hood River and Mosier. The old highway is halfway up the cliffs with great views, it is paved and hilly, it is shaded with trees, and this portion has the Twin Tunnels – all of which make this a great ride. The biggest challenge on this ride? The changing temperatures. Riding from the sun into the shade felt like a 20-degree temperature difference.
Biking the Historic Columbia River Trail
After leaving Hood River we headed to our next base camp, Ainsworth State Park in Oregon. We finally get to put an Oregon sticker on our map! From here we visited the Bonneville Dam’s fish ladders. In order for salmon, sturgeon, and other spawning fish to navigate the dammed Columbia River, they’ve built fish ladders to help the fish get up and over the dams. Interesting. But I think salmon are ugly fish, and sturgeons are even uglier! Salt-water fish are so much more appealing to look at – makes me miss scuba diving.
Viewing Window at Fish Ladders
The Fish Ladders
The next day Jennifer came to visit us and spend the day touring waterfalls. The old Columbia River Highway between exits 35 and 22 is lined with waterfalls. We’ve never seen so many in one small area. We started at Horsetails Falls with a short hike to the top…then we continued to Oneonta Falls…then a couple said that Triple Falls was just up ahead on this other trail…needless to say two hours later we finally found the right trail to get back to the highway for another short walk to the correct parking area where our car was parked.
Here’s the problem though…it was the first time ever we did not have water, or snacks, or anything with us besides one camera. For those of you who know Andy and/or Jen you can imagine how quickly the whining started when the lunch hour came and went. Hell, even I was hungry, thirsty, and grumpy. Ha!
Jen and Diane
Oneonta Falls
After chowing down lunch at Multnomah Falls Lodge, we hiked that area. We hiked to the top (we have a picture for you Gail) and further up to several other falls. It’s a beautiful area which must be even more beautiful in winter when the falls become iced over.
Multnomah Falls
View from top of Multnomah
After Jen left for home, Andy and I decided to finish touring all the falls along Route 30. But since our hikes with Jen totaled around 8 miles, the rest of the afternoon were short hikes. We also stopped at Vista House on the drive home. This was an old way station built in 1917 – resplendent with stained glass windows and tile roof.
Vista House
We made it into Portland this morning and we’re looking forward to seeing Jen, Rene, Jen B and all significant others at dinner tonight.
September 18, 2004
Yakima, WA – Biking and Kayaking
We experienced a little culture shock coming back into civilization after spending the last few weeks in Olympic and Rainier. Cars, city noises, tighter camp spaces. But, we have WIFI, a heated swimming pool to do laps in, cable TV to watch Hurricane Ivan, and the other conveniences of city life. We also had SUN – glorious, glorious SUNSHINE!
After doing our laps and soaking in the jacuzzi we got on our bikes and rode the Yakima Greenway. The Greenway is a nice paved path that follows the Yakima River and connects 3 different parks in the city. It felt great to get in some exercise (other than walking/hiking). We biked from the RV park to the southern end & Popoff Nature Trail.
We had expected a little more from the city of Yakima itself. For some reason we expected “Durango” or “Coeur d’Alene” type of a feel in the city. Probably because wineries and microbreweries usually create an eclectic, touristy feel. But the feel of the city we have (after a whopping 12 hours) is that it is purely agriculture, lower-income. Maybe we’re missing something, but we did drive around last night seeking a good place to eat out and saw quite a bit of the city.
Today we were going to try to get in a paddle – if we can find some more information on paddling the Yakima River near Roza Dam quickly. As of right now, we still plan on leaving tomorrow and heading towards the Columbia River Gorge.
|||Two Days Later|||
Well, we didn’t leave Yakima yesterday as expected. Apparently Willie Nelson was having a concert down on the Columbia River Gorge in the area we were heading and all the campgrounds were booked.
Oh well, at least we were able to go kayaking on the Yakima River because of the delay. We drove into the Yakima Canyon area to check out the river. We had learned that there were lots of places to put in and take out. Most people do it as a one-way float trip and set up a shuttle system. Instead of us setting up a bike-shuttle, though, we decided to do it as an out-and-back trip figuring it would be more convenient. (Partly because the apple-crate semi-tractor trailers use this road. We weren’t comfortable sharing the road on our bikes.) The river looked doable. Since there was less current closer to the dam we put in at Roza Recreational Site and paddled towards the dam. It started out easy enough, but quickly became a workout. The current got stronger the further north we paddled. We did have a couple of eddies that we were able to duck into in order to take a breather and enjoy our surroundings. Did we mention that eastern Washington is a desert? Well it is and it’s been a shock to be back in brown-grass and sage bushes after coming out of the rainforests of the NW. So we’d sit in the eddies and look out at the brown slopes of the canyon. We saw several deer, birds, and baby fish.
