Homeward Bound

Congratulations if you've made it this far. Here you will find our final entry that is immediately related to our trip. We will, of course, continue to post other boring highlights and whatnot, but this will be our last park write-up.

Crater Lake was beautiful. We only spent a day in the park, but we had a schedule to keep since we wanted to be in CO on the weekend. We didn't quite realize that the drive was nearly 1,600 miles so we had a good amount of driving to do in two days. This meant we wanted to get a jump on it and maybe cut some mileage out. We left that park and headed to Klamath Falls, OR. The following day we started heading east in a BIG way. Let me tell you about eastern Oregon. It's boring. Luckily, we had Nevada to look forward to next. Also boring. And incredibly hot because even though I had my a/c replaced before the trip, the cabin blower motor (the fan which blows air inside the car) decided to stop working on our way to Crater Lake. So, Nevada was really, really hot. At least the speed limit was back up to 75 (in OR it was posted at 55. I even went into a gas station and asked. One sign said "Speed 55" so even that wasn't clear) so, yeah, it went by a little faster. Rachel drove for a while, too, which was nice. I passed time by holding water bottles out the window and changing their notes by drinking water and repeating. It was boring.

Nevada. It was pretty easy to see where the road was headed.

Looking back to what we just crossed.

The cool thing, though, was that we drove through two more "new" states: Nevada and Utah. We decided to spend the night at a hostel in Salt Lake City. We got there at eleven (our ten - we were losing time driving back across the country) so it was pretty quiet, but there were some really new-looking commuter rail platforms and the city itself looked to be pretty clean. The hostel itself was nice enough, and we got on the road early the next morning.

We dropped down south to Provo, got on six and headed into the mountains after passing through a wind farm. Many miles later, we picked up Route 70 and started counting down the miles to Grand Junction. Today was hot again and we figured out that with the a/c on and the windows cracked just a bit, we could draw the air through the vents and into the cabin. We basked in the feeble wisps of cold air. Too bad it took us three states to figure it out. We welcomed ourselves to Colorful Colorado by getting an ice cream. With higher blood sugars we continued our eastward trek through the Rocky Mountains. 

Right around Glenwood Springs Stella's look-alike caught up with us. We followed her for a while, but doing 70 in a 55 around all the twisty mountain roads was becoming a bit much for my nerves, so I moved into the slow lane and Stella's sibling left us in the dust. We left the interstate in Dillon so we could drive on 6 and Rachel could see Keystone (where I worked in the Spring of 2010). There wasn't much snow on the mountains, which surprised me, but at nearly 12,000' the air was still pretty chilly. And breezy. 

Trig and The Turtle are here, too.

Looking back to Arapaho Basin.

With only about an hour and a half until our destination, we headed to Ben and Kirsten's house. Note to anyone driving on 70: don't head west on a Friday evening. There is construction at Idaho springs and traffic was backed up almost all the way to Denver (about 25 miles). on Sunday it's the reverse. Thankfully, today was Friday and, although traffic was moving slower than 65, we were still moving.

Six thirty found us parked in the driveway at Ben and Kirsten's. Here, we happily ate delicious pizza, drank some beer, and talked. A lot. At one point on the trip I mentioned to Rachel that we knew we were old because the two cereals we had were Honey Bunches of Oats and something else with "bran" as the first ingredient. Tonight just carved it deeper in stone; we sat around the table and talked for hours. Eventually, with heavy eyelids, we settled onto the pullout and succumbed to sleep. It was lovely. 

Saturday we rolled out of bed and went into Boulder. Our first stop was brunch, where we all ate way too much delicious food. If there ever was a time when we should have spent hours talking (and digesting) it was then, but instead we promptly got up and walked around downtown. We spent a good chunk of the morning in a kitchen store, in addition to a few local arts-y ones. 

After a few hours downtown our tour guides took us out of town and we headed up toward the Flat Irons. We stretched our legs getting a fine view of the northern Rockies.  We ate a late dinner and went to bed with plans to wake up early(ish) and head to Rocky Mountain National Park. 

Our initial plan was to hike Estes Cone, a very popular trail leaving from a very popular trailhead (shared with Long's Peak, the northern-most Fourteener). Our plans changed when we saw that there was ZERO parking at the lot and also alongside a mile and a half stretch of road. Instead, we headed to the visitor center and hiked along the ridge from there. While driving (lame, I know) we reached our highest elevation of the trip: 12,200'. 

Yay! We're both really dark.

I wonder what was before the ellipsis, but it's still a cool quote. 

Aw.

Beautiful scenery. I love the Rockies.

