September 18 through September 25, 2005

Sunday September 18:

I finished our net business before leaving Altair campground, and tried unsuccessfully to call the kids, but left a message we might not have service after leaving here.  We drove towards Solduc Hot Springs only an hour's drive away.  The scenery was spectacular.  Here we pass Crescent Lake.

Cellphone service dropped out almost as soon as we  started up the side road to Solduc Hot Springs.  We found a nice spot in the National Park campground, and while Claire elected to sit this one out, I took the bike down and rode the half mile to soak at Solduc hot spring resort, senior rate all day $8.  

The nearest pool in the photo is hottest, 104 degrees F…except there is a hotter squirt out of the fountain in the center of the far right pool.  This is a nice resort, clean, with showers, but quite commercial with rules and a lifeguard to enforce them!  There is no cellphone anywhere.  The natural setting here is quite spectacular, and it is easy to see why the original luxury hotel/spa was built around 1910, only to burn down in a few years.  Some leaves are starting to turn already.

I asked and finally someone knew what the colorful red trees were......vine maples.  They do provide a beautiful touch of color to add to the cloud studded blue sky and mostly evergreen covered steep mountain ridges that frame the pools on all sides.  I rode home for dinner, but returned to soak until they closed the pools at 10PM.  Many guests still remained at closing time, so I went to the showers a bit early.  I was told the hot water is turned off promptly at closing time.  The bike ride home was interesting in the DARK dark, as I had neglected to bring a flashlight.  The tall trees made it quite difficult to pick out the road edge, and it seemed that there was a bit of mist blocking any light from the sky as well.  Half way back I heard a close snort and fast hoof beats running along side me.  I had seen deer along the road on the way down there, so was not too startled....just hoped they would not panic and run into me on the bike!  In a flash, they were gone, leaving me to feel my way into the campground and find the RV.  It is long past my usual bedtime, and with the relaxation brought on by the hot soaking I have no trouble sleeping.   

Monday September 19:

Came here to Moro Bay CG when we could not get satisfaction that the Neah Bay Makah Indian Cultural Center was open.  Neah Bay was too far out of our way to go and find it closed and then have to pay for a commercial Passport America campground to stay overnight, in addition.  Moro Bay campground was near spectacular Rialta Beach, filled with washed in HUGE logs....

The wind was brisk on shore...

The sea mist kicked up by the waves created unforgettable images of the distant points and very pretty offshore pinnacle islands fading away....  We are warned against being on the beach when the tide comes in to move the logs...and it is easy to see how folks could be crushed under or between these behemoths.

Here Claire tests the water temperature on the first waves of the incoming tide....but we do believe the cautions, and move back toward safety without delay.  I was not quick enough jumping over this log when the waves first started reaching it, and ended up with soaked feet....much to the delight of some giggling locals watching from a dry perch further up on the beach.  They were nice folks who were retired professors and live on the Olympic Peninsula, visiting here often.  They swear there is very little snow here in winter, even though it already feels quite cool in the breeze.  We turned south along the beach, hiking toward a tip of land protecting the village harbor.  This log shelter is one of a number constructed of driftwood logs on the beach.

We are not sure who builds them, but since the village across the inlet is primarily Indians, they may be shelters for fishing or other uses.  They are clearly rebuilt after large storms wash the beach clear of logs, so must serve a purpose.  The village is not large...

We do notice there are lots of fishing boats, businesses and relatively prosperous looking houses.  Looking seaward from the protective spit of land, the spires poking out of the sea are SPECTACULAR!

The rolling breakers on the beach give some clue as to the powerful erosion forces that form the such pinnacles.

I turn back, as the walk has been over a mile, much of it on logs and breakwater rocks.  The beach has patches of green foliage and flowers; there has been no frost.   Some pretty purple flowers catch my eye...they look familiar.