Of course our competitive sides kicked in when we hit this one riffle (small rapids). Both of us tried feverishly to paddle up and over it, but to no avail. We’d get about three-quarters of the way through and then get stopped as if we hit a brick wall. We both finally quit and portaged over it. After that, though, the river just became harder and harder to paddle and make any headway. Diane was the first to cry “uncle”. It’s just no fun when there is no visible progress. But it was a good thing we turned around when we did. Big, black rain clouds came in from every direction and the rain started minutes after we loaded the kayaks on our car.
September 15, 2004
Mt Rainier National Park
We could see her from Seattle. We could see her from Victoria. We could see her from most of the Olympic peninsula. But she hid herself under blankets of clouds when we got up alongside her and reached Mt. Rainier National Park. She’d periodically play peek-a-boo and show a little of herself through holes in the clouds, but mostly the mountain stayed hidden. For three solid days we saw mostly clouds, and the forecast wasn’t going to get any better. So much for the mountain views and hiking to Camp Muir, the 10,000 foot high base camp for climbers continuing to the summit. We decided that it just wasn’t our time to experience Mt. Rainier.
Our timing was great regarding the crowds (the park empties out after Labor Day), but poor regarding the weather gods. We did have some nice hikes through the inland rainforest, and this time it was raining. We also got to see great waterfalls – some were gentle trickles over moss-covered rocks, some were long narrow falls falling hundreds of feet, some were powerful falls cascading over rocks. We took a short hike to the foot bridge at Cougar Rock. We had heard that the creek was flooded, and we just wanted to check it out. The water was flowing over the bridge. The poor rangers were desperately trying to rebuild a bridge nearby so that hikers wouldn’t get trapped on the other side. We also enjoyed the effects the clouds themselves created – swirling up from the valleys below, racing across the sky in the game of peek-a-boo with the mountain (now you see her, now you don’t), and clouds laying on the road in front of you, creating a very mystical place.
peek-a-boo!
Narada Falls
Christine Falls
This was one destination where we were very happy to have waterproof pants – and not just our waterproof coats. Any hikes had us in our full gear for protection from the elements.
One morning we toured Spirits of Iron. Dan Klennert, the artist, displays his sculptures around his property for people to come and enjoy. He asks for donations to help continue his dream, but he will sell his pieces if the price is right. This was worth the detour to drive back into Elbe. We spent about 45 minutes wandering around and speaking with Dan. He even took us into his workshop to show us the current projects he was working on. For someone self-trained in art and welding, his pieces were very detailed and well put-together. The textures he created intrigued me the most. We had fun just trying to identify the ‘parts’ he used to create his pieces. We found: large wrenches, saw blades, horseshoes, wire brush bristles, shovels, and even fishing line to name just a few. But he also creates pieces from driftwood, too. As he says, he doesn’t shape his pieces, he creates them from the shapes he finds. Most of his supplies are found in ravines in eastern Washington, so he is also helping to clean up America as well. If you find yourself in Elbe, do stop and spend time with his work. Slowing down and viewing from your car is not enough to appreciate his creations.
Dan Klennert
Iron Horse by Dan Klennert
Sea Horse by Dan Klennert
We stayed on both sides of Mt. Rainier. Near Nisqually we stayed at a great little campground (Mounthaven Cabins and RV Resort) which was just a half-mile from the park entrance. The owners were so friendly and eager to please and the setting was wooded and homey.
Mounthaven Resort
On the east side we spent one night in the Ohanapecosh Campground within the park. Our site was right on the river and beautiful as well. We could imagine ourselves enjoying a campfire and the view…but we chose to stay warm and dry inside instead. We’d highly recommend both of these campgrounds. The east side is supposed to be in the rain shadow of Mt Rainier, but we found it almost as rainy as the west side.
We did a six-mile hike on the Silver Falls Trail and through the Grove of Patriarchs. More big trees and forest mushrooms, and I was able to check off more birds on my birding list. That always makes me happy. Most times I see a new bird but can’t absolutely identify it!
Grove of the Patriarchs
The cloud-shrouded park was beautiful in its own way, but we started to crave some sunshine since we couldn’t do the bigger hikes (like Skyline Trail or Camp Muir). We’ll just have to come back to tackle Rainier another time. So, off we go to Yakima and Washington’s sunny wine country…
September 10, 2004
Olympic National Park – Kalaloch
We spent two nights on the pacific coast at the Kalaloch (“clay-lock”) Campground. The campground sits on a bluff just above the beach. Wonderful. Our site was just across the driveway from the oceanside sites. We could hear the ocean, but only see it through the windows of the RV in front of us.
