The Land of Ports

After crossing the Columbia River again, we're headed due South and are just a shot away from Portland.

Tonight's taget: Crater Lake National Park.

Big Cedar Tree

As far as sounds to fall asleep to and wake up to go, the lapping of the Pacific Ocean is not bad. Our spot at Kalaloch Campground was right on the Pacific coast and offered an excellent view of the ocean to complement that sound.

After breaking camp, we took a few quick hikes to see Big Cedar Tree and Quinault Rain Forest. As can be seen in the middle picture, the tree is in fact very, very big. Big Cedar Tree is an excellent example of nature reaching its fullest capacity in the absence of human interference.

The rain forests in Olympic National Park are the only rain forests in the contiguous United States and also the place that receives the most annual precipitation. However, due to the latitude of the park, these are temperate rain forests as opposed to tropical rain forests found in South America. Sadly, this also means that there are no monkeys habitating these rain forests.

South on the 101 towards more America...

It's the End of the World as We Know It

Sent 6/20/08 at 7:30PM

...and I feel fine. Some 3,160 miles after our departure in Columbus, OH we've made it to the Pacific Ocean and the West Coast. The hike from Ozette Lake to the coast and back took about 5 hours and was one of best experiences of our trip so far.

It starts off with a beautiful 3 mile hike on a boardwalk that cuts through the gigantic trees and thick brush. Then suddenly, you break the tree line and face the Pacific Ocean (out of nowhere). Towering rock formations breach the ocean surface as far as the eye can see. Remember "Goonies"?

Then, the 3 mile hike along the beach is an adventure in itself. We saw Sea Lions and hundreds of huge trees- stripped and washed ashore by the Pacific. Most notably, we came across ancient Native American Petroglyphs (about 300 to 500 years old) on rocks along the shore. It was pretty incredible seeing things so old in our own country.

So this ends our road to the West- we can't go any further. Next is the coast, and the South. We're exhausted right now after about 10 miles of rugged hiking, but we're going to drive as far as we can before setting up camp for the night. Tomorrow will be a big day for us to cover some good ground heading South.

We made it!

Olympic Mountains, Canada and a bear... Oh my!

Good morning from Olympic National Park!

Immediately after getting out of bed, we broke camp from Heart O' the Hills in near record time. We're really starting to have our packing down to a science. Following a breakfast seemingly out of Men's Health magazine, we headed uphill toward scenic Hurricane Ridge.

The serpentine trip to the summit provided us with our first wild bear sighting. As we rounded a corner, a small black bear was sitting on the slope just above the roadway. He paused for a few quick pictures and then continued on with doing whatever it is that bears do.

So named because of the high winds usually present there, Hurricane Ridge sits at an elevation of 5242 feet above sea level. The vista from the top includes the glacier-topped Olympic Mountains to the south and an inlet of the Pacific Ocean called the Straight of Juan de Fuca to the north with Vancouver Island, Canada visible just beyond that. The view is spectacular to say the least. We fortunate enough to have a fairly clear day and visibility is high in all directions.

After soaking in the scenery for a while we started on our way once again. Our travels now take us to the western-most portion of Olympic National Park and a place called Ozette. This will finally bring us to the West coast.

Not a bad way to start a day...

Olympic National Park

We're camped out in Heart o the Hills in Olympic National Park right bow. Tomorrow we're going to see Hurricane Ridge and do the hike around Ozette. We'll be at the most North-Western point of the contiguous 48 United States.

We'll probably be spending 2 full days in Olympic. Here are a couple of shots from our drive in at sunset.

Some More What?

Smores - the best part about setting up camp.

Keith's Sunset Lighting

Seattle's skyline in the light of the setting sun- little cloudy though. Our buddy Keith is a photography enthusiast and always talked about the perfect light of a rising and setting sun. Hope all is well in NY Keith.

Starbucks To Go

We got our grande/venti cafes from Starbucks and now we're waiting for our next form of transportation- by boat.

We're taking the ferry over to Bainbridge Island then heading up to Hurricane Ridge to setup camp.

Thank you to everyone for all of your comments. Even though we can't keep in touch with everyone from the road its great to hear from you all.

Here comes the boat.

Dinner at Pike's Place

Halibut sandwiches and fresh clam chowder from the Market Grill.

Off to the 1st Starbucks from here. This reminds me a lot of my first trip to Seattle. Some things never change.

