My Journey

[ITTOG]

I have now read through all 101 pages/1,502 posts and have so many thoughts but I will only comment on a few. Thanks for allowing us to follow your journey. Nice story and great pictures, especially since dumping the iPhone. I look forward to retrace some of your routes in Montana in the future. Based on the pictures I have seen here and elsewhere it is a beautiful state that I have always wanted to go to. I love the pictures of the dogs. They are beautiful. Glad to see Yukon is still able to go on some of your walks. Until next time, happy travels.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

PNWY.....this sign was posted along the side of the road. Pretty much confirms that story.....



Riversdad.....Yukon has been taking Cosequin for a few years now. It helps but old age is old age. There's no stopping it.....

Greg.....can't explain it (maybe cause it's high school kids) but the graffiti on the cliffs didn't bother me much (the paint cans left there did). The graffiti at the waterfalls bothered me to no end. I had to work to take a picture without graffiti.....

ITTOG.....you should check out Park Kitchings blog on here. His writing is very good, his stories are interesting, and his photography is phenomenal.....

The time had finally come to drop the camper off at the dealership for a bit of warranty work. Now I had a day in the city to waste with 2 dogs in the Jeep. Other than breakfast and lunch at Panera Bread (I just love this place), and a few errands, my only stop would be at the Bud Hut.....



Now, I'm not a user of weed, but I do find these places to be quiet interesting.....



And I find it incredible that you can drive across an imaginary line and it's completely legal, yet on the other side of that imaginary line, you can go to jail. What's the point ?



Anyhow, the camper was ready (although not repaired), and we were back on the road.....



We passed through Seattle, Washington, and just like the big city of Denver, Colorado, we didn't stop. A few pictures were just fine by me.....



We continued south, passed through Tacoma, Washington and spent a day in Gig Harbor, Washington. Geez.....what a picturesque, friendly little town. I loved this place.....



The clouds finally parted, it quit drizzling, and there was Mount Rainier, at 14,411', the highest peak in the Cascade mountain range, and the state of Washington (and which I summited on June 13, 2002.....dang, time sure does fly.....).....



I took a slew of pictures of the boats and the harbor.....here's a few more.....





And then we were back on the road again.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Now we found ourselves driving north once again.....I can't even imagine what my past route would look like if I were to post it on a map. We made a stop in the afternoon at what looked like an abandoned roadside fruit stand, and possibly a gift shop. We just needed to stretch our legs. It turned out to be yet another Cannabis store.....this one located in an old railroad car.....



Of course I went inside to browse.....



This little wagon was parked just outside of the front door.....and this is why I don't smoke weed.....look how crazy it makes you (just kidding).....



Crossing Hood Canal, looking west into the mountains.....



That night was spent in a casino parking lot, owned by the Klallam Tribe. Lots of totem poles.....





Across the highway, along the water, is the Olympic Discovery Trail. I know little about it, but it sure is a nice place to walk.....



And last, what a great name for a creek.....

 

[GregSplett]

If You head around the peninsula take a drive up to the south fork Hoh camp ground.Beautiful spot that is generally very quiet But you do need a thirty dollar discover pass for dnr land use.There is a couple more campgrounds over on the Cleerwater also. I will be up there for four days probably tuesday with my sweety and our dogs.Welcome back!

I think my father struggled with admitting that he helped paint a "52" up on those rocks.It definitely went against my up bringing. funny stuff life is.It looks like the old stuff has been covered by new.

Weed is still not legal here either.The state is defying federal law to be the drug dealer.The state, since "legalizing"weed in 2014 has collected almost three quarters of a billion dollars.Not only are the pot shops everywhere but the plastic bags the weed comes in have replaced fast food as the source of litter on the street.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Greg.....I've actually seen the plastic tubes that the weed is sold in thrown out in the parking areas in the National Forests. Wouldn't it be nice if a certain portion of those taxes were spent specifically on cleaning up the environment ?