Kalaloch Campground
The sunsets were beautiful and we walked the beaches to enjoy the colors. The beaches here were wide and sandy, unlike the others we’ve seen so far. We enjoyed climbing on the driftwood, exploring the creeks that flow across the beach to their final destination, and looking for crabs and seashells. There was one tree we came across that was trying to survive suspended over a great big hole that was formed from erosion in the bluff.
Andy Stands Under a Suspended Tree
Strolling the Beaches at Sunset
We hiked several trails in the Hoh Rain Forest. We first did the Spruce Trail and the Hall of Mosses. The moss, ferns, lichens, and funghi were so beautiful carpeting the trees, rocks and the ground. Everything stays wet here, I presume, considering how the moss and ferns grew on absolutely everything….
Moss and Fern Roof Outhouse
Then we hiked only a short distance on the Hoh River Trail. This trail is actually 18.1 miles long. We’ll have to tackle the entire distance another trip. Several trees were estimated at 200 feet long and others with diameters over 6 feet. One downed tree was so long we couldn’t see the tip when standing at the roots.
It was interesting to learn that young trees have such a hard time taking root on the crowded forest floor that they tend to grow on top of downed trees. This also creates interesting root designs when the new tree grows large and the old tree disintegrates over time. You’ll find that many of the trees are in lines because of this. It stays so wet in the forest (do note it was sunny the day we visited the rainforest) that dew stays on the mushrooms throughout the day.
Trees Grow on a Nurse Log
Big Trees grow on a Nurse Log
Diane in Hoh Rain Forest
Andy Inside a Tree
Everything seems so much bigger here….including the leaves:
A Big Maple Leaf
On our drive back to camp we stopped at Ruby Beach to try and find garnet-colored stones. We were forewarned that there aren’t many left. What we found instead were sea stacks, caves, and other beautiful things.
September 8, 2004
Olympic National Park – Clallam Bay
Our next campground wasn’t quite as nice (Coho RV Resort & Marina). It was a grass and gravel parking lot with spaces so small you couldn’t open your slide-outs and awnings at the same time. But the view of the Strait of San Juan de Fuca was stunning. We ended up moving our RV to another location of the RV Resort in order to have some elbow space. We waited to after check-out and got a space in the front row. This meant no sewer hook-ups, but it was worth it to not have neighbors on both sides.
From this new base camp we drove to Cape Flattery to see puffins. We’ve been trying to see puffins for years (in Alaska and in Maine), but the puffins weren’t there when we were. Foiled again! Cape Flattery is the most north-western point in the contiguous states. Beautiful views from a bluff overlooking sea caves, sea stacks, and arches. But no puffins…
Cape Flattery
Cape Flattery
On the drive home we decided to stop at one of the beaches and accidentally came across a sign for Shi Shi Beach. Hhmmm. It’s 3:30 pm, it’s a 1.5 mile hike each way….decided to do it so we could see this world-famous beach even though we wouldn’t have too much time to hang out. From the beach we saw sea stacks, 2 arches, birds, and a handful of surfers and campers. We looked for agates on the beach and also the glass floats from Japanese fishermen nets, but no luck.
The next day we went to Lake Ozette to do a 9.1 mile loop hike. The hike starts in a forest and goes out to the beach. It’s a 3.1 mile boardwalk hike to Cape Alava. Then you hike 3 miles on the rocky beach to another trailhead (Sandpoint) that takes you back to your starting point. A great day. The sections in the forest were easy boardwalk trails. The section along the beach was a little more challenging terrain: soft sand or rocks, slippery moss rocks in the intertidal zone, and stinky kelp and seaweed washed up on shore. We thought the beach hike felt more like 6 miles than just the three. But we saw gulls, pelicans, harlequin ducks, black oystercatchers, sea lions, black-tailed deer and more. Unfortunately no whales (had hoped to see from our lunch spot on top of a sea stack), black bears (thought we’d see them in the berry patches) or Roosevelt elk (hoped to see in the meadows) were seen on the trip though. And, no puffins…
Exploring Tide Pools
Indian Carvings
Low Tide - Pacific Style
Now we’re on our way to Kalaloch. Stopped in Forks for lunch and found the library to update the blog and check/send emails. Keep an eye on Ivan for us!
September 6, 2004
Olympic National Park – Lake Crescent
We found out recently that our house in Boca is fine. Special thanks to Gail and Merle for securing the place and reporting to us as soon as they could. We’d also like to thank all of those (Mom and Ace, Melissa, Rick H) who helped keep us informed regarding the storm conditions until we could hear from Gail and Merle.
Over Labor Day weekend, we camped at Lake Crescent which is on the north side of the Olympic peninsula. The Fairholm Campground and nearby trails are in a temperate rainforest. Large firs, cedars, and hemlocks towered above us.
