Fay Bainbridge S24O

When I started bike riding, the trip down the coast, Seattle to San Francisco, became one of my goals.  As most of you know, some stuff happened and that one got put on the shelf. I'm okay with it.

My buddy Steve is getting ready to do it with his daughter Sophie and a friend of hers.  The first thing to figure out is how to carry all the gear.

Rivendell Bikes, in Walnut Creek, CA, makes beautiful bikes and has a website where they discuss lots of cycling topics.  One of the intriguing ones is the Sub 24 Hour Overnight camping trip (S24O).  It's the idea that you can easily leave in the afternoon and get back the next day with minimal gear.

Rivendell S24O

Steve and I thought this was a great way to test his setup.

We met at Myrtle Edwards Friday afternoon and caught the ferry to Bainbridge.  We followed the Chilly Hilly route for a bit.  Without all the people, you get a chance to see the view. That's Magnolia

We set up camp and had a snack.

You can almost see my house from this angle.  It's just behind the trees.

We saw a big ship that didn't look like a cargo ship, but, didn't look like a cruise ship.  The initial guess was a ferry boat.  Thanks to Google, its a  car transport boat.

This is the entire beach view from Fay Bainbridge State Park.

And the evening ends with the sunset reflected on Mt. Rainier.

We got up the next day, rode to Bainbridge and had breakfast.  By the time we got to Seattle, it was super hot.  We both learned a lot about how to pack for things like this.  Next time, I'll take less.

Day Eight - I Thought I Was Going To Do Nothing

This is the view from my hotel room. They are calling it a partial view.

I originally thought I was going to take a walk, then spend the day reading. I walked down to the old waterfront district of Newport. As I walked down, I remembered how much I love this place.  Looking at it objectively, there is nothing particularly unique about the town. The charm lies in the memories of all the people I have come here with. 

This is the lighthouse at Yaquina Bay.

Around the corner, the view of the bridge with the bay behind it.

This is the breakwater leading out to the ocean.  It's hard to see, but I thought to include it anyway.

Day Seven - Follow the Brown Signs

I packed up and got ready to head towards Newport. I left the campground, and came across a brown Oregon State point of interest sign.  I had time, so I stopped.  That started to shape the day. I started driving the speed limit, to an mph or two under the limit. At that speed, it became a lot easier to make the turnouts. Plus, there were enough turnouts and RVs, that I wasn't holding anyone up.

This is the beach where I had just stayed.

This was a beach where they were launching boats.

Looking north near Otter Rock.

Near Devil's Punch Bowl.

Devil's Punch Bowl

South of Devil's Punch Bowl.

I stopped at Yaquina Head Lighthouse. This is a little cove below the lighthouse.

The view inland from the hill above the lighthouse.

The lighthouse.

Looking towards Newport.

I checked into my hotel. Logged on to WiFi. Then, I started updating my blog.

Day Six - I Spend the Day Reading

One of the goals of the trip was to spend some time reading. I read Deadwood by Pete Dexter, while I was on the Olympic Peninsula. This day, I spent the day reading Who I Am by Pete Townshend. This is a travel blog. If you want a book review, invite me out for a beer.

I took a walk along the beach at Cape Lookout.  It's a big, sandy beach.

Day Five - A Bit of a Surprise

As I was looking at the schedule for the week, I realized that if I camped around Long Beach it was going to be a campground shower, plus, I wanted to go out to dinner. So, I got a hotel room and had a nice relaxing evening. 

Since the day was going to be mostly a driving day, I went out for a walk.  Long Beach has a nice, half mile boardwalk, and a paved trail that goes even further.

In 2003 they put a whale skeleton in the dunes so they could put up signs talking about Lewis and Clark finding a whale skeleton on the beach.

 

I had time, so I decided to drive the scenic loop by Ilwaco. This is Beard Hollow.

Next was the lighthouse at North Point.  This used to be the northwestern weather station until the 1950s. In general, it was not a windy day, but the wind was howling here.

The North Point lighthouse.

This is the lighthouse at Cape Dissapointment.

The sand bars where the Pacific Ocean meets the Columbia River is one of the most dangerous areas in the world for ships. This picture doesn't begin to capture the size of the breakwater and how violent things were out there.

An hour later, I'm in Oregon. The sun is out and there seems to be scenery around every bend in the road.

Day Four - Heading South

I packed up and headed out. The only plan was to end up at Long Beach.

I had never been to Lake Quinault, so I went there. The ranger station told me about a nice hike that went from the lodge to the nature loop at a campground.

It's real pretty there.

The nature loop went by a stream.

It's in a rain forest.

This is the world's biggest Douglas Fir.  A nice man took the picture for me. Otherwise, it's just a big brown blob And you can't tell the size. As you can see, I forgot to angle my hips and hide in the back row.

From here, it was Hoquiam, Aberdeen, then Long Beach.  Not a lot of photo opportunities.

Day Three - I Stay

This was always the plan. Get to a good spot, stay put for a couple of days and stare at the ocean. This was my view when I got up.

Directly in front of me was a nice couple from Florida in their "small" 36' Winnebago Sprinter van. They gave me the tour. It was really nice. Joe, was fun to visit with.

The day's big event, walk along the beach.

Dinner was pâté on toast points with brie. The wine was my current go to Sauvignon Blanc, Oyster Bay.

After dinner, another couple, with their nine year old son, invited me over to their campfire. They were nice enough to take a photo with me of the sunset.

Day Two - On to the Ocean

The initial plan, for the day, was to pack up and drive to Neah Bay, hike to Cape Flattery, then drive down to South Beach campground.  A late start took care of that.

I had read in the Seattle Times about a view point where they took out the upper dam on the Elwha River.  I was surprised by how stunning the view was.

I tried to get all the way to the edge of the old dam to get a shot of the river, but, my fear of heights got the better of me.  This was your classic hold the camera and not look shot.

This is a calmer picture of the Elwha on the way out.

Next was Lake Crescent.

I stopped for lunch at Ruby Beach.

I followed a sign that said Old Cedar.

South Beach campground is a parking lot with grass strips. That sits above the Pacific Ocean.

With spectacular views.

Hurricane Ridge - Thursday, 6/11/2015

Okay

You all know my history, I have been in western Washington my entire life. I've never been to Hurricane Ridge. It's kind of embarrassing.

I have fixed that. It took the ten of us that were kind of hiking together to identify that as Mt. Olympus. The embarrassing part is I was the only one who was local.

There isn't much of a story here. I drove up, Hiked to the top of Hurricane Hill and hiked back down.

Okay, there is more. There was a mountain goat that followed us up.

I told retired people about how a goat killed a guy in 2008.

There were super annoying chipmunks that wanted my trail mix.

There is a long story about Dave Perry and I backpacking that I won't get into, but, you can see the route in the picture. It's way to the right.

What you can't see, it's how deep the valleys are and how stunning every step of the views are. 

I had great conversations with retired people from Florida and Illinois. They were ten to fifteen years older than me and they got up the hill just fine. It's in our backyard. You should go take a look.

I'll leave you with the obligatory wildlife picture. This was next to the road on the drive down.