Day 19 - 9/23 - Into Olympic National Park - part one

If we could have ordered good weather, we would have done it for today. Yesterday, when returning to Port Angeles from Victoria, it was too smoky to see Mount Olympus in the middle of Olympic National Park. (A wildfire broke out several days earlier in the park. Since there is no danger to infrastructure the decision has been to let it be put out by the weather.) Today? Damp, rainy weather decided to move in bringing with it a low ceiling and limited visibility. It was not a sunny day. However, it was ideal for helping to extinguish a fire.

It was cloudy and damp feeling when this photo was taken.

It was yet to rain. That came later.

Olympic National Park is similar to Mount Rainier NP in that you can drive around it and into it; you just can’t drive through it. Like Theodore Roosevelt NP, there are no connecting roads to link one major visitor area to another. Like Mt. Rainier, one must drive to different entrances and explore inwardly from the perimeter. By the way, it must be about 160 miles around the edge. US 101 splits at the lower south-eastern part of the park, near Olympia, and wraps around the park, coming back together near Port Angeles.

We started our visit at the Olympic NP at the Visitor Center in Port Angeles. It is located at the north-central part of the park. We entered the center in search of what a ranger would recommend for our two days at Olympic. In the midst of the discussion, we learned the park ranger was also from Louisville, our home base. In fact, he was from Jeffersontown (what we call J-town).

The verbiage of this display provides a good overview of the

varied treasures to be found here. Glacier-capped mountains (when visible),

alpine meadows, spectacular coastline, ancient forests, fish and

wildlife, sparkling clear streams and lakes, native and pioneer history,

exceptionally clean air, biological diversity, and wilderness solitude.

There’s only one national park that offers more — Yellowstone.

Our first stop was Hurricane Ridge which is a drive up to an elevation of 5700 feet. On a clear day, we know that the view would be beautiful. Today, however, Mr. Rain decided we did not need to see the mountains or the valleys more than 1/2 mile in any direction! We drove on the curvy road anyway just to get the experience. From Hurricane Ridge, we headed down and west to Lake Crescent Lodge.

This explains what we should have seen…

…when we actually could only see this.

We encountered steep slopes and three, short tunnels in

our drive to an elevation one-mile high. Some slopes

are too sleep for trees to take root. Others aren’t so steep

yet at an angle that would make hiking difficult.

On the way down we saw a wrecker and two NP cars making an attempt to drag something back up to the roadway. We didn’t see what it was because the bank was too steep to see. Obviously, if it was a car, the driver found that taking the shortcut from one curve to another was not wise.

Lake Crescent is a beautiful lake where the Olympic mountains run right down into the lake. All around the lake, there are steep slopes. At its deepest point, Lake Crescent is 620 feet deep. At the lake, we set off on a 1.6-mile hike to Marymere Falls. It was still raining, but when you’re only in the area for a few days, you embrace the rain and keep going. Quite a few others felt the same way because the trail was busier than we expected.

At Crescent Lake on a day that was damp, cold, and cloudy.

Moss-covered large trees in an ancient forest area where

the 350-foot high trees provide little sunlight to reach the ground.

Many of the trees on the hike to Marymere Falls are huge at

the base and reach up hundreds of feet toward the sky.

The ideal environment for huge ferns exists.

Our final stop of the day was a drive to the Sol-Duc Hot Springs area of the park. Along the way, we stopped at the Salmon Cascades area of the river. Sadly, no salmon were making the trek upstream.

The hot springs at Sol-Duc are open to those willing to give them

a try. Just be sure to have a towel and robe when returning

to change back into street clothing.

In spite of the weather, Olympic National Park is an amazing place. Though similar to Rainier, it is also quite different in several ways. They both are fascinating parks for which we should all be thankful.

Day 18 - 9/22 - To Victoria and Back

This was the day we knocked off one of the items on Martha’s bucket list; a visit to Butcharest Gardens on near Victoria, British Columbia. Our trip was made easy by taking the M.V. Coho, a year-round passenger and vehicle ferry that goes between Port Angeles on the scenic Olympic Peninsula to Victoria on Vancouver Island.

