Neah Bay, Washington

Good morning, my friends. We had a beautiful day of weather for our drive north to Neah Bay yesterday. We drove just a few miles out of Forks before turning onto state highway 113 heading north. Eventually we turned onto state highway 112 heading west, and then drove along the northern coast of the Olympic Peninsula for the remainder of our journey. The bays we passed by were beautiful.

Passing through the small town of Sekiu...

we could see this:

Just past the town we spied this one barn of the day.

We could see ships at sea. And Hey, Canada! We see you over there!

It was only about 30 miles after we turned north, but this was one winding road along this rugged coastline.

We could see lots of sea birds sitting on rocks. I have an idea we're seen gulls, cormorants, murres, and black oystercatchers, although I couldn't zoom in for enough detail to be sure.

It took me several tries to capture these stacks. Finally, I captured them through a break in the trees.

There's the harbor at Neah Bay. We're on the Makah Indian Reservation here.

Okay now go that way...

If you hear this going off.

Nearing the end of our journey, we crossed over the Wa'atch River using the Wa'atch Bridge. (Sorry about the reflections. They're unavoidable.)

We found our campground. The office was closed when we arrived, and so we could only look at the map of the place. The hook-up sites happened to be about a mile down the road. We'd searched unsuccessfully for them and so we'd already chosen a dry camping site by the time the office reopened. We were able to purchase our Recreational Use Permit there, and it is required while visiting the area. We're just here for two nights, and we're completely self-contained, so no worries, and it is a nice and spacious site. Also, we'll save ourselves $60 by not using their hookups. 

Besides, there was no time to waste. It was a beautiful day, and the forecast had today as cloudy and a 20% chance of rain. We haven't seen any rain yet, but it's much darker and a little foggy today. We decided to do the hike in the sunshine. It was just about ten miles up the road.

Here's a little information about the trail. Please pay attention to the rules, and mind your manners.

And here's a little information about the area designated the "Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary."

Most of the way, we were walking through dark and dense forest.

Eventually, we were on a boardwalk.

In some areas, we had to pick our way over roots and rocks. The walk out to the observation platform was all a gentle slope downhill.

At the first observation platform, we saw this:

Changing positions, we could see this:

We could see large ships at sea.

At another observation platform, and on the other side of the trail, we saw this:

Looking down at the third observation platform, we could see large kelp beds.

Looking to the right...

From there, we could see Tatoosh Island and the Cape Flattery Lighthouse. It was decommissioned in 2008.

Looking to the left, we could see this:

Zooming in on some of the rocks, we could see hundreds...maybe thousands…of sea birds.

Here's another shot looking left, including some of what we could see below.

Look out under the branches, and you'll see gulls in the water.

Reaching the end of the road and the final observation platform, we could see Tatoosh Island. 

Here's another shot of the lighthouse. You can learn about its history right here. It's an interesting story, and I encourage you to read it. It was first illuminated in 1857.

To the left side of the island, we could see more sea birds.

To the right side of the island, we could see sea lions. They were barking furiously, and we could hear them at the beginning of the trail more than a mile away.

Here's another large boat traveling through the strait.

And more sea birds.

I believe these are murres.

Looking east, it looked like this.

From there, we hiked back the way we came...uphill now. We stopped and tested their benches a couple of times. As we crossed back over the Wa'atch Bridge, heading to the campground, we saw a great egret...

And another great blue heron.

There are trees between us and the ocean, but we can easily hear the waves crashing on the beach. We took the short trail leading out. Looking to the right, it looks like this:

Looking left, it looks like this:

And that brought us to the end of our day. We'll probably take another walk out to the beach today. It's cloudy and chilly right now, but we're hoping for brighter skies in the afternoon. We have just one more night here, and then we'll move on to Port Angeles about two hours down the road. 

As we were packing up yesterday, Mike noticed a tire on our truck is losing air pressure. We'll have to take it someplace in Port Angeles for repair. There is a Les Schwab there. I don't know about the rest of the country, but Les Schwab is the place for tires in the northwest. They'll fix a flat for free, simply asking you to remember them when you need new tires. We have, and we do, and we'll do it again this trip. We have one hike planned there, and the tire issue shouldn't interfere with our plans.