Mount Rainier - Just Passing Through

So we just made it through Mt. Rainier National Park. We were going to do the Paradise Inn hike to see Mt. Rainier, but there is still 12 ft of snow on the trail, plus the summit view is blocked by clouds right now.

With the time we saved, we're going to try and make it Seattle before the Pike's Place Market closes at 5pm. If not, we might stay the night in Seattle and cross the Puget Sound tomorrow.

Ah... it's so nice to have such great options; Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, D, E... they all sound great.

Have Air Freshener, Will Travel

The forbodding desert landscape of Southeastern Washington sits in the rearview mirror as we head forward to Mt. Rainier. A brand new 'Mountain Pine' air freshener hangs from that same rearview, its aroma permeating the car giving our noses a promising hint of the alpine environment that awaits us. The distant Mt. Adams moves in and out of our field of view as our route meanders across the countryside of the Apple State. Ranier - the highest peak in this state - undoudtedly will come into view as well.

Yesterday, All My Troubles Seemed So Far Away

It is bittersweet as we head out of Richland and on to Mt. Rainier. Yesterday was probably the most luxurious day of our entire trip. Al, the host with the most, treated us to the best meal of our trip at Anthony's and our accommodations rivaled that of a 5 star hotel.

I realize that after 6 nights in a tent anything would seem cozy, but the King-sized memory foam bed I slept on the past 2 nights redefined comfort.

Goodbye house, goodbye bed, goodbye shower, and goodbye Al. Thanks for everything! Al was one of the principle architects of this entire trip, and staying at his place was great for our adventure.

Thanks again!

On Top of Badger Mountain

When Al was finished with work, he took us to one of his favorite hiking spots. Badger Mountain - which stands tall just to the south of Richland, Washington - served as an excellent vantage point to take in the vista. Rattlesnake Mountain can be seen in the distant center of the first photo while Sean, Al and Fiona can be seen in the front center of the other photo. Although it may not be evident from the pictures, Richland and the other two cities that make up the 'Tri-Cities' straddle the Columbia River and stick out like a sore, green thumb (ha) in an otherwise barren desert landscape.

After descending the mountain, we had a more-than-sufficiently-filling seafood dinner at a restaurant on the banks of the Columbia River. The same river that Lewis and Clark & Co. traveled down on their way to the West Coast.

The Crew of Clearly Lasik

The finest choice in sight.

Lunch Break on the Columbia

Al took us out to a taco wagon for some quality Mexican food on his lunch break. Then we went out to Clover Island in the Columbia River to check out the bridges and the mountain range.

We could see the top of Badger Mountain from there- we're hiking up to the top later. Its nice to be back in civilization and to have a guide.

Goodnight from Richland, WA

Made it 620 miles to Al's house. Good night.

Thank You Canyon Street Auto!

What luck! Apparently our friends at the shop in West Yellowstone have never repaired a vehicle with a liquid cooled engine before. This means that we had the pleasure of being 145 miles into the mountians of Montana when the engine overheated. Parts of the engine's coolant system obviously had to be dissconnected in order to replace the alternator. However, said parts of the coolant system were reconnected in such a way that it was no longer functional. Thus, a picture of the car on the side of the road. The gentlemen standing by the car is Al, a friendly state worker who helped to diagnose and solve our latest vehicular problem.
After carefully allowing the engine to cool, we poured a gallon of water into the radiator and are back on our way.

North of West Yellowstone; East of the West Coast; West of South Dakota; South of the Border; Headed North-by-Northwest

40 Mile tow from Old Faithful to West Yellowstone, MT = $309

3 Nights in cozy Baker's Hole Campground = $60

1 Brand new alternator, installed = $517

Being on the road again... Again = Priceless

The car was repaired and ready to leave West Yellowstone, MT at about noon today. Luckily, that's only about 72 hours later than we were personally ready to leave West Yellowstone, MT.

Regardless, we are excited to get back behind the wheel and plan on driving all day to make up some of the lost time. We are headed for the home of Sean's cousin in Richland, WA and hope to make it before dark. From there, we will visit Olympic National Park via Seattle. For now though, our sights are on the long drive ahead.

Jake

Golden Slumbers

It's so nice sitting around the fire at the end of the night. We've done all we needed to do, bear bag is stowed, and nothing is on our plate.