Byron grabbed this photo of the Coho in front of The Empress

hotel on the Inner Harbor of Victoria. The ferry loads vehicles

from the aft in Port Angeles and from the side in Victoria.

We had our tickets and passports in hand when we arrived at the ferry terminal for the 90-minute cruise. We elected to not take our car but to be pedestrian passengers and utilize a shuttle to get to Butchart. Though the day started off with a bit of smoke from a wildfire, the sun was out, the temperature ideal, and no rain was in sight. On the trip

The Inner Harbor at Victoria is larger than expected. As we

were entering, smaller boats were coming and going

as were sea planes operated by Harbor Air.

Harbor Air’s terminal was not far from where we docked.

For us, it was odd to see a de Havilland Twin Otter on pontoons

taxi to the pier beside the ferry.

Before boarding the shuttle bus, we walked around the harbor

area especially since our attention was drawn by this

legislative assembly building and the totem pole (to the right).

Even waiting on the bus one can view the flower garden in

front of The Empress Hotel.

Though we didn’t plan it, the shuttle turned out to be double-deck bus operated by Gray Line. Yes, we were on a tour bus with wonderful narration provided by the driver. So, yes, we got to see highlights of Victoria and learn even more about the beautiful area.

This is Victoria's first Public Chinese School. It still

serves Victoria by offering classes to those

wanting to learn Chinese.

Here we are at the Entrance to The Butchart Gardens.

What was ahead was a visual treat!

Even the grassy areas are manicured nicely.

The Sunken Garden was the first area developed with flower

and trees. This area was the former limestone quarry.

How would you like this fountain for a water feature on your property?

All that is required is money and space; simple.

The Japanese Garden features a star-shaped pond with 

closely trimmed shrubbery serving as a border.

These were only a few of the photos taken. But, as you can see,

every thing was lovely, for sure. The mums? They were

yet to explode into their full color.

Butchart Gardens is a landscape garden created by Jennie and Robert Butchart after mining the limestone in the area to produce cement. This was done in the first quarter of the 1900s. The Sunken Garden was created in the former limestone quarry by Jennie and Robert. There is also a rose garden with 2500 rose bushes and over 250 species, all of which were still in bloom. Over the years, under the direction of a grandson and now great-granddaughter, a carousel, dragon fountain, sturgeon fountain, Japanese garden and Italian garden have been added. The garden covers about 55 acres of the original property of 200 acres.

The Gardens receive over a million visitors each year. It is a National Historic Site in Canada. Jennie Butchart, whose dream The Gardens have become, died in 1950. Her husband, Robert, died seven years earlier in 1943. The site is still operated and under the control of the founding family. 

It was truly amazing and beautiful to visit!

Day 17 - 9/21 - From Gig Harbor to Port Angeles

Time to move from our location, again. This travel day took us from Gig Harbor, near the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area, to Port Angeles in a relatively remote part of Washington adjacent to Olympic National Park. If you don’t know where that is, it is in the northwestern corner and still near Puget Sound. It is closer to the Pacific Ocean than Gig Harbor. Our reason for getting here was twofold. The first was to make it to Victoria on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. The second was to spend some time exploring Olympic National Park.

Since it was a travel day, what we encountered was much like other travel days in the Pacific Northwest: Up and down changes in elevation of a couple hundred feet, lots of pine and spruce trees, and mountains. Byron estimated that over the 100-mile drive we had to go up and down more than two dozen times. Can you say “roller coaster?” There were also frequent turns like that of a coaster.

Our reservation was for Elwha Dam RV Resort, eight miles west of Port Angeles and a short distance from US 101. We arrived in the early part of the afternoon with enough time to go to the local Safeway for groceries and sticker shock. Even in Port Angeles, the cost of living is much higher than what we’ve been accustomed in Central Florida or Southern Indiana.

