Back to the Mall ... Tues-Wed, 9/8 - 9/9, 2015

Leaving Seaquest in Castle Rock WA, we had maybe a 160 mile +/- drive to Valley River Mall in Eugene OR -- not too long or strenuous.  We hoped to get to the mall early enough to get a boondocking spot, and, as it turned out, we were the only campers in the lot.  One other rig pulled in after we did (not close), which made us feel a bit less prominent. (That rig was a very long trailer, pulled by a massive pick-up truck, and it held Mom & Dad, three young kids and two dogs -- one Saint Bernard and one English Bulldog.  How would you like to travel like that? No thank you, not ever.)

I brake for all kinds of things, including parachutes, especially tandem droppers.

We really like stopping at this mall (we were here once before).  First of all, we're right on the bike path, which is right next to the Willamette (pronounced like dammit) River.  The view above is from our dinette window -- we love it!   No cheek-by-jowl crowding, very quiet, and security that patrols the lot. No hookups, either, but plenty of sun to charge the solar panels.  The mall is a few short steps away, with theaters and restaurants and plenty of stores (Macy's, etc), if shopping is on your mind.  Our only shopping was at Trader Joe's, but we drove Smartie there; groceries, doncha know.  Our main target here is riding our bikes on the 19.5 mile Ruth Bascom Riverbank trail that lines both sides of the sparkling river.

We saw a number of herons at Delta Ponds along the bike trail, inc this Green Heron, who was looking for a bite to eat, I'm sure.  A Belted Kingfisher darted ahead of us (repeatedly) and then flew back and forth to the other side of the river.  Birding and biking seem to rank high in Eugene.  Win-win.

And then there was this:  A gaggle of geese milling around the above apartment complex yard, listening to a guy in the doorway (left, nearly invisible) playing a flute.  So help me, I kid you not.

My friend and I enjoyed an up-close, but brief conversation.

Jimmy and I remembered walking thru Owen Rose Garden, and it was just as lovely today, with meandering paths, benches, and roses, roses, roses, as well as a number of beds with other colorful flowers.  We ate our lunch near the gazebo (background).  This is such a nice side trip off the bike trail -- we parked our bikes and just wandered along, sniffing and admiring.  Even at the end of summer, the display was stunning.

Back on the bikes and crossing one of the several bridges, we found that some enterprising folks had built a slew of cairns in the shallow water.  Enlarge the picture.  I guess it's a way of saying, "I was here."  The river has deep areas, others not so much, but it's fast moving downstream, with areas of rapids, too!

Today's weather couldn't have been any better.  Not hot, nor smoky, clear and sunny.  Perfect for a bike ride. When our ride was over (and after Jimmy put the bikes back on Smartie) and we'd showered, we decided to eat at one of the nearby restaurants, settling on Olive Garden.  Pasta would fill us up!  We walked to it and then to Barnes and Noble, just two retired people enjoying a sweet evening stroll. Surely enjoyed our day.  Tomorrow (Thursday), as we continue to make our way south toward home, we're off to see Sue and Mo in Rocky Point, Oregon.  Oh boy! 

Friends in Port Angeles, WA 9/4 - 9/7, 2015

After we pulled out of Hoh Ox-bow C/G, we stopped in Forks WA for gas and laundry ... into each life falls the mundane, and then we had a short drive to Port Angeles.  PA is located on the Strait of Juan de Fuca which separates the State of Washington and Vancouver Island, BC.  Jimmy and I had been invited by our friends, Marianne and Steve, to "camp" at their beautiful place in PA, so, by gum, we took them up on it.  The RV parking site was under construction when we arrived, so Steve suggested we park "on the grass."  We enjoyed three blissful nights camped here -- isn't it lovely?  I took the below picture early, early, just as the sun was rising.

Marianne and Steve moved from NorCal to Port Angeles last December and have been entertaining friends and family since the move!  We felt privileged to spend time with them at their new digs.

