Hoquiam River RV Park, Hoquiam, WA, to KOA, Port Angeles, WA:  Left Hoquiam this morning at 9:30 and headed north on 101.  After Queets 101 runs right along the coast.  But you can’t see much because the trees go right down to the beach.  Beautiful drive anyway through a beautiful rain forest.  Noticed in the side mirrors I had all manner of conveyances behind me—a log truck, a motor home, several cars, and a dump truck.  And I’m going 55 which is the speed limit.  So I pulled over as soon as it was safe to do so and let everyone get by me.  Stopped in Forks for lunch and then continued on.  More beautiful streams, rain forests and then Cascade Lake which is this jewel sitting at the bottom of steep mountains covered in a thick conifer forest.  101 ran right along this beautiful lake for several miles.  Definitely going back there to check it out more thoroughly.  Drove most of the way under leaden clouds spitting a misty rain.  Got here and were set up by 2:00.  We’re in a “premium” site with a patio and patio furniture.  We’re here for 7 nights.  Made chili for dinner.  Good night for it.  62 out there.

Yesterday late afternoon we decided to go back to Quinault Lake and have dinner at the Salmon House Restaurant.  Great place.  I had salmon with a dill sauce and Mike had a steak.  Really good.  

While having dinner, these three walked out to the lake for a refreshing swim--in their wet suits.  Air temp 64.  Not sure what the water temp was.  Are these people crazy? 

Hoquiam River RV Park, Hoquiam, WA:  Work day today.  Took care of some computer stuff, did the laundry and some cleaning and got ready to leave tomorrow.  On Friday we head up the peninsula to Port Angeles.  We’ll be there for 7 days.  It’s misty and cloudy today.  Low 60s.

Lake Louise--Mt. Rainier National Park

Wild flowers--Mt. Rainier National Park

Hoquiam River RV Park, Hoquiam, WA:  After doing a grocery run we headed north up the coast.  Yesterday we drove inland to Quinault Lake and environs.  Today we stuck to the coastal road.  This was a much prettier drive than we expected.  One beach resort after another all the way up the coast.  The most impressive of these was Ocean Shores.  This rather large community was well laid out—with a four-lane road separated by a large grassy area.  So traffic ran smoothly.  And there was every conceivable restaurant, a hardware store, several grocery stores, a mall, a cinema, a convention center and a huge casino.  You could rent mopeds, four-runners, kayaks, and even horses. Deer were roaming around everywhere.  We drove onto the beach and headed north on the beach for a while.  I’m not a proponent of driving on the beach, but it wasn’t too bad.  The beach was broad and beautiful, but what good is it?  You can’t swim in the ocean, or even lay on the beach.  The temperature was a scant 60.  But of course some do.  Had a late lunch farther up the coast at Mill 109 in Seabrooke, WA. On the way home we stopped at a fruit stand and picked up some more Rainier cherries and some blackberries. Back to our RV park and relaxed the rest of the evening.  I finished a great book, “The Great Train Robbery” by Michael Chrichton.  A great story of a huge train robbery pulled off with great aplomb by a cheeky and ballsy fellow in Victorian England.  And a true story!  Would make a great movie.  Just started “Bridges of Madison County”.  64 today and mostly cloudy. Well, we are in a rain forest after all.

Washington beach near Queets.

Mill 109--great place for lunch.

Hoquiam River RV Park, Hoquiam, WA:  Headed north today to Olympic National Forest and Quinault Lake.  Hiked a trail to a huge, old cedar.  Actually, it was dead.  But it was huge.  And totally hollow on the inside.  A family of six could live in there.  A pretty strenuous hike up steep terrain.  Fortunately, I went back and got my trekking poles.  Hiked another rain forest trail which was a lot easier.  We started out in a lot of clouds and mist.  But by the time we got to Quinault Lake it had cleared.  Stopped at the beautiful Quinault Lake Lodge for a late lunch or early dinner, but, alas, we were too late for lunch and too early for dinner.  So we checked out the menu at the bar and got a couple of sandwiches and drinks and ate on their deck overlooking this beautiful lake.  After a relaxing lunch we drove further up the lake road and noticed another restaurant.  Stopped there and had a couple of drinks and then drove back to Hoquiam.  64 today.

Huge cedar tree.

Inside huge cedar tree, looking up.

Quinault Lodge

Fireplace at the Quinault Lodge

View of Quinault Lake from the grounds of the lodge.

Hoquiam River RV Park, Hoquiam, WA:  Headed out late morning to explore around a little.  Drove south to Westport which is a cute little fishing village.  Then continued on down the coastal road.  But not much to see.  Apparently, all the beauty of Washington lies inland, not on the coast.  Cloudy all morning, but cleared off by 2:30.  Still only 65.