After returning from Safeway, we walked around the campground to learn more about Elwha Dam and the immediate area. The dam was on the river to facilitate a hydroelectric generating station. There was no salmon ladder built for the dam and the salmon stopped returning to the river. After two decades of study and deliberations, the decision was made to remove the dam and another since other sources of electricity were available. The 2011 decision was part of a National Park Service plan to restore the altered ecosystem of the area. About a year later, salmon started returning to the river and fishing soon followed. The ecology of the area was returning to what it had been a century earlier. Today, the Elwha River once again flows freely from its headwaters in the Olympic Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca before going on to the Pacific Ocean.

The ridge above Elwha Dam RV Resort reveals a fact about which

we had been curious. It was as though hardy trees had survived

a forest fire. The truth revealed to us was that the slopes are so

steep that only a few trees can grow along the peak of the ridge.

This area of Washington (the north side of the Olympic peninsula)

does’t receive much rain. However, it is low enough in elevation

that the air is damp. On our walk between the RV resort and

the former dam site we came upon this lowland where moss

is growing on fallen trees and there is an abundance of sword ferns.

The 200-foot tall evergreens shade the ground below it providing

a dark and damp environment for such growth.

Day 16 - 9/20 - Mt. Rainier and the National Park

The weather forecast for today was less than promising. Since we’re not able to order the weather we want when we want it, we just have to go with the flow. Such was the situation for today’s visit to Mount Rainier. While we have always been aware of Mt. Rainier, we weren’t totally prepared for what we were to experience whether cool or warm, wet or dry, sunny or cloudy. Ascending to 14,410 feet above sea level, Mount Rainier stands tall in the Washington landscape. An active volcano, it is the most glaciated peak in the contiguous U.S.A. and is the beginning point for five rivers of significance. 

Gig Harbor, where we have spent the night while in the Seattle-Tacoma area, is several miles north and west of the National Park. We started out a little later than normal because it was rainy and cloudy. Getting to our intended destination took nearly two hours. We wanted to get to Paradise, the area on the south-central edge of the Park. To get there we entered through Nisqually which is on the southwest corner. (MoRa, as the stickers denote, has four entry points.) It seemed to get worse as the day went on.

Entrances into Mount Rainier National Park are near the

corners of the park boundary. We entered from the

southwest at Nisqually.

Martha had done a little preparation for our visit and knew that our first stop would be Longmire and a visit to the small museum there. By small, we’re talking a cabin that was 16' x 24' or so. It was the first ranger office at the Park. Longmire serves as a small and permanent community for employees and also has other amenities for park visitors (tourists).

Need fuel? Stop in at the Longmire service station. It is well-preserved

though no longer operational.

The original headquarters building at Longmire has served

as a small museum for Mount Rainier.

From Longmire, we traveled toward Paradise and the Henry Jackson Visitor Center. We had packed a picnic lunch, but at the 5,400-foot elevation and cold, misting rain, we opted to picnic in the car! As we looped around to exit the picnic area, Martha spotted three deer grazing next to the roadway. So as not to scare them away, she inched the car closer to them so Byron could get a picture. 

A doe and two fawns were standing near the roadway. The spots

on the bodies of the fawns were nearly faded. Two types

of deer inhabit the Park; black-tailed and mule deer.

We arrived at the Visitor Center in Paradise. Though we had seen few cars on the road, we saw a nearly full parking lot. It was obvious that “this was the place” at which to be even on a cold, rainy day at 45° F. We always like to see the introductory videos so we watched the short, 20-minute film of the Park. It was quite informative and pointed out that Mt. Rainier, though the fifth National Park, was the first park that had been created with a careful plan in mind for use and maintenance. For instance, the structures that were developed became the standard for implementation in many of the other parks of the NPS. For sure, Paradise has its name for good reason because it offers the best of all there is to experience at Mount Rainier.

On this trip, we’re getting photos of every national park sign

and every presidential library we visit.

Byron was impressed at the multitude of perennial ferns that

grow wild and healthy in the Pacific Northwest.

Along one section of road, we captured some of the color

yet to be seen in Rainier even though it was September.

The relief map on display in the Jackson Visitor Center provides

and excellent overview of the terrain as well as the large

glaciers at Mt. Rainier.

Yep, a lot of snow falls at Paradise during the winter months. The short

growing season produces a rare amount of beauty that is easily reached.