I had ordered the parts to fix my car, but due to a vendor overlook they weren't going to arrive on time. However, with one quick email to the company they resolved the issue and would be overnight-ing a package to fix their mistake. We were planning to leave on Monday, but a Wednesday departure was now in the works. Provided the parts came on Tuesday. This left us with a day and a half to kill. Not wanting to overstay our welcome (and wanting to take advantage of where we were) Monday morning found us headed back into RMNP. This time, though, we were planning to do something completely new to me. We were going horseback riding. 

I'll be honest. I wanted to be a cowboy for a long time. What boy doesn't? There are horses, and spurs, and rope throwing, cattle chasing, sleeping under the stars, living off the land. Oh, and a six shooter strapped to your hip and in case that fails there's a lever action carbine close by. Yeah, it's pretty much what dreams are made of.

After hour two I realized it's not at all what dreams are made of. Rachel can tell you all about the horses (room for "other" editor's notes). I can tell you I rode a Fresian. I can tell you she was a big horse (and she farted a lot), not super agile but nice enough. I think Rachel said she was on a draft horse. He was really clumsy. There were just the two of us on the ride with our guide, a high school student from Tennessee. He didn't have us stop to re-apply sunscreen or drink water so when the ride ended at hour four I was happy to have a chance to re-hydrate and assess my sunburn. However, my legs didn't want to function for about five minutes. My cowboy dream slipped down a few rungs.

Although you can't tell, I am on a horse. Of course.

 We scored the last campsite at the closest campground. I think it was the best site of the trip. We were up on a little knoll and were fairly secluded. We had an excellent view, with clear sights of Twin Sisters and Long's Peak. The only disappointment (for one of us) was that it was a little bit of a walk to the bathrooms. We both loved the site, though. Tonight also happened to be a full moon. It was also a full moon when we were in the Badlands, four weeks earlier (it was actually a "Super" moon then).

Long's Peak at sunset, from our site.

Night shot of a mountain.

Tuesday we headed back to the house. We stopped in town to kill some time and filled up on some delicious brick oven pizza. Fresh mozzarella is sooooooooo good. Thankfully, the fan did arrive on time. Note to VW owners: if you go on a road trip, bring a 6mm socket. The smallest size I brought was 8mm, so I was left loosening and tightening the screws with a Leatherman. Not ideal. Thankfully the research I had done was correct and the fan and resistor were the culprit of my problems. We now had blowing air in the cabin!

We also stopped by the grocery store to get bacon, beef, and rolls. These were all grilled on charcoal and were turned into oh-so-tasty burgers. It was nice to be back in the kitchen.

Burgers with bacon, cheese, hot (habanero?) pickles, and yummy curly fries.

We left early on Wednesday and were able to share the excitement of driving through Nebraska. We made it to Iowa. The following morning we found a pretty cool bug on the car.

Bug on the car! Bug on the car!

We hoped to split the drive into two days, but it was too much. We got through Cleveland and decided to call it a night. Google found us a campground just on the shore of Lake Erie. The GPS navigated us to a run-down lot between to condo complexes. We had a good laugh, then cursed Google and drove somewhere else. 

The next morning we made it back to Carrie and Kevin's, having traveled 8,278 miles from here five weeks earlier.

Big Blue

After seeing everything at Olympic I really didn't know if the trip could get any better. I was so stoked to see the Pacific, and then on top of that there was the whale skeleton, shrimp, star fish, anemones, huge ancient trees, a rainforest, and, oh yeah, ancient rock carvings. It was awesome. Don't get me wrong - I was looking forward to the rest of the trip, but, wow, Olympic was really darn awesome. Regardless, we headed south and east (EAST! Imagine that!) down, down from Washington and into Oregon. Another new state for us! We planned to camp inside the park, but when we arrived the Ranger told us the campground was full (there are two in the park, but the Forest Service campground was closed for the season) and our best bet was to turn around and stay at Diamond Lake. Thankfully, this was only ten minutes away and we found a pretty nice site even though the majority of the sites were reserved.

Of course I didn't take a picture of our view, but I did take a picture of the necessary tire rotation. I also fixed a really annoying rattle at this time.

We got up fairly early the following morning and made a quick stop just down the road at the "Diamond Lake Overlook." Here we got good views of Mts. Bailey and Thielson and, of course, Diamond Lake.

Diamond Lake, with Mt. Bailey in the background.

Mt. Thielson.

The cool thing about Thielson is what you're looking at is actually the inside of an old volcano. It started off like a standard volcano, with the typical pyramid shape, growing up and out with each eruption. However, at some point the main caldera got plugged and magma built up inside the chamber, eventually cooling and forming rock. Many, many moons passed and the outside of the volcano eroded away. The harder, more durable igneous rock (from the old magma chamber) didn't erode as fast and that's what we see today. Pretty cool.

Pig and Trig ready for another park.

