My Journey

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

We decided on the Olympic Northwest for our next stop. We drove at a leisurely pace along Routes 16 & 3 as we moved northwest towards Olympic National Park. I spotted a sign for a YMCA, always a good bet for a cheap shower. So we made a stop at the YMCA in Silverdale, Washington and what a great decision. Their nearly new facility was so clean and modern with friendly staff. I got unlimited showers for $3 which is as cheap as they come. Afterwards we went for a long walk with temperatures nearing 80 degrees and perfect blue skies. It felt so good to be clean again ! We continued north and stayed at another Wal Mart in Poulsbo, Washington. I guess it was kind of a boring day.....come to think of it. Today we're planning on some peak bagging in Olympic National Forest.

Our Goal - The Pacific Ocean (old photo)

 

[hikingff77]

Very nice adventure. Just how well did your truck tow the jeep and camper? I'm assuming it's a 2500 Silverado?

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

The truck does great........the only problem to date was on a trip (4) years ago when it overheated while pulling on a uphill grade for (10) miles in Utah on a hot summer day. I've previously towed it to Alaska (5 month trip) and also on a trip through Labrador / New Foundland (2 month trip). Yes, it's a 2500 HD but I do have lots of upgrades including 19.5" wheels and tires (14 ply commercial tires), Firestone Air Bags, and an additional leaf spring.

I was listening to the radio yesterday and the guy says on a scale of one to ten, today's weather is a twelve. I agreed completely. Wow, what an awesome day. The high temperature for the day was 69 degrees, and even cooler at the higher elevations. The skies were a perfect blue. I find that weather plays such a large role in enjoying my travels. Today's weather, well, not so good. Woke up this morning to a light rain and (50) degrees. Actually put the shorts away after our morning walk and got the blue jeans out. Anyhow, back to yesterday...........drove north to Highway 101 and then headed south for Mount Zion (4,278'), the first of two peaks we planned to hike up today. I don't know how I finally found the trail head after miles and miles of gravel forest service roads but fortunately there was a guy sitting in his car at a small parking lot and I stopped and asked him if he knew where the trail head was and he pointed to the other side of my truck and right there was a sign which said "Mount Zion Trail". Hmmmm........I parked and off we went. It was a nicely maintained trail and an easy hike up to the summit (3.8 miles round trip). The views were minimal from the summit but the hike was peaceful and quiet enjoyable. Next on the to do list was Mount Walker (2,804'). Mount Walker had incredible views to the east (Seattle) as well as to the west (Olympic National Forest).

After our second hike and summit of the day we drove north and west to the town of Sequim, Washington. We stayed at the Wal Mart last night and plan to stay another night since the weather sucks so bad this morning. I've been thinking about taking the ferry to Vancouver Island and it's only the weather forecast that keeps us from going there tomorrow. Rain is forecast to the north so maybe it's not worth spending the money for that. Also thinking of putting the dogs in a kennel for a day and doing some peak bagging in the national park. There's some great climbs there I think. Time will tell as to where we go next.........

Dogs Relaxing in the Shade on Mount Zion



Mount Zion Trail



Looking East from Summit of Mount Walker



Looking West from Summit of Mount Walker

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

The rain continued yesterday until noon or so, the temperatures below 60 degrees. The mountains to the south (where I wanted to go) were completely engulfed in a heavy cloud cover. I could see to the north into Canada and the skies were clear but the Strait of Juan de Fuca seemed to be the borderline for the good and bad weather. So yesterday was a rest day in Sequim (pronounced Squim). Not much to talk about on a rest day.....the typical long walks, reading and a movie from Red Box last night.

Sequim is a very nice town. I found out that it's a retirement type community due to the weather...........never hot and never cold. The Starbucks was packed yesterday and almost everyone was elderly so it was there that I asked the question. One other thing about Sequim, it seems like one happy place. Lots of friendly people here, lots of beautiful smiles, way more than I typically see anywhere else that i travel. Must be a good place to live I think.

Today Canada to the north and Seattle to the east appear to have clear skies. Here it's overcast again and the mountains are still hidden in the clouds. Forecast is for some sun today so maybe I'll wait to see what's next. Sequim is not a place to just hang out and relax.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Saturday turned out to be another day hanging around Sequim. The more time I spend here, the more I like it. I found a neat little restaurant in town when the owner came outside to chat about my dogs. She was so nice that I returned for lunch and spent the remainder of the afternoon there chatting with the staff. The skies began to clear in the afternoon and we walked lots (set my new record of 13.5 miles for the day). In the evening I met a shop keeper and we talked about the mountains being in the clouds. He told me to try and drive into the park / mountains and that it should be clear. So that became my plan for Sunday.....I found a few peaks on the internet that looked interesting and that was the plan..............