As we were walking away from the Henry Jackson Memorial Visitor Center, we remarked to each other that we now have a good reason to return. The many glaciers, rivers, trails, variety of scenery, and weather developed here are truly amazing. Just think, we were only about one-third of the elevation of Rainier which is above 14,000 feet. More to see? Yes, indeed! Subalpine wildflower meadows ring the icy volcano while ancient forests surround Mount Rainier’s lower slopes. Wildlife abounds in the park’s ecosystems. A lifetime of discovery awaits and we were here only a few hours. The bucket list has not been shortened.

On the return to the RV resort in Gig Harbor, we stopped in Elbe for some huckleberry ice cream. Huckleberry flavoring is popular in the northern half of the Rocky Mountains.

This Shay-type locomotive sits on display next to Elbe’s train station

for Mount Rainier Railroad. Shays were frequently used in

mountainous logging areas. Designed for power and maneuverability,

they were not used in typical freight or passenger service.

Day 15 - 9/19 - Crossing the Sound to Seattle

Today was a touring day instead of a traveling day. On our list was a small bus tour of Seattle and a trip to the History of Flight Museum which is located near the main Boeing facility.

We were out early for a 30-minute drive to Bremerton, Washington. Once there, we board the car-passenger ferry an hour cruise to Seattle. The Sun Outdoors Gig Harbor personnel recommended we get in and out of Seattle this way in order to avoid the traffic and congestion of I-5. Of course, crossing Puget Sound and Elliott Bay this way is the most direct route.

While the ferry was nearly at capacity for vehicles, the large

passenger lounge and galley had gobs of room. Byron estimated

that it could accommodate 1100 people plus vehicles on two decks.

It was still overcast when we approached Seattle from the west.

For sure, it was obvious where the Space Needle was located

and that it was no longer the tallest building. Much has been

built since the Seattle World's Fair of 1962. 

After reaching Seattle, our first stop was the obligatory tourist destination of the Seattle Space Needle. Since I am not a fan of high places, a trip to the top was a quick “up you go, walk around the top, and down you go!” The elevator travels at a vertical speed of 10 mph so the trip up and down didn’t take long.

Wish you were here! This is our self-portrait from the top of the Needle.

When the Needle was built, there was little around the immediate

are so a monorail was built to transport visitors from the more

historic are of Seattle to the World’s Fair. There were no

stops along the way then and remains so today.

With souvenirs in hand, we headed to the meeting point for our tour of Seattle with a group of about 12 other folks. We feel that taking a guided tour is the best way to see new cities and gather information. Some of our stops are listed below.

• Pioneer Square, established in 1852 when Seattle was in it’s infancy.
• Waterfall Garden, which sits on the site of the of the hotel where two young men started a message and package delivery service in 1907; later it became United Parcel Service (UPS).
• The Fremont Troll, a sculpture built in hopes of keeping drug dealers from transacting business under the bridge, which worked. So many people were coming to photograph the troll at all hours of the day and night. The drug dealers moved on to other locations to avoid being photographed.
• The final stop was to view Seattle from Kerry Park.

Pioneer Square, the first commercial area of Seattle.

The marker at Waterfall Garden Park, which denotes the place

where the messenger service was begun.

The Seattle Troll under the bridge where drug dealers once met.

Our stop at Kerry Park provided the opportunity to get a glimpse

of Seattle from the residential area. In theory, this was the

view Frazier (the TV sitcom) had when looking out his apartment.

(Note that the sky was much clearer in the middle of the afternoon).

Upon completion of the tour, we drove to the History of Flight Museum which is located on the site where The Boeing Company. It should be noted that a great variety of planes are on display from equally broad number of manufacturers. Although Martha does not like to fly, she finds aviation museums to be quite interesting. Byron, on the other hand, has always enjoyed flight. Of particular interest to him was the B-52 Stratofortress displayed near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This memorial exists to honor the memory of those who served in the air war.

A Locheed Super Constellation. You know it is “Super” because

five windows forward of the wing. The regular size only

had three. Eisenhower flew in a Constellation when he was the President.

This unit is displayed at the entrance to History of Flight Museum.