Grays Harbor Lighthouse

Tower Rock NF Campground, Randle, WA, to Hoquiam River RV Park, Hoquiam, WA:  Spent the last 9 days in beautiful Gifford Pinchot National Forest.  Our campground was small--22 sites--and very pretty.  Lots of large Douglas firs in here--one which rivals the giant redwoods in California.  We were here to explore Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and environs.

Mt. St. Helens:  This was a very interesting learning experience for us.  Mt. St. Helens was what they call a dry eruption.  No lava, but tons of rock, dirt, and extremely hot gasses.  And it was a side blast.  The north side of the mountain started developing a bulge which grew at the rate of an average 5 feet per day.  It had bulged out 400 feet just before it blew.  The geologists expected an upward, lava event.  So they declared an evacuation zone of 5 miles.  This thing blew 17 miles laterally, snapping huge, old growth trees and depositing up to 600 feet of ash and rocks in the Toutle River valley.  Spirit Lake sits at the foot of the mountain and as a result of the blast it now sits 200 feet higher because of all the stuff that sits at the bottom of the lake--mainly trees.  It's bigger now because it was "bumped up" 200 feet, but shallower.  A man by the name of Harry Truman owned at lodge on the lake but refused to leave.  He and the lodge are now under 200 feet of ash, rock, and other debris.  57 people lost their lives.  And there are many stories of people in the blast zone who miraculously survived.

This is a picture of a picture and not very clear, but this is Mt. St. Helens before the blast.

This is a picture taken after the blast.  The surrounding mountains in the blast zone which were covered in a lush conifer forest were blasted down to bare rock.

Spirit Lake with lots of floating logs.  

And we noticed when we were up there a second time, a new bulge is forming in the crater.  And steam was coming out.  Yikes!

Mt. Rainier:  This place was magical.  Mountains covered in firs as far as the eye can see, beautiful waterfalls crashing down lofty mountains, pristine streams, wild flowers in abundance, alpine meadows—and in the center of it all, beautiful and majestic, glacier-topped Mt. Rainier.  We stopped at every viewing spot possible and eventually made it up to Paradise Inn, the lodge in the shadow of Mt. Rainier.  We had planned to eat there, but the restaurant didn’t open for dinner until 5:30.  There is a paved pathway leading up the mountain from the Visitor Center and Paradise Inn that goes through alpine meadows of great beauty.   Since we’re starting to feel the effects of the altitude, we didn’t even attempt this.

Beautiful wildflowers!

Paradise Lodge and Inn.

In the center of it all--beautiful Mt. Rainier.

We went back to Mt. Rainier a couple of days later and hiked the Grove of the Patriarchs Trail.

These two are over 1000 years old!  The trees, that is.

We drove in to Randle from our campground several times to have breakfast or dinner at our favorite restaurant, Tall Timbers.  One morning we ran into these two--Danna and her beautiful husky/wolf mix dog, Arou.  

Danna and her dog, Arou.

Arou--husky/wolf mix.

Ft. Stevens State Park, near Astoria, OR:  Left this morning early—for us anyway—and headed south on the 101 to see the Oregon coast that we missed when we headed inland to Portland a couple of weeks ago.  Started out under cloudy skies, but it cleared pretty quickly to reveal a pretty blue sky.  Stopped at what is now Ecola Beach where Capt. Lewis and some of his party (including Sacajawea) traveled down the beach from Ft. Clatsop to obtain some whale blubber from a dead whale that washed up on shore.  When they got there, only a skeleton was left, but they bought 300 lbs. of blubber and some whale oil from the Indians.  This would be a welcome addition to their meager diet of mostly elk and fish.  We also stopped in the cute little town of Seaside to see the salt works that members of the Lewis and Clark party built and used to make salt.  Had lunch at a little place on the bayocean peninsula where a river (don’t remember which one) meets the Pacific.  Came back and stopped at Ft. Stevens which was used from the Civil War through WWII.  It was decommissioned in 1947 and ceded to the state and became Ft. Stevens SP.  Back to our site and relaxed.  Our last day in Oregon.  Tomorrow we leave for a National Forest campground between Mr. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens in Washington.  If all goes well, we’ll be there for 9 days.  No hook-ups.  67 today.

Surfers out there doing their thing.  Air temperature was 61.  Water temps probably in the 50s.  Brrrrr!

I read somewhere that these huge rocks are what used to be headlands.

Tillamook Rock Lighthouse.  This is located 1.2 miles off Tillamook Head south of Seaside.  It has a 62-foot high tower and stands 135 feet above sea level on a basalt rock islet.  Its exposure to fierce storm waves gave rise to its nickname, "Terrible Tilly".  We've now seen every lighthouse on the Oregon coast.

This stretch of the 101 which rises high above the Pacific has the most extensive rock work of the whole highway.  It's basically holding up the road.  

Salt works--just off the beach in what is now Seaside.  Some members of the Lewis & Clark party camped here from January 2, 1806, to February 17, 1806, and made salt.

Me and Sacajawea
Picture by Mike