We met a nice couple tonight (who was drawn near by our large fire), and the husband offered to drive us into town tomorrow at 9am on their way in to Yellowstone. This will save us a 45min walk and give us a chance to get in a good breakfast. Hopefully we'll be on the road again not long after 10:30 or so.

Again we are grateful for the kindness of strangers.

Tails it is.

So the 50/50 shot came up a 'no go' for us. Our ETD is now 10am tomorrow. We did catch a Grizzly show at West Yellowstone after returing our bikes though.

Tonight will be our last night in Montana if all goes well.

"Want to make God laugh? Tell him YOUR plan."

Week 1: 8 States, 2,100 miles (2 Cars)

Sent Sunday, 6/15/08 at 7:10pm:

So we've seen Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and now we're in Montana.

We spent 1 night in a hotel in Kansas. We spent 2 nights at Skylor's in Co. Springs, and we've spent 4 nights in tents between Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Baker's Hole. Tonight will be our 5th night in a row in the tent and hopefully our last for a couple of days.

We're a half day from Missoula, MT which is another day away from Seattle and the coast. We'll be staying with friends and family as we head towards Olympic National Park.

Right now, the car situation is out of our control. There is a 50/50 shot of us leaving on Monday or Tuesday. We are rejuvenated and ready to put some more miles behind us after a few days off. It's funny, this is a road trip and neither of us have driven since Friday afternoon.

Today was a great day- we biked about 12 miles, hiked about 4, saw 2 IMAX films, went through the Yellowstone Museum, and now we're just relaxing in camp. It's true what they say, camping is in tents.

The Road Into Town

We Have Bikes

The Lewis & Clark IMAX movie was ever-inspiring and led us to rent bikes for the day. We came back to camp to loosen our load before heading back to West Yellowstone to hit some trails.

The freedom of the road is unlike anything. Our car is in the service garage for atleast another day, everything we have access to fits in our tent, yet we feel capable of seeing and doing so much.

The plan is to make it to Al's house and Yakima, WA by Thursday night and to press on from there.

Father's Day and the Day of Rest

Today is acting as a much needed day of rest. We've had a lot of comotion and action in the last week and today we have a chance to regroup, rest and relax.

We opted for the 2-movie discount at the Yellowstone IMAX theater and saw 'Yellowstone' this morning. Right now we're overstaying our welcome in The Timberline Cafe, abusing their elecrical outlets and bottomless cups of coffee.

From here, we're going to see the IMAX for 'Lewis & Clark' at 1pm. We were supposed to see 'Bears' but the trailer for L&C looked too good to pass up.

Today was also the first day that we didn't have to break camp, so we'll have our tent setup and waiting for us when we do the 3-mile hike back to camp later today. We'll probably grab a hot shower and some food for tonight before we head back.

Oh yeah, about the car (since this is a road trip)- we have our fingers crossed that they'll get the part in tomorrow morning. If not we'll be here until Tuesday afternoon. Either way, we're having a great time taking in West Yellowstone and our day of rest.

Happy Father's Day! We wish we could be with you right now and we send our love from the road.

After Old Faithful, Keith took us to a geyser basin to see Prismatic Spring. This colorful hot spring pool was pretty amazing and being bathed by the steam that it was giving off gave the place a very different feel. The myriad colors in the pool is created by the thermophilic bacteria that thrive there. Keith then carried us to West Yellowstone, MT so that we could eventually retrieve the car. After helping us find a place to stay we said our goodbyes and he continued on his trip. Thank you Keith Beckmann and tell your sister congratulations on our behalf.
Baker's Hole Campground is our new home while the car is being equipped with 21st century technology. Once the car is operational, we will use it to leave this Hole ::guffaw:: . This campground is like the last two that we stayed in, except that this campground is inhabited by those folks that love there backyard so much they bring it on vacation with them to see what it'd be like to have your backyard in a really sweet forrests. No disrespect is meant toward these folks, but driving an RV with your Hummer in tow just seems like an odd way to experience these parks. The families camped around us are all seemingly holding a cook out to celebrate 'Campground Quite Hours = Tyranny Day' which consists of a large game of hide-and-seek until midnight and followed by other festivities.
It is really a great place to enjoy the nature and the different people all around us.

Tonight, Baker's Hole!

Tomorrow, we take on West Yellowstone!!

The day after that, probably West Yellowstone!!!

Goodnight and Good Luck, Jake