Then I catch sight of the "seed pod"...these are beach peas, and we'd seen them off the Massachusetts coast on islands when we sailed.  They are small edible peas, but not really sweet and tender like garden peas...and it takes a BUNCH of them to shell out a pot full.  I returned to the RV to find Claire waiting...she had decided the climb over logs and hopping rocks would not help her hip, so wisely opted out.  We drove the few miles to Mora Campground and enjoyed a very secluded and restful night amongst the huge trees....

Tuesday September 20:

In the morning I added 1 quart of oil to the RV engine; as usual it needs it around 1500 miles since the last change.  Claire found some GM car keys with remote unlocking control under our site table before we left CG…we could not find anyone in the ranger station, so put them in their mailbox at with a note detailing where & when we found them.  Today we plan to visit Hoh Rainforest, and arrived to find the Hoh campground was, as usual, able to take us with no problem even though they say 21 ft max RV length.

 We signed up for a site first, then drove to the visitors center to hike two trails totaling nearly 3 miles.  The rain forest had it's share of moss hanging from some of the trees shaded by taller ones.

The climate felt...DAMP...not unexpected in an area receiving over 200 inches of rain a year.  This rainfall is responsible for the fast growth and huge size of the trees.

Lots of these trees start growing on "nurse logs", fallen trees which decay to nourish them.

Here the trees have grown so some roots reaching the ground around the aging nurse log.  The result in full grown trees, when the nurse log has fully decayed, is a set of roots supporting the tree, with a  hollow interior where the nurse log was...

We are continuously awed by the size of these trees.

It did not seem like a lot of work, but yesterday's hike to the end of the jetty at Rialta beach must have set me up to be tired easily.  We found a bench and were resting when who should appear but a familiar face...then two.  The couple from the Olympic Hot Spring pool popped out from behind the bushes, and we recognized each other AFTER a short delay....I guess we all had too many clothes on today.  :-)  They were touring the area just as we were, without the little girl today.  We exchanged greetings and went on our way. When we were finished with this trail I was READY to stop.  We did walk down to the Hoh River near the RV before stopping...

It was BEAUTIFUL in the afternoon sun.  Dinner was burritos with beans left from last night.  I force myself to work on the computer rather than go to bed, as the website is now over 3 weeks behind.  I'm really ready for bed when I collapse into it.

Wednesday September 21:

We departed as soon as breakfast was finished for Kalaloch Campground in Olympic National Park.  The heat was necessary after we awoke…..it has cooled off, and with the dampness it is uncomfortable without it.  We stopped at various beach overlooks on the way, each spectacular in it's own right.

This tide pool is smooth enough to reflect almost perfectly despite the heavy surf out on the ocean...   The rock pinnacles are ever present and delightful....

We find that they are properly called "Sea Stacks" and larger ones provide safe nesting areas for many sea birds.  On the trails to the beaches, we keep looking for the banana slug....large, yellow, and supposedly quite common here.  We do find this rather spectacular slug....

It is at least 4 inches long, and is shaped like the banana slug...but certainly is NOT yellow... it's almost enough to create nightmares in a licorice lover like me.  :-)). We certainly do enjoy walking the various beaches within a short day's drive, and an easy trail walk from the viewpoint parking lots.

We are continuously warned about the dangers of the huge logs moving in the surf and rolling on or crushing people, killing them.  The tide range here seems to be around 9 feet, so we are cautious....

Some of these objects are just HUGE...and free to float.  When we arrive at the campground and read the Tsunami warning signs saying to head for high ground if we hear an alert, we are even more inclined to caution.  There are no roads to reach high ground by vehicle...so I guess we abandon the RV to it's fate and walk up hill?  Hopefully we do not have to decide....  The views here are SPLENDID, however.  We sought a spot OFF the beach as the salt spray looked like it would cause trouble over time with the RV's tender parts.  We rejected the first site we tried as it sloped too far back, and picked one a little more exposed, but still protected by trees.  We walked the beach noting very few logs, and fine sand instead of rocks. This cypress tree was struggling to stay rooted as it's soil eroded beneath it.