Scout was the almost the first to greet us when we piloted Tergel up their driveway.  She was/is a happy-go-lucky puppy who walks around nearly every minute of every day with a ball in her mouth.  Usually a purple one!  Her sole mission while we were there was to get one of us to THROW THE BALL.  She'd run like the wind, fetch it, bring it back, and drop it at our feet.  Then, THROW THE BALL!  She was lots of fun.

Saturday morning, we trooped down to Port Angeles' farmers market and bought all kinds of goodies.  A small market, but very nice.  This being Labor Day weekend, Marianne and Steve took us sightseeing, up to Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center in Olympic Nat'l Park (ONP). We weren't the only folks driving there today.  The place was full of visitors, parking at a premium.  This section of ONP was new to Jimmy and me; we'd tried to visit before, but bad weather on the ridge kept us away (it's called "hurricane ridge" for a reason!)  The temp in PA was moderate when we left and about 44 degrees on the ridge -- chilly!  

We ate a quick lunch at a picnic table and walked a fairly short distance on one of the trails.  As usual, in the mountains, very little is flat or level.  Marianne was having right knee difficulty, and those downhills were very painful for her.  She and Jimmy discussed knee replacement surgery A LOT [she's since made an appointment for replacement surgery].  In the photo above, PA is maybe 15 miles away, and the City of Victoria on Vancouver Island is approx 44 miles distant, across the Straight.  

Black-tailed deer licking each other's necks, in public! 

Haha, you guys -- I have no idea why or at what Jimmy and Marianne are pointing (prob just for fun). Hurricane Ridge is about a mile high and the Olympic Mountains in the background are not especially high (Mount Olympus is the highest at 7,962'), but they are steep-sided and heavily forested. Very green, I might add. Lots of moisture falls in ONP, notably on the western side.

How long will glaciers be found on the Olympic Mountains?
A couple of receding glaciers can be seen above.

Scout, you rascal, all pooped out and resting on the couch!  We had a grand day in ONP, and everyone was tuckered out by evening.  Marianne fed us well, thank you very kindly, my friend!  Fact is, we had a great time with you guys (never a dull moment, huh?).

On Sunday, Steve, Jimmy and I drove to Dungeness Spit on the Straight of Juan de Fuca -- it's a narrow strip of sand, rocks, dune and beached logs, and protrudes over five miles right into the Straight. (Marianne stayed home to rest her knee.) You can actually hike all the way to the lighthouse at the tip. The water is tidal, of course, and -- once again -- the tide was on the rise, tho we had no intention of walking all the way to the end. Nevertheless, we put on quite a few miles today! We watched a big ol' sea lion hanging around near shore, popping its head up in the water. Another good hike!

 

Dungeness Spit Lighthouse:  Keeping guard since 1857.

The best I could do, zooming five miles away.

Port Angeles was our turn-around point, and now we pointed Tergel south.  Driving alongside the Hood Canal before hitting I-5 is very scenic.  We had no particular destination in mind, and now that Labor Day is officially OVER, RV'ers can usually move about without reservation.  YAY!  We ended up at Seaquest St Pk in Washington, on Spirit Lake Hwy (the road to Mount St Helens) in Castle Rock.  No worries, I tell you -- the park was empty (kinda expensive, too, at $40/night FHU!).  Across the highway is Mount St Helens Visitors Center, which seemed more like a museum.  We stopped in, looking at the exhibits and excellent movie treating on the mountain and the 1980 eruption, followed by an easy one-mile loop walk on the tranquil nature trail around Silver Lake.  Then, home to Tergel.

Tomorrow we move on south....

Rialto Beach, ONP, Washington -- Thurs AM, 9/3/15

Rialto Beach, with its rock-strewn sand, giant gnarled drift logs, pounding waves and offshore sea stacks is one more amazing place to see and experience in Olympic Nat'l Pk. The size and number of old, bleached trees "bleached bones" littering the beach boggles the mind.  Think of the force that deposits these giants!  And how many tons each one weighs!