Our first stop inside the park was at the Pumice Desert, which was a very, very large field of pumice. It formed when Mt. Mazama erupted and sent a huge "glowing avalanche" (direct quote from the sign) of pumice and other volcanic rock into the valley below. This layer is 90' (30m) deep!

Pumice desert.

We stopped by the Pacific Crest Trail again, and then got our first view of Crater Lake. The lake formed when the volcano (Mt. Mazama) erupted about 7,700 years ago. The explosion sent ash as far east as Greenland (according to a sign in Mt. Ranier National Park), and the resulting structure couldn't support the remaining summit cone, causing it to collapse in on itself and form a massive bowl. Eventually precipitation filled in the caldera to a point of equilibrium. No streams enter or exit the lake, so the water is relatively pollutant free. This is why the water is so blue. Clarity readings have been measured at 142' (the record) and average between 80 and 115 feet. The maximum depth is 1,943' which makes it the deepest lake in the US and second deepest in North America. Also impressive is that in 1886 the lake was estimated to be 1,996' deep. Their tools: piano wire suspended from a crank. 

It was way more beautiful than could ever be captured with a camera.

We continued east on the loop road, gradually working our way to the Mt. Scott trailhead. Here are a few pictures from along the way:

Mt. Scott is the highest point in the park, at 8,938' and is the highest Rachel had hiked to thus far. The view from the top was incredible, and Mt. Shasta could be seen on the hike to the summit.

Taken using a tripod made from three trekking poles.

While at the summit we chatted with an older couple who were from Arizona. It was their third time to this park, but the first time they were able to hike the trail because all the other times it was still closed due to snow. Crater Lake receives an average of 55' of snow each year.

After we got down we continued our little drive and went off a spur road to visit the Pinnacles. These structures formed from steam vents (fumaroles). Essentially, steam escaped from below ground. The super hot gases compacted the surrounding soil, essentially turning it to soft rock. Then, the surrounding soil eroded away and left the pinnacles. The kiosk at the trailhead mentioned that the formations were usually hollow. Think inverted ice cream cone. Mmmm.... They reminded us of the Badlands (only different, because the Badlands did not form like this, strictly speaking).

Pinnacles.

We finished up the day by stopping at the visitor center and buying some gifts at the gift shop. On our way out a Ranger was doing a kids' program and was vigorously shaking a soda for a demonstration. Hoping he would open it, we waited for a few moments but were disappointed when he put it back. I think the kids understood about pressure building up inside a coned object...

Even though we only spent a day in the park, it was really, really beautiful. We headed south to Klamath Falls, and then turned east in a big way and drove across Nevada and Utah (staying in Salt Lake City our second night). On to Colorado and the Rockies!!!

Sunsets on the Pacific

We made it!

One of the most exciting points of our trip was getting our first peek of the Pacific Ocean and then getting to dip our feet in its icy waters.  We made it across the country.  Quite literally from the Atlantic to the Pacific although I can't say either one of us had touched the Atlantic's waters for quite some time.

I was really excited to see Olympic National Park.  I've never spent much time at the beach but it has always fascinated me and I find the crashing waves so soothing and just plain beautiful.  I think my ideal honeymoon would be to rent a quiet house on the beach and just get to sit on the porch and listen to the water all night.  Anyhow, we were trying to save time to visit my best friend and Michael's cousin in Colorado, so we decided to skip most of mainland Olympic.  I am sure it is stunning and I definitely want to return someday, but after Mount Rainier, we figured it probably couldn't compete.  We did, however, spend the first night in the Hoh rainforest campground, got a brief glimpse of Mount Olympus, and then explored the rainforest the next morning.  It was pretty impressive with an average rainfall of 142 inches each year!  The entire forest smelled damp and the trees and moss were spectacular.  It is definitely not something we could see anywhere else.  We even got to see some baby salmon.

After the rainforest, we drove to the northernmost tip of the Olympic coast where we camped on Ozette Lake.  We were both sitting in camp after dinner (Michael was writing a blog post) when a barred owl flew over our heads and landed in a tree at the back of our site.  We spent a long time watching it and photographing it as it sat quietly on a branch.  When it finally flew off, it was completely silent.

The following day, we headed out to what is known as the Ozette Loop.  It is a three mile walk through the rainforest, three miles on the shore, and three miles back through the rainforest.  The walking was pretty easy as they have built boardwalks on much of the trail.  The terrain on the beach, however, wasn't quite as forgiving as downed trees were abundant and every step in the sand seemed to take us back a half pace.  It was overcast, but still beautiful.  As we were walking, a huge flock of birds squawked as they flew away from us.  I figured they had been enjoying a pile of sea trash, but Michael glanced over and instead saw a whale skeleton.  From what we could tell, it was entire skeleton complete with puddles of blubber.  Each vertebra was six or eight inches wide.  It was a remarkable site, although pretty eerie.