Saturday night we drove in the Jeep to the public library to attend an out door folk concert. With the perfect weather it felt great to lie in a field and listen to the music while viewing the beautiful Olympic Mountains in the background. The dogs were beat from all of our walking so they slept through most of the concert. Great way to end the day.

A Main Street Through Town



Wal Mart Camping



A Local Folk Band

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

I was up with the sunrise Sunday morning and excited to finally get onto a mountain. I had plans to hike up to Baldy and Peak B, two peaks which were very close to one another. I started the truck and saw that I had less than a quarter of a tank of diesel. Since it was so early all the stations were closed so I decided to risk it and drove onward into the park. I came across a fallen tree above the road and I was unable to drive under it so I attempted to drive around it. As I tried to drive along the edge of the road and with all the weight of the rig, the road gave way and the right front of the truck dropped a good foot. If not for the four wheel drive I would not have gotten out of that jam. Since all my tools were in the Jeep, cutting was out of the question but I did have some rope and I was able to tie the tree out of my way. It was pretty scarey actually. The good news was that the skies were an awesome blue and the temperature was perfect for hiking. I spent the remainder of the morning lost as I hiked up several trails but never found my peaks. On my return to town the fuel light came on and we rolled into town on empty. I was back at the same restaurant for a late lunch. In the evening we went for a long walk at Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge (along the Strait of Juan de Fuca). We ended the day at a county park (Dungeness Landing) where the dogs could have a cool swim in the Strait.

The Incident



The U.S. Side of the Strait of Juan De Fuca



And Another One

 

[memetotes]

Hey there...just got caught up on all your posts and enjoyed your comments and especially the photos! Sounds like it's been a fabulous trip so far. I'll remind the gang to visit your site as well as I know they'll enjoy keeping up with your trip. Lisa and Jay head will be heading west for their 10th anniversary trip this Thursday. It's a surprise for Lisa so I can't tell you online where they'll be going until after the fact.

Safe travels and a pat on the head to the pups Love, Glo

 

[memetotes]

Just read through all of your posts, and despite the 49+ hours that we just spent in a car from SLC --> ATL --> Boston, this makes me want to jump back in the car for more adventures. I loved reading all of your posts. The pictures are great. Yukon and Montana look like the perfect road trip companions. Wilson is jealous Lots of love from me, Albert and Wilson.

 

[mervifwdc]

This is it! Living the dream.

Love your dogs! Bet they are having as much fun as you are. It's funny for me to see the wal mart camping, it's the EXACT same in Spain where we spent a while CarreFour camping (bit like wall mart).

Keep the updates coming, I can see the tone more relaxed now that your really into it. It takes a few days or even weeks to believe it's really happening, at least thats how it was for us.

Merv and Sarah.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Hey sis and guys (Wilson, Lauren, and the good doc)..........quite pleased to see you checking in. All is good here in the Pacific Northwest.

Meryifwdc............exactly, it does take time to get accustomed to a new way of living.

Sunday morning we awoke to cloudy skies and 54 degrees. I decided to go for my planned hike / summit attempt, so off we went for a summit attempt on Mt. Townsend (6,280'). It seemed like this would be a fairly straight forward climb based on the topo map posted at the trail head. Unfortunately for me it wasn't and once again I was unable to make a summit as I was hopelessly lost again. I did get in about (7) miles of hiking in some of the most awesome forest in America. On my way out I picked up (2) backpackers in my truck and sometimes it pays to be nice. They had a great topo map of the entire area with all of the trails shown.....exactly what I needed and they offered to give it to me. Sweet ! But my plans were to leave Monday morning. Hmmmm........after lots of thought Sunday night and constant reviewing of the map, I thought, I need to summit something in that area so my plans were changed and I decided to stay for another day.

A River Who's Name I Know Not



Stop For Lunch

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Up Tuesday morning and had a look outside and saw mostly blue skies with a bit of white clouds here and there. We got a late start but soon enough we were headed south into the mountains. Of course we easily found the trail head with our newly had map and we were off on our adventure. The trail was sooooo steep I could hardly believe it. At about 5,200' we left the trees and entered into beautiful fields of wild flowers, every color imaginable. It was awesome. I finally made it to the ridge line with sore thighs and calves. Literally I spent much of the hike on the balls of my feet as it was so steep. Anyhow, I hiked along the ridge line and made my summits of Baldy (6,280') and Peak B (6,120') which had eluded me several days before. The strait was cloud covered and the clouds were rolling up along the ridge line. I began to get concerned that finding the unmarked trail in the flowers would be difficult so I descended into the woods where the trail was easily found. Going down was every bit as difficult as going up...........just a different kind of difficult. After 1 1/2 + hours of descending I was back at the truck and quite content with my day's work. I was tired and sore, and I returned to my Wal Mart home, took several Motrin PM's, and hit the sack early. Slept wonderfully. Below are some pictures from the ridge line / summits from my day's hiking:

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Wednesday was a planned rest day. We hung around the camper doing some camper cleaning and I decided to hit the laundromat. I kept glancing into the mountains and kept noticing that there wasn't a cloud in the sky. After lunch and finishing up at the laundromat, I couldn't take it anymore. I decided that since I had that map I would give Mt. Townsend another try. By the time we arrived at the trail head it was early evening and I started to think that it would be cool to watch the sun set from the summit. It took us a little over (2) hours to make the summit and I was so glad that I tried again. The views were phenomenal in all directions. I took my shirt off and soaked up the rays. We snacked on Gatorade and Granola Bars and just enjoyed the views to their fullest. After a while the winds started to pick up so I decided to head down to the camper. And once there, I decided to spend the night in the mountains rather than return to the Wal Mart. Last night I enjoyed the nearly full moon over the mountain peaks. Just so beautiful...........

We returned to Sequim this morning under cloudy skies and light rain. More errands and maybe it's finally time to move on........

View from Mt. Townsend Summit



And Another



Summit Dogs



Camp Site

 

[Jeeper11]

Ohh my doggies!!!! Miss them! Pictures are amaaazing! Million dollar views! Glad youre having fun! Stay safe!

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

The dogs miss you as well pal I'm sure.

I guess my biggest news is that I found a place to take hot showers for $0.25. Hard to believe you can get anything for that. So after my last post I was off to get a shower. The remainder of the day was spent hanging out as best I can remember.

The following morning we finally left Sequim and drove west towards Port Angeles. I had plans to stop along the way and hike up to the summit of Blue Mountain (6,007'). Most of the work is done by your vehicle as there's a parking lot about 0.5 miles below the summit. I decided to take the camper up and spend the day up there since temperatures were expected to hit nearly 80 degrees. It never reached 70 degrees that high up so it turned out to be a wise decision. The road up was steep and narrow with lots of trees and rock walls to navigate around. I could see the temperature gauge on the transmission slowly rising. Once the transmission hit 220 degrees, I decided to stop for lunch and let it cool down. After we arrived at the parking lot we hung out there for the remainder of the day mostly hiking around, exploring, and I finally finished my second book of the trip. The truck didn't like the trip down either as the brakes were definitely burning. Once down it was a short drive to Port Angeles where we spent the night.

Today is (2) months living on the road. Hmmmm...............

Views From Blue Mountain



Dogs On another Summit

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

really sucked compared

I was up early this morning with plans to head into Olympic National Park and climb another peak but the road is closed this morning for the bicyclist, so here I sit at Starbucks waiting for the noon road opening..........

Anyhow, yesterday morning after my typical late start we drove into the park but this time we were on the main entrance road to the park, Hurricane Ridge Road. Tons of people up there as it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, not a cloud in the sky. We drove as far as we could and parked near the visitor's center. People were everywhere and it really sucked compared to my other days in the park. One guy yelled at me because the dogs weren't on a 6' leash. He was at least 100' from us. Oh well, just a reminder why I love being solo and away from the crowds. I decided to hike up to the summit of Hurricane Hill (5,757') which is a very popular hike in the park since there's a paved trail all the way to the summit. The RV was not allowed to go the trail head since the road is quiet narrow. I decided to hike from the visitor's center which was a (6) mile round trip hike to the summit on the hottest day of the year here (like 83 degrees I think ?). Afterwards we drove part way down the mountain, found a shady spot with a cool stream that flowed out of the side of the mountain. We spent the remainder of the day there relaxing and the dogs played in the small icy cold pool. After watching them,I decided to get my swim suit and lie down in the icy cold pool. That turned into a non soap bath which felt great. On the way down we came across a head on accident.....a van load of Asians and a Honda sports car full of teenagers.......can't imagine who was at fault there. Anyhow, we returned to our over night spot late that evening, and called it a day.

I've been thinking a lot about where to go next. I don't think that I'm going to Alaska now and I've been thinking about the Portland area although the temperatures don't look too good..........highs around 90 degrees. Oh well, one day at a time...............

Our Ice Cold Soaking Hole



Crash On The Road



Very Cool Expedition Vehicle