To this untrained eye, this Fokker looks almost like the Ford Trimotor.

Both were developed in the mid-1920s.

There are military, commercial, and private planes on display

both inside and outside the museum. The yellow plane

hanging from the ceiling is a Stinson Detroiter that

was produced in the early 1930s. 

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress has been in use by the US Air Force

since 1952. As an airframe, it has been in active duty longer than

any other since and are still being used today. The Vietnam memorial

is located behind Byron. Flags of the service branches are to the right.

We were quite hungry by the time we completed our visit to the museum. We headed back to the downtown area in search of food and parking. We were not prepared for sticker shock for parking or fish and chips. After we ate we had time to stroll through The Market which we had seen earlier in the day on our bus tour.

Seattle is home to several coffee companies, not the least of which

is Starbuck’s. The is the first location where they began. Look

at the line of people. The original logo is used at this location

and printed on all the cups. The logo was updated several years ago.

Seattle is an interesting city. It is has more steep hills than San Francisco. The median age of inhabitants is somewhere around 32; due to the many employees of all the tech companies here. We were even shown the first building where Google started. As our driver said: “You can Google it.”

Day 14 - 9/18 - Wilbur to Gig Harbor (Seattle)

Yep. It was another travel day. We drove from east-central Washington (near Grand Coulee Dam in Wilbur) through Moses Lake to Gig Harbor. Gig Harbor is on the western side of Puget Sound across from Seattle and Tacoma. The distance traveled was about 280 miles. We went toward Moses Lake because we needed to refuel with diesel and truck stops aren’t generously located in the middle of the state.

As stated, we were in search of a good for diesel fuel stop and our mapping app gave us a choice of three routes. Byron voted for the route with the least amount of turns. We started without having an idea of the views that would lie before us.

We drove across the earthen dam on the south end of Banks Lake, which is a reservoir for the Grand Coulee Dam. As we traveled southward to Moses Lake (the town) we drove along side other lakes that stretch lengthwise down to where we picked up I-90; Park Lake, Blue Lake, Lenore Lake, and Soap Lake. All the time on this part of the trip we were gently descending in elevation.

Before getting the south end of Banks Lake we drove through some “scab lands” as we had the day before. The word scab is used to describe the rocky nature. That land, touch somewhat ugly, is almost pretty.

The scab lands (not quite “bad”) of Washington is not used

for growing crops since it isn't tillable. It isn't exactly arid, either.

The largest (longest) lake we encountered was Lenore Lake. It is known for its very alkaline waters. Only Lahontan Cutthroat Trout can survive in the waters. The last lake before we reached I-90 was Moses Lake, named after an old Indian Chief who was head of the Sinkiuse Tribe.

Through the windshield — Lenoire Lake, and other lakes in this area,

run parallel to the highway (or the other way around) for miles.

The lakes were created as reservoirs to serve the Columbia Basin.

Moses Lake was home to an Army Air Base that was built to train World War II pilots to fly the P-38 Lightning and B-17 Flying Fortress. The two planes that were very important to the war effort. After the war, the base was closed. It now serves as a regional airport. Byron commented that it must be a place where several airlines store planes that aren’t still in active use. We could see the tails of many brands of what appeared to be Boeing 737’s and, perhaps, MD-80/DC-9 airplanes.

This was our view when we were about ten miles

north of Moses Lake, Washington. The narrow space

reminded us of a miniaturized Jackson Hole in that

the valley is well defined by the much higher hillsides.

Our traveling companion today was the wind for about a third of our trip. As soon as we left the Love’s station at Moses Lake we battled steady winds of up to 30 miles per hour. Since Martha was driving on this stretch, she noted that it was a lot of fun!

Driving up to Snoqualmie Pass. The percentage incline both up

and down is rather mild in comparison to other passes

through which we’ve come and have yet to complete.

Still, the beauty of the forest and mountains is evident.

While traveling on I-90 we ascended to and crossed Snoqualmie Pass at about 3700 feet before descending to an elevation of 36 feet on our arrival at Gig Harbor. We will be at Sun Outdoors Gig Harbor for three nights in order to explore Seattle on Tuesday and Mount Rainier National Park on Wednesday.