We drove to the lodge here, but found no WiFi.  It was time to rest before dinner needed starting, and I was ready.  I did work for an hour on the computer trying to keep from falling even further behind on the webpage.  One more day to do, then we'll only be three weeks behind.  :-(   Oh well......

Thursday September 22:

Today we drove to the Aberdeen Walmart from Kalaloch.  On the way we stopped at a National Forest/National park ranger station at a lake to try for some info on forest campgrounds further south in Oregon. They were out to lunch.  We ate our lunch, and got email. When we went back in, there was a nice lady who tried like mad to help us, partially succeeding, but finally giving us a web URL for the info we want. On the way out we caught this bunny eating some strawberry plants the lady had brought to give to a friend.  :-)

Evidently someone had dropped a pair of unwanted domestic rabbits off here last year, and they have been breeding successfully, and were turning into common pests. We went on to Aberdeen, fueled at the Walmart even though we had seen a cheaper station on the way.  It did not pay to go back, and we owe Walmart as much of our business as reasonable anyway.  We received permission to park overnight easily, and turned in early after food shopping at another store nearby...we needed meat and we do not owe Walmart THAT business!  :-)

Friday September 23:

We spent the morning doing necessary web work, then around noon we moved to see Mt St Helens, expecting to drive on a dirt road. On the way we passed these apparent nuclear power plant cooling towers....a mystery until I remembered we were in the land of WHOOPS.....  

WHOOPS was the corrupted acronym for a power development consortium here that issued huge dollar amounts of bonds to develoip nuclear power plants in Washington state. There was a MAJOR financial scandal decades ago (the multi billion dollar amount was high enough to threaten the stability of the financial system), when the bonds become worthless after it was discovered that the issuing developers had nowhere NEAR enough money to complete any of the projects, and there was no way to pay back the bond holders, and no way the power plants could be finished. The ranger we called at Mt St Helens National Monument said there was a new road in there now, very good and paved all the way.  We stopped first at the visitors center 1.25 hours drive from the Johnston Observatory near the mountain.  There were many interesting things here, but time was of the essence, as there is no camping in the park and we really want to be out by dark.  We photographed the hazy flattened off mountain in the distance and pushed on. 

It turned out the ranger was right; it was a beautiful road, but also some hilly driving to the Johnston Ridge Observatory 5 miles away from the crater. As we approached, the volcano "welcomed" us with a few puffs of steam...or is it smoke?  It does seem to fade as it drifts from the source, indicating much of it is steam.

There is no doubt...this is NOT clouds!!  This is a live steaming volcano!!   I did not think this was a place I really wanted to see, and I let Claire convince me to drive considerably out of our way to see it.....BUT it turns out to be an amazing place.  Twenty five years after the explosion on May 18, 1982 caused the largest landslide in recorded history, the surrounding hills that were stripped of their topsoil and vegetation by the searing blast are still largely bare.  The mountain's 9677 foot peak became 8363 feet, and 2/3 of a cubic MILE of earth was blown away. Trees were knocked down up to 17 miles away.   Here is a "before" picture of the mountain...(no, I did not take the original of this mural photo in the visitors center).

The extent to which the damaged terrain still has not regrown is sad.....  This hillside caught the major force of the blast over 5 miles from the peak.

The volcano is 90 degrees to the right of this photo.  The trees that were knocked down can be seen looking like match sticks on the ground in the foreground and on the hillside to the right.  In the center of the picture, on the left side of the ridge, which shielded some of the blast coming from the right and gave some protection, some heat killed tree trunks still stand.  There is little question that had we been standing in this place that day, we would have certainly died. The Johnston Ridge Observatory is named for a Government geologist who was on the volcano that day, and is one of the 57 persons killed in the eruption.  The results of the mudslide are still plainly visible along the river, with post eruption erosion from water, but still not much plant growth in the volcanic ash.

 Steam is visible on the cones from miles away, and from the observatory 5 miles away the view is awesome...and a bit scary.