Also today, we might drive into Neah Bay and check out the town. We were disappointed to find all of the restaurants closed on Sunday and Monday. I'd read advertisements for a place that served Indian Fry Bread, which is just about one of my favorite foods ever. But no...they're closed. They won't reopen until noon tomorrow, and I expect we'll be gone by then. Oh well.

All right then. I need some breakfast, and then I'll probably take the first stitches on the final "Snowmen and Reindeer" block. It's going to be an easy-going day.

A Chill Day

Good morning, my friends. We promised ourselves a chill day yesterday, and that's exactly what we did. Except for a walk with Smitty lasting approximately two minutes...

I didn't even go outside. Instead, I spent a good part of the day finishing off the Plaid Cat. There were a few more leaves to stitch here...

And then I could stitch the railing, and my piece was finished.

Sorry about the wrinkles. I don't have an iron with me on this trip. Also, as I'm looking at this picture, I'm thinking I might have missed a little bit of the railing under the cat's tail. Hm...I'll need to check that.

Finishing the Plaid Cat was my goal for September's

The party should start at the end of the week, and I'll link up then.

Next up, I'll start on the final block for the "Snowmen and Reindeer" project. It's hooped up and ready to meet my needle.

We've enjoyed our time here in Forks, but we're not finished with Olympic National Park. We'll be doing a little more hiking from a different area of the park. Below is a map of the Olympic Peninsula I swiped from the national park website. You can see the dark green area, designating the boundaries of the national park. As you can see, it takes up a good portion of the whole.

The next few days will be spent outside the park boundary, but we'll do a little more hiking from our destination after next in Port Angeles. 

You can see where we are as I'm writing this post...in Forks, in the upper left-hand corner. We'll be going even more to the corner of the map today to reach Neah Bay. There, we'll do the Cape Flattery trail. Cape Flattery is the western-most point of the continental United States. It's a hike I've wanted to do for a long time. Again, we're hoping for good weather. There is a small chance of rain, so bring your rain gear.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, our choices for a place to stay are limited to first come, first served there. The park is a little less than two hours up the road. We need to check out of this park in Forks by 11:00 a.m. The soonest we can check in at the next spot is 1:00 p.m. We're hoping an early arrival will make us one of the first to come, and thereby the first served. There are ten hook-up sites available. If we can't score one of those, we'll be dry camping in an open field. Either way, we'll be there two days, and then move on Tuesday morning.

Okay then. There's packing up and putting away to do, not to mention eating some breakfast, and generally getting ourselves up and around. Time to get moving. We'll meet up again on down the road.

Hall of Mosses Trail, Hoh Rain Forest

Good morning, my friends. It was a cloudy and cool day for our hike of the Hall of Mosses Trail. It was nice having it a little cooler for the humid environment, and the sun broke through a little in the afternoon. All-in-all, a good day of weather. The road to the trailhead was winding, and although it was only about 30 miles, it was about an hour-long drive.

After turning off onto Upper Hoh Road, we paralleled the Hoh River. We couldn’t see it most of the time, but we could occasionally catch a glimpse through a break in the trees.

A good part of the time, we were driving through a dense forest of very tall trees.

We traveled quite some distance before entering the national park bounday and approaching the gate. We get free admision with out geezer passes. The geezer pass is just about the best thing about being an old fart.

My friend, Mary, warned me about her own previous visit when they could find absolutely no parking anywhere. At this time of year, and mid-week, we weren’t too concerned. (That’s another good thing about being an old fart. We can travel when the kids are back in school.) And all of that to say we weren’t concerned until we actually approached the visitor center and trailhead. There were long lines of cars parked along the roadside.

The visitor center parking lot was equally crowded with parked cars.

I actually took this next picture after we’d finished our hike, but I wanted to use it to make my point. When we drove in here to the hikers’ parking area, it appeared every spot was full.

We drove as far as we could go before we would have to turn around, and whaddaya know. We found a spot right there next to the restrooms and information board. I’m telling you…we must be living right.

Okay, so if you thought lack of parking was going to give you an excuse not to go with us, then I’m sorry. Anything else, and we’ll just assume you’re being lazy. On the other hand, fair’s fair. Let’s consider the many ways you might die out here today. First of all…bears. You could very well be eaten by a bear. 

Also…elk. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Those naughty bull elk. All I can say is, don’t get between these guys and the lady elk they’re courting.