This is our RV site at Sun Outdoors Gig Harbor. Quite nice.

Lots of shade. Who needs a clear view for satellite reception?

We don’t. We stream what isn’t available on antenna TV.

Day 13 - 9/17 - Spokane to Grand Coulee

This was a combination day; traveling from the campground east of Spokane to the small town of Wilbur, Washington. Wilber is near Grand Coulee Dam. The town is so small that it doesn’t have a Walmart. However, it is getting a Dollar General.

Our overnight point was Goose Creek Campground. Our main reason for this stop was to visit Grand Coulee Dam. We arrived in at the Visitor Center in time for the 3:30 tour of the dam. After a rigorous security screening, our tour group was driven by van to one of the power houses where we descended below water level by elevator for a view of the turbine-driven generators. (Our guide had worked in Kentucky at Mammoth Cave; small world.)

Grand Coulee Dam is 500 feet wide at its base, stands 550 feet tall, and weighs 24 million tons. It’s weight alone holds it in place. There are now three power stations at the dam. The first two were installed when the dam was built in the 1930s. The third was created in the 1960s. Though containing the same number of generators, they are more powerful that the original ones. The newer power house generates 60% of the electrical energy produced at Grand Coulee. This power plan can house four football fields. We were told that Grand Coulee has yet to function at maximum capacity.

After a tour of the power house, we were taken by van out onto the top of the dam which stretches a mile across Theodore Roosevelt Lake. Until 9/11/2001, traffic could drive across the dam but it is no longer permitted except by authorized personnel and escorted tours.

Grand Coulee Dam is the largest hydropower producer in the United States and irrigates more than 671,000 acres within the Columbia Basin. In total, the six penstocks deliver 259,000 gallons of water per second traveling through the generators to power approximately 4.2 million homes in the Pacific Northwest. There is a reason this dam is the Eighth Wonder of the world!

This was our view upon arrival at Grand Coulee Dam after descending

several hundred feet on the road down to the Visitor Center. The others

side of the Columbia River is about one mile from where

this photo was taken. There’s park area on below.

When built, Grand Coulee was a significant achievement. It remains

as such today. It is the largest dam in North America

by weight; three times that of Hoover Dam.

The power house gallery is more than a city block long and 

contains six pumps and six pump-generators.

The pumps lift water into Banks Lake and ultimately into the

Columbia River Basis to irrigate farm land. The power

of the pumps pushes irrigation water up 280 feet to

Franklin D. Roosevelt Reservoir.

The pump-generators operate in one of two modes. During the

irrigation season they pump water. During periods of electrical

need they become turbine-generation units.

The generators were made by General Electric.

The turbines are rated at 65,000 horsepower.

And here we are at the top of the dam. The dam is

about the same height as the Washington Monument,

just no stairs to climb. Did we say it was windy?

We returned for the laser light show that was projected on the spillway
of the dam. The show was 30 minutes in length complete with

voice and musical accompaniment.

Byron takes photos of interpretive signs. It’s the fastest way he knows of

taking notes that can job the mind later on. This is a bit hard to read

from Blogspot so the guide to the photo is provided. From left to right from

below the dam: Third Power Plant, Gantry Crane (used for lifting heavy

equipment or the screens that catch trash), 40 ft. Diameter Penstock 

trough which water flows to the turbines), Incline Elevator, 525 KV Lines,

Right Power House, Outlet Tubes, Spillway, Left Power House (the

one that is open for public viewing by tour groups).

One last photo placed here for a reason. The drive from Spokane

to Wilbur (Grand Coulee) goes across high and dry plains

where there are large fields of wheat that had been

harvested. We didn’t know wheat could be grown in

such dry conditions.

By the way, this photo was taken between mountain ranges in the Rockies; such a wide expanse of gently rolling hills with changes in elevation of a few hundred feet. Still, far from the nearest grocery. In addition to the high plains, there are some areas that are called scablands because they are made of rocky and mineral-enriched soil (not tillable) that is mixed with large shards of lava. Lava does break down easily into small rocks like large clumps of coal.