One of the coolest things we saw was petroglyphs.  They are rock carvings which look as if they once adorned a headwall and have since fallen.  No one can accurately date them, but it is thought that they were drawn by the Makah Indians who once inhabited the region.

We also saw many bald eagles and heard the haunting cries of seals sunning on the rocks.  When we returned to camp, we packed up and headed to Mora which is a beach south of Ozette.  There, we played a few games of Rummikub, made dinner, and drove back to the beach to catch the sunset on the Pacific Ocean.

 

Elevation: 32'

Michael lost this game

Our final day in Olympic, we braved the chilly waters and walked along a breakwall to some tide pools.  It was fun to find creatures we rarely see and just to enjoy the beach (although it's not exactly swimming temperature!)

Little jellyfish

Shrimpy shrimp

Sea anenomes

Starfish

.
On to Oregon and Crater Lake!

Switchbacks and Summits

After absorbing the stunning beauty that is Glacier National Park, our plan was to head to the parks in Washington beginning with North Cascades.  It was hard to leave Glacier and I wasn't sure how to feel about the Cascades.  It isn't a park that comes up in conversation much and I was feeling like nothing could compete with Glacier.

To get to Washington, we had to drive through the skinny part of Idaho.  We could have done the drive in a day but were feeling the need for a recharge, so we picked a moderately large town on the map and started driving.  By mid-afternoon we were in Sandpoint, ID and were really pleased with our random guessing.  It was a great town, very progressive and tourist-friendly and was right on the water.  Michael and I soon discovered that a lot of the people visiting downtown had actually come by boat.  It's the sort of place where everyone wears their bathing suits every day of the summer.  We found a reasonable hotel, did lots of laundry, and enjoyed the unlimited showering before heading back to town for dinner.  Continuing the trend, we beelined for the local pizzeria called Bricks 'n' Barley which used all local and fresh ingredients.  The restaurant itself had a nice vibe and a relaxed, although crowded, porch.  In addition to pizza, they had cold salads, so we ordered a green bean, pine nut, and vinaigrette salad that was delicious.  The pizza was great, as well, although a little bit too much on the thin-crust end of the spectrum.  The only odd thing was that they used paper plates/towels, and plastic utensils as their dishwasher was a building over from the kitchen.  Of course, that didn't phase us too much as we had been "conserving" dishes the whole trip and just went into sharing mode.  Next stop: our bed.

We headed out the next morning to lots more of this:

Driving through Idaho and eastern Washington

It was broken up, however, by the Grand Coulee Dam which was the world's largest concrete structure when it was completed in 1941.  The plaque claims it still is the largest, but we weren't entirely convinced (Wikipedia notes it is one of the largest structures).  Either way (and despite the negative implications of such dams), it was still pretty cool to see the power of FDR's CCC.  There were definitely many moments on this trip where we wished the CCC still existed.

Grand Coulee Dam

Finally on to North Cascades.  The Cascades National Park is actually a complex of three parks overseen by the NPS: the Ross Lake National Recreation Area, North Cascades NP, and the Lake Chelan National Recreation Area - most of which is also included in the S. Mather Wilderness.  The unfortunate side of this is that we never actually set foot in the national park proper as it was a nine-mile hike to even enter the park.

Lake Anne

We started our visit by a quick hike to Lake Anne in the National Forest.  It was a pretty view of a nice glacial lake.

After the hike and lunch on a section of the PCT, we drove the main road through the park complex.  There were some nice views of the water in the glacial valleys, a dense turquoise, but much of the landscape was marred by huge dams and power lines.

We did the obligatory stop at the visitors' center where we oogled over pictures of the forest hundreds of years ago.  Yes, that's a house built into a stump.

The park ranger at the center told us that the hike we wanted to do was covered with dense snow, but she recommended another hike outside the park and a gorgeous county park where we could camp. We reluctantly heeded her advice and left the park although we hadn't spent much time there.  The place where we camped was a beautiful park next to the river and we saw a bald eagle swooping over the water while we cooked our bratwursts over the fire.  We also saw a beaver up close and personal, lazily swimming.

Stella's rear windshield

The next day we drove eight miles and nearly 4000' of elevation to the trailhead on Sauk Mountain in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.  Stella was just a bit dirty and worn out!

We trekked the remaining 1200'.  The trail was impressive with 26 switchbacks and some amazing views.  Unfortunately, I didn't summit as we hit a sketchy snowfield and I didn't trust my Chacos (or my balance).  Michael, however, did and was rewarded with 360 degree views of Mount Baker and the high Cascades.

After Sauk Mountain, we headed to Rainier to enjoy some more high altitude views.

Note: our posts are slightly out of order as I was slow finishing mine.