Not to worry, though. If the bears and the horny elk don’t get you, the yellow jackets and wasps will. 

No woofies, please.

I like this…a good safety tip.

Mind your manners, please.

So, knowing the perils that await you on the trail, are you sure you want to go? It’s not too late to change your mind.

Okay, then. Off we go. We're going to see all kinds of big trees on this hike. You can find examples of their different barks to enable you to identify them at this link. This first one happens to be a Western Hemlock. None of the trees in this forest are as big as the largest redwoods in northern Caifornia, but they are no slouches either. These are huge trees.

Looking up…

It was a well-maintained, easy trail. There was a little bit of an elevation increase, but nothing too strenuous. After a lifetime of hiking, I’ve learned to limit our hikes to certain parameters: nothing longer than 5 miles, and no elevation gain of more than about 200 feet.

Here, we came to a place where three trees had fallen across the trail. There was plenty of space to walk under them without ducking. You can easily see how two trees have fallen across one another, but there’s a third one behind them on the left side of the image. It’s like a huge game of pick-up sticks.

Here’s another big boy.

Looking up…

In this next image, I looked up as I read the sign below it.

In this next image, you can see the “lower story,” and the mosses. I’ll show you the fungus fruits in just a minute. But look at these wonderful curtains of moss coating virtually everything. 

Mike pointed out that if you came here and stood still, you too would grow moss.

Here’s a close-up shot of one of the greener specimens. Those little ferns were growing among the moss.

Okay, and the fungus fruits can be seen in the image below.

Here’s a close-up of the one on the right. He appears to be grimacing. Please tell me you see it too.

Here’s another tree with ferns growing on it. I’m reminded that orchids grow like this in tropical rain forests. Wouldn’t that be beautiful?

This was interesting. In the image below is a very old and very large vine maple. We have these growing in our woods at home, but none of ours are bigger around than about 3 inches. I did not know they could grow so large.

This sign will tell you what I’m going to show you next.

Here’s one that has a tree growing on either end. To the right…

And to the left.

Eventually, the nurse log will rot away, and the new tree will be hollow where it was. In this next image, you can see through to the other side.

Here’s another one like this just a little ways on.

Ooooh…woodpeckers have been after this one.

To our left were some huge cut off stumps provided as benches.

We assume they were cut from this fallen tree just ahead of us.

Mike noticed how the rings start out farther apart at the center on the left side of the image, and then narrower and narrower as they move to the outer edges on the right side of the image. 

Standing on the other side, we found this information.

Looking back…

Okay, and by then, we’d walked the entire loop trail and met up with the start of the trailhead. The sun was shining and the swampy area here glowed an iridescent green.

We found this exhibit inside the visitor center.

In the image below, you can see a “rain gauge.” At the bottom near where it says April 10” is a marking for the amount of rain this year. Up there near September is the amount they would usually receive by this time. Yikes.

Also, I picked up my second refrigerator magnet of the trip. 

On the drive back to Forks, I caught another picture of the Hoh River.

In the image below, I’ve zoomed in on the “riprap.” We’ve seen this done near beaches in Oregon to prevent coastal erosion. I’ve always seen it done in rocks. This here was done with some concrete diamond-shaped thingies and then they’re all sort of tangled together with driftwood. 

And this structure. No indication if anyone lives there or what its purpose is. They seem to me as if they are holding a silent story. 

And that was our day. We had some lunch and naps, and then just hung out the rest of the day. And thats what we’re going to do today…hang out. I expect to have lots of time for slow-stitching. My Plaid Cat piece is close. I might finish it today.

We’ll be moving on tomorrow morning. Our next stop will be Neah Bay. We’ll be about as close to Canada as we can get without actually crossing the border. Camping there is first come, first served. There is only one campground that can accommodate RVs and only ten hook-up sites. If we can’t get one of those, then our understanding is that there is a large open field where we can park. We’ll be on the Makah Reservation, which requires the purchase of a pass. No worries about the pass. They are available when we check in. We’ll be in Neah Bay to hike the Cape Flattery trail. The weather forecast is a little iffy, so be sure to bring your rain gear if you’re going with us.

All riht then. Off I go to do as little as possible. As for slow-stitching, I’ll be doing as much as possible.