It's almost like looking into the mouth of a very alive sleeping dragon, alert for it to wake up....hoping it won't, but knowing that sooner or later it WILL!.   The crater still looks more like a moonscape than anything familiar here on earth.

 The volcano has become active again in the past year, and is building new cones at a rate that will have it back to it's former height in only 44 years. There is thin snow visible in the crater, most noticeable to the left of the smoking cones.  I think we're close enough to this sleeping dragon; I'm glad we've seen it, but not eager to stay until it wakes up!  There is a sign at the visitors center advising folks caught in a ash cloud to get inside shelter, not breathe the ashes in, and not run their car until the ash clears from the air.  YIKES, this thing is REAL!!   Although the blast scoured hills facing the mountain are still mostly barren, .the backs of the hills are growing new plants and trees.

This beautiful flower grows where trees would have blocked its access to sun before the eruption.   I'm amazed that only 57 persons lost their lives in this eruption, but we're told that most were evacuated before the big blow.  The mountain had swelled over 400 feet on the north side before everything let go, so officials had some clue there might be an eruption, but I'm sure nobody anticipated one so large. The ranger giving a talk at the visitors center indicated that we've learned that volcanos which can release the pressure of their magma, as Mt St Helens is now doing by building the new cones, are far less dangerous than those that stop venting due to plugged channels deep underground. The plugged ones eventually blow much more violently.  The day here is nearing an end, the sun is sinking and we still have to drive 47 hilly miles back to civilization.  This has been a BIG day, so dinner is a quick Subway sandwich on our way to a Walmart in Longview WA on the north bank of the Columbia River, which turns out to have only analog cell service with the weekend coming up...  Oh well....  Tomorrow on the way out of town we'll find a way to connect for email.  :-)

Saturday September 24:

The welcome sun came in the windshield before 8AM.  Claire had not slept well, so tried to catch up, but I had major catch up do on the pictures and daily log before working on the webpage.  We got our email and then crossed the mighty Columbia into Oregon for the drive along the river's scenic south shore, back to the Pacific coast.  Longview is a seaport, with ocean going vessels traversing the river with cargoes of timber and wood products.  The port is easily visible from the bridge.

We stopped for lunch in a parking lot near a marina in Astoria Oregon.  The view was pleasant looking out on the broadening river mouth,  the sun was out, and we opened windows.  We hear loud "urt urt urt" barking of....seals?  We look near the river bank, but see none...then notice a bit of motion on the marina docks in the distance .

Seal shapes, fer sure, but those barks must be really LOUD if it's coming from there!  We walk out on the docks, and talk with observers who identify them as sea lions, and tell us they are protected marine mammals.  We observe that they are REALLY loud, they make themselves right at home, and do not move for anybody....even a boat owner trying to get on his boat must walk around.  Some boats might even have to take an extra passenger....  :-)

I'm sure the Environmental Services folks would not treat a protected sea lion roughly....  :-)  Seriously, these animals have become a problem in this area.  They have been known to sink boats at the dock due to overloading, and fishermen think they reduce their catch.  Still, to uninvolved observers like us, they ARE kinda cute... 

I'm sure that they would not stay as cute if it was MY boat that was sunk though....  These guys can weigh well over 500 pounds.  We're told the main visual difference between seals and sea lions is the external ears on the sea lion....one is sticking out like a tiny horn on the picture above. As we leave the dock we hear a few shots....someone trying to scare the sea lions off his boat?  Not sure, but the sheriff is on the dock....so whatever is going on must be legal.  :-) On the way back to the RV, we stopped to pick blackberries along the riverbank...until someone suggested that the river water was polluted enough that they might not be safe to eat...YIKES.  We'd seen signs warning of polluted water, but thought it referred to swimming and maybe shell fishing....but it must REALLY be bad if stuff growing along the bank can be unsafe to eat.  Happily, we had no adverse affects from those we ate.  We moved on, finding some really spectacular views overlooking the coast.