If a person had a heavy-duty crane and/or helicopter to haul one of the masterpieces home (and a yard big enough to accommodate these massive tree sculptures), why, you'd have a trophy yard! 

Rain fell all night and into the morning at our Hoh River Ox-bow campsite.  Scattered clouds lingered as we made our way to Rialto Beach.  It was chilly enough for a jacket, but not cold.  We'd visited this beach before (in 2006, we think), and were sitting by ourselves on a log when a sea lion head popped up out of the water in front of us.  It looked at us as if to inquire what we were doing there.  Today we didn't see any wildlife, scarcely a bird, except for gulls.  Rialto is ROCKY.  At low tide walking is easy on the wet sand.  As we walked a mile-and-a-half to Hole in the Wall, the tide was incoming.  On our return, we had to walk on dry rocks, which was anything but easy! Besides, it takes us forever to walk on rocks, 'cause we keep picking 'em up to examine, see if it's a keeper!

Hole in the Rock is that domed rock behind me.

Ain't nature grand?

We still don't know what the heck this is.  Looked like a fossil record.  My new waterproof Ahnu hikers worked perfectly when we had to cross the braided Ellen Creek as it enters the ocean -- my feet stayed dry.

Sea stacks provide a sanctuary for nesting seabirds, but the nests are on the side away from shore.  We didn't see or hear any birds today.

Hole in the Wall looms behind me.

Look at that surf slamming ashore!
Hole in the Wall will soon be inaccessible from this side by the tide.

Yard art?  Fused stuff?  Even the rocks were plastered onto this piece of iron.

"Always the edge of the sea remains an elusive and indefinable boundary."

                                                            ... Rachel Carson    

Hoh, Hoh, Hoh! Wed afternoon 9/2/15

The best we can figure is that we visited the rain forest nine years ago, before retirement, before Tergel, on a two-wk vacation to the northwest. We were fascinated by the glacially fed Hoh River, milky-looking and swift, and at one point, spent an hour or so roaming over the acres of smooth river stones. The river originates at the Hoh Glacier on Mount Olympus in ONP and travels 56 miles to the Pacific. So, we came back to the Hoh Rain Forest. Good timing -- the road had been closed due to Saturday's storm. (I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but it had a huge impact on the entire Washington coast.)

This small, rushing creek, full of swaying grass, was nearly dwarfed by the mossy branch.

We hadn't planned on walking any trails.  It's a nice drive to the Visitor Center and that was all we'd planned to do. Certainly we weren't wearing proper footwear for a wet trail.  Pay attention ... this is a "rain forest!"  But, we were disappointed by the VC; there isn't much to it.  Outside, we saw trail signs and just sort of veered off onto the Hall of Mosses Trail. Only 3/4 of a mile, what the heck, we said, never mind the rain that began falling then -- pull your hoods up!

The exposed wood has been turned almost into mahogany by the elements.

Dramatic, ethereal draperies of clubmoss!  Can you see rain drops falling?

You'd expect to see fungi in a rain forest.  We did.  At first I thought the little 8" stick was a yellow-flowering plant. (bottom left)  Nope.  A stick plunked into the ground was aglow with tiny yellow fungi "flowers" growing on it.  My favorite.

In the southern states during Mardi Gras, King Cakes are popular (and tasty -- think sugar). Inside each cake a baby is hidden, and whoever gets the baby is supposed to have good luck all year.  I found this King Cake baby lying at the base of tree in Olympic Nat'l Park -- how weird is that?  So, we nestled it into the moss.

This decaying trunk is 190 ft long, only a portion of the original standing tree.  People (they look so tiny!) are visible at the far end.  In the rain forest, Sitka Spruces average 220 ft tall, with some growing to over 300 ft.  True to its name, the rain forest showed it's wet face, then the sun broke out, but the "rain" continued dripping out of the trees.  I counted a zillion shades of green.

And, whoa, by golly, look what we discovered on our way back to Tergel.  A herd of browsing female Elk. We looked, but didn't see the male.  Guess it's not time for him to make an appearance yet.   Terrific day!