Next on my to do list on the Olympic Peninsula was to hike up a mountain. Unfortunately the mountain that I picked was in the National Park (obviously I wasn't paying attention) so there I was at the trailhead with 2 dogs in the Jeep, unable to hike onwards. I decided to drive to nearby Blue Mountain which has a road almost to the summit.....I was not denied my summit views.....







The mix of clouds and mountain peaks made for phenomenal scenery.....





Since we weren't allowed on the trails, we hiked along the roads.....completely legal in the National Parks.....



The moss on the trees is simply amazing. I see a horse in this picture.....



We also did quite a bit of walking along the Olympic Discovery Trail. Apparently this trail system runs the entire length of the northern coastline of the Olympic Peninsula.....





I saw this yellow bicycle as I walked along the trail. Immediately it brought my mind back to the little yellow wagon at the Cannabis store. They'd make a great pair for sure.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

The following day was a Saturday.....always a good day to spend in town (also it was free National Park Day.....not somewhere I wanted to be). I drove into Port Angeles as a light rain fell from the skies.....an almost daily occurence since I've arrived on the peninsula......



The rains here are always intermittent.....a photo with blue skies could be followed by a photo with a downpour within minutes.....all day long. I walked along the Olympic Discovery Trail and checked out the ships.....







It's really a nice change from months spent inland.....





Port Angeles on a Saturday turned out to be a good bet. This town was hopping.....there was a triathlon, a market selling local wares, and best of all was an outdoor concert. There were multiple bands and I liked them all.....



But the favorite part of my day was this elderly woman that just couldn't sit down if the music was even remotely rock and roll.....



If you've ever seen the dancing Panda Bear on The Jimmy Fallon Show, then you'd have an idea of what I was talking about. This lady brought a broad smile to my face.....I loved her.....



It was a great day.....despite the intermittent showers all day.....

 

[ITTOG]

Cool horse.

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[Ace Brown]

I hope you compile this into a book someday.


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[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

ITTOG.....Thanks.....

Ace.....that's such a nice compliment but I could never see myself writing a book and I highly doubt my sales would justify the effort. Thanks.....

We continued driving west following the southern shores of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the waters that form the border between the U.S. and Canada. The road juts inland a bit as it bypasses the shores of Crescent Lake.....



This massive tree was close by the lake. Just an incredible sight, as was the entire forest.....





Looking at my Olympic National Park map I noticed that there was a mountain summit along the northern shoreline of Crescent Lake and with a bit of research on summitpost.org I found myself climbing Pyramid Mountain (3,125'). Although not a tall mountain, I still had 2,400' of elevation gain, and the book said 7 miles roundtrip.....



I loved every bit of this hike.....



The views of Crescent Lake and the surrounding mountains from the seldom reached summit of Pyramid Mountain did not disappoint.....



This was National Park land.....no dogs on this summit.....a perfect spot for reflection.....



The following morning I was up real early.....I hoped to see the sun rise along the Strait.....



Now the shoreline was changing. I was excited to see the Pacific Ocean again.....it wasn't far off now. We drove west, passed through the small fishing village of Sekiu, Washington.....



The rocky shoreline turns to cliffs. This is what I came for.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Continuing west on Route 112 we had wonderful views of ships passing through the Strait of Juan de Fuca and of the mountains of Canada that lie beyond.....





We entered the Makah Indian Reservation and stopped briefly in Neah Bay, Washington.....





The fishing vessels are so beautiful.....what a contrast from the mountains. Out to sea.....





And then finally we reached the northwestern most point of the United States, Cape Flattery. It was never a goal, but now I've reached the 4 corners of the United States.....



It was a half mile hike along the Cape Flattery Trail to the Pacific Ocean's coastline. The coastline was incredible.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Now that we had gone as far west as we could, we backtracked nearly as far east as Sekiu, Washington but rather than continue further east, I decided to take the Lake Ozette Road southwest, to check out the coastline a bit more. I dropped the Jeep along the roadside rather than tow it both ways....this road ended at Lake Ozette.....



We continued in the truck/camper for nearly 20 miles to Lake Ozette and to the trailhead to the Pacific Ocean. We took the Alava Trail through the coastal forests.....