We feel so fortunate to find clear weather along this coast to enjoy this spectacular scenery...it was not expected, as we'd heard this coast is always rainy and foggy.   Fortunately for us, not ALWAYS.  :-)  We continue on into Tillamook....and of course...

We've never been known to pass a cheese landmark...and this is a big one for us, as we buy Tillamook cheddar cheese at home...it's a favorite.  We arrive with only 15 minutes of tour time left in the day, so rush to see what we can.  The cheese samples are predictably delicious, the ice cream store is tempting, but the prices really are not...this is a major tourist attraction, after all.  :-)  The packing line is interesting....

We see huge blocks of aged cheese come in, and get cut up and packed in various sized packages for shipment.    We soon hear the closing announcement, and since the parking lot has "No Overnight Parking" signs posted, we must move on.  We stop in several stores, all forbid overnight parking.  The Safeway market gave us permission when we asked how to get to Sand Lake Recreation Area Campground...they said if we could not find it, we could come back and stay.  The customer service lady here was exceptionally accommodating;  I found 99% isopropyl alcohol, and bought two bottles.   It is an excellent cleaning solvent, and VERY seldom available.  The last time I'd seen it was our first year RVing in FL.  We moved on and soon found the campground we were looking for...  It was an ATV recreation area, but it was national forest so we camp for half price.  The place was almost full and very active.  I enjoy the ATV areas; lots of kids and active folks, and people who are not strangers to working on machines.  I ask our neighbor if anyone will object if I change my generator oil...he says no, as long as I do not spill any.  The sheriff is very present here, but folks tear down their ATVs all the time, they just use big plastic work pans to assure no fluids get away.  My kind of folks!  There are lots of campfires, and in early evening quite a bit of noise as ATVs leave and return to the area...but always at slow speed.  A bit of noise as they zoom out of sight on the sand, but that is not a bother to me.  By 10 PM it is QUIET as a mouse....they've expended all their energy for one day!  :-)  We sleep well, and tomorrow is generator oil changing day.  :-)

Sunday September 25:

We hiked the ATV area after the generator oil is changed.  This is a BUSY place with lots  of toys!  :-)

It is near checkout time when we leave.  The road runs right along the beach in many places, and the strong onshore breeze blows the spray across the road.  We do not like this much, as the salt will corrode EVERYTHING on the RV...but it is the only road going this way.  We do not stop much if there is spray.  The windows get quite dirty...but we take our pictures through them so we can keep moving.  This para surfer is having a BALL in the windblown surf!

We are headed down the coast hoping to find a boondocking spot, but this coast seems quite boondocking unfriendly...much more so than Washington.  There are "No Overnight Parking" signs everywhere one might think of asking, and they do say "No" when you ask  here.  Even a casino we stopped in said "We have a $32 a night full service campground up the road.  You can park here only while you are in the casino".  This coast is pretty, with much nicer white sand beaches than Washington, and it is closer to California too.  It is developed as a series of beach resorts, and priced accordingly.  We pick Tillicum Beach campground for the night; it  is a nice campground, but expensive ($10) by Golden Age National Forest Service standards. The loop we were in closed the morning we left.  We did not want the beach front sites due to spray from heavy surf.  We found a  tree secluded spot, protected from the direct spray by the trees yet level enough for us to use.  We walked on the beach in the evening....quite a pretty sunset..these two kite flyers must have thought so too.

 We peeked out between the RV and the bush trying to see the green flash as the sun dipped below the horizon...but once again, not a trace of green....

Just a pretty red sun with the very top showing.  :-)   Our walk on the beach itself is cut a bit shorter than planned....

In the stiff breeze, mist from the sea, and deepening dusk, it feels downright COLD.  Take me home to my RV furnace please....  :-))

PLANS:  This page was finished on December 23, 2005, three months after this portion of the trip.  Hopefully I'll get more of the back pages completed before we return to the road on January 8, 2006 and start accumulating even more of them.  :-)   MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!!