Hiking in the Forest
I found that many mushrooms can be as colorful and ornate as wildflowers.
Orange Shelf Funghi
Petite Mushrooms
And the forest creatures, here, were unique to us – like this large Banana Slug.
Banana Slug
From there we spent one day in the Sol Duc area walking through rain forests, looking at waterfalls, and soaking in the hot springs. The waterfalls were only a 1.8 mile roundtrip hike, but we wandered about and enjoyed the earthy smells and hushed surroundings. The hot springs was a man-made pool of hot mineral water. The hot pools ranged from 100 – 104 degrees, whereas the large lap swimming pool was kept at a freezing (for us!) 75 degrees. While in the Sol Duc area we explored an old cabin, Ancient Groves Trail, and the Salmon Cascades.
Sol-Duc Falls
After Sol Duc, we went to the Storm King Information Center and then walked to Marymere Falls. This required several creek crossings with bridges tht were made from trees laid across the creek. The falls themselves reminded me of Ribbon Falls in the Grand Canyon. Along the trail we saw several large Douglas Firs, with the biggest aged at 700 yrs old.
Another day we took a great bike ride on the Spruce Railroad Trail along the north shore of Lake Crescent. The official trail is only 4 miles long (one-way), but we rode from our campsite so that tacked on another 5 miles to reach the trailhead. Normally railroad trails are level and as wide as a railroad track, so we were surprised to find this trail more technical. Most of the trail was a naturally mulched trail high above the lake with some areas that washed out creating narrow crossings. Several rock slides created some challenging hills to bike over. And a couple inclines were steep with rock steps that were best to walk over. The trail wasn’t what we expected…it was better.
Biking Spruce Railroad Trail on Lake Crescent
Biking Spruce Railroad Trail
On our third day, Andy went kayaking on Lake Crescent as Diane did some yoga on shore. Amazingly, the weather on shore was about 30 degrees warmer than at our site which was under a thick canopy of trees.
Fairholm campground is probably one of the prettiest campgrounds we have been in. It’s like living in a rainforest.
Our Site in Fairholm Campground
Just Hanging Around
Added note: there was a thirteen mile loop trail we considered doing (but too late of a start). It is USFS near the Klahowya Campground. Also, we checked into kayaking on the Sol Duc River in that area as well, but the water level was too low at that time. Perhaps next visit?
September 2, 2004
Port Townsend, WA
We returned from Canada on Monday, but the parts for the RV still aren’t here yet, so we drove to Port Townsend to spend a couple of days. A neat little seaport built in the 1880’s. Most of the buildings were built at the same time with hopes that the railroad would come through (which it didn’t). The brick buildings have lots of details on the exterior and some still have the original tin ceilings on the inside. We walked the main street, drove through the Victorian neighborhoods, enjoyed the beaches, watched sea otters playing, and biked around Fort Worden.
Port Townsend
Life Under the Pier
Our RV was camped near the beach in Fort Worden State Park. What a view! The fort itself is probably one of the largest and most intact forts we’ve seen. The old officer’s quarters, etc are still in use as rental lodgings now, or offices. The batteries still have doors on working hinges and iron ladders that were strong enough to climb. There were dark tunnels that you could walk through to go from one side of a battery to another. All areas were accessible. It was very refreshing.
Battery at Fort Worden
View from our Campsite
From the State Park we could see Mt. Rainier (to the southeast), Mt Baker (to the northeast), and Mt Olympus (to the southwest).
Here’s the lighthouse at Fort Worden:
Lighthouse at Fort Worden
And then I decided to ‘alter’ the picture of the Lighthouse somewhat. What do you think?
Lighthouse at Fort Worden
Port Townsend sits in the “rain shadow” of Mt Olympus, meaning it doesn’t get as much rain as other areas. For example, Port Townsend gets 14-18″ per year, while Seattle gets 30″ and Hoh Rain Forest (in the National Park) gets 140″ of rain. But, of course, it rained in Port Townsend while we were there.
We do enjoy these small towns. There are just some special moments that make us smile. Like at the Rosebud Cinema, they have a live person go on stage to welcome the viewers and highlight upcoming movies. Human previews – we like that. Or in places where the person who sold you the ticket, also sells you the popcorn, and then has to race upstairs to start the movie.
We should be heading into Olympic National Park today. The RV is back at the dealer for final touches now that the parts are in. We’re hoping that we will actually get to enjoy the NP – considering we are trying to watch Hurricane Frances as well. We are also hoping that we won’t have to cut our trip short and head home for repairs there. Our thoughts are with all of our family and friends scattered throughout Florida – from Ft Lauderdale/Boca to Melbourne to Orlando to Jacksonville.
Diandy's RV Travels from 2004 