It was approximately 6.5 miles roundtrip and I think I'm not exaggerating by saying that at least 50 % of this trail was on a slippery, damp boardwalk.....



As we have experienced throughout the entire Olympic National Forest, this forest was magnificent as well.....



The ocean provided wonderful scenery.....





Lake Ozette was nearly invisible from my vantage points. I captured one photo from the trail.....



That night was spent camped along the roadside where we had left the Jeep. It was a full moon night.....



The cows greeted us in the morning.....



Before leaving I checked out their barn.....a plaque on the barn said that it was constructed in 1900. The farm is currently owned by the state of Washington.....such a peaceful place it was.....



And now it was time to move south.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Next up would be a drive into the interior of Olympic National Park along the Hoh River.....



It didn't occur to me to check the National Park Service website for alerts and closures, so as you could imagine I was surprised to find that that particular entrance was closed until October 5th. No problem.....the drive to the gate was plenty good for me.....



And then we took advantage of the few visitors present.....we walked along the barely traveled roadway.....



Then we were back on Highway 101, driving south again. There were plenty of access spots to the beach along the Highway 101.....



I don't recall the names of the beaches we stopped at.....they're all top notch.....





Walking on the beach we came across a deceased sea lion that looked as if possibly a shark had attacked it as the wound on it's side was huge. Not far away was the deceased whale pictured.....no idea what took him down.....





The Pacific coastline truly is magnificent.....

 

[chet6.7]

"The Pacific coastline truly is magnificent....."
Indeed it is,glad you are getting some drier weather this year.

 

[GregSplett]

I spent all week up in the Hoh valely, just got back last night.The woods are full of elk hunters this week end.I have lived here most of fifty one years and the beauty of the Olympic peninsula always offers me just a bit more and more.This week I got to a off trail lake full of wild rainbows that loved my flies.Thursday morning day break hike was serenaded with an elk bugling, a black bear digging up a termite nest untill it got wind of me. Literally I am afraid, lol.Now it is clean up and back to paying for the next trip etc.We very likely passed in our travels this week.Oh yah, and my fourteen year old German Shepard spraying diarea all over my new van.I felt more sorry for him than me.Also, The penninsula has the remains of a generation almost gone.A generation that lived a simpler yet harder, maybe more honest life. largely out of the loop of the rest of the country.No tv and then cable ., no radio stations until later, maybe a local news paper.When you meet them there is a striking differance I can not explain but I always leave thinking the country would be a better place if more of us were like that.I think your dancing panda bear might of been one of them.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Chet.....we had a few nice days.....followed by more wet weather.....

Greg.....I saw elk while I was hiking the backroads in the forests. I spoke with a park ranger that said it's a rare sight on the peninsula. I saw quite a bit of other game too. But I have no pictures. I actually saw more wildlife here than anywhere in this nearly one year long trip. I sure love it here.....

I left the ocean and traveled inland, but not far inland.....just deep enough into the forest to escape the crowds along the ocean beaches. We found a nice spot along a gravel forest road.....it was beautiful here.....



Tanner and I headed down the road to explore.....



I often think that I should take the Jeep.....I could cover more miles, and I could see more. But do I really see more if I'm driving ? Speeding along the roads ? And then there's the other senses.....seeing is only one aspect of a trip into the woods. I prefer to walk, and we walked for 17 miles in this forest.....

Here the sun flickered through the dense forest and reflected against the low lying creek. It was close by here that I spotted the elk.....



And you don't see the little things driving.....I think you miss so much. Sometimes I think it's odd for me to post on this site.....it's a vehicle based forum.....

These mushrooms along the side of the road caught my eye.....



In 17 miles I only saw these flowers once.....



The Banana Slugs are pretty cool looking.....



Bear scat was everywhere, but I didn't see any bears here. The forest ranger I spoke with said that the bears have loose bowels this time of year due to the amount of berries they're consuming. So that explains it.....



The forest was dense but this one area that had been logged provided distant views.....



An early morning mix of sun and fog.....



No matter how far I walk, Tanner never tires.....