Pacific Northwest Roadtrip - All Good Things Must End

For the past two months I've been entertaining you with the photos and descriptions of adventures Anil and I had during our 10-day road trip through the Pacific Northwest earlier this year. In case you missed some of the posts, below is the list with links to all of them.

On Saturday another adventure begins: as promised, I'll start blogging about our last year's Christmas trip to Peru. I'll do my best to publish one post a day, or at least five posts a week. So stay tuned and bear with me!

The Pacific Northwest Roadtrip:

1. Fern Canyon in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
2. Boy Scout Hike in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park
3. The South Oregon Coast
4. Meyers Creek Beach 
5. Riding ATVs in the Dunes
6. The Central Oregon Coast
7. The North Oregon Coast
8. Ships on the Columbia River in Astoria
9. Cape Disappointment
10. Quinault Valley Rain Forest in Olympic National Park
11. Queets Rain Forest in Olympic National Park
12. Ruby Beach in Olympic National Park
13. Hall of Mosses Trail in Hoh Rain Forrest, Olympic National Park
14. Spruce Nature Trail in Hoh Rain Forrest, Olympic National Park
15. Second Beach, Olympic National Park
16. Ozette Lake Loop, Olympic National Park
17. Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park
18. Seattle Skyline 
19. Space Needle in Seattle
20. Seattle Experience Music Project
21. Mt. Rainier National Park
22. Narada Falls, Mt. Rainier NP
23. Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
24. Lava Canyon, Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
25. Historic Columbia River Highway
26. Bridge of the Gods
27. Strawberry Island Hike in the Columbia River Gorge
28. Portland
29. Crater Lake National Park
30. Mount Shasta
31. Mt. Eddy/Deadfall Leaf Lake Hike in Mt. Shasta Forest

Crater Lake National Park

We were supposed to spend three days and two nights at Crater Lake National Park, camping at the Mazama Campground, which I had booked four months earlier. Unfortunately, two weeks before our planned stay there, I received a phone call from one of the park's rangers informing me that our reservation got canceled, as most of the campground was still under snow . . .

The visiting season at Crater Lake NP is usually very short (around three to four months), but this year it seems it will be even shorter. Usually, by the beginning of July, most of the park would be snow-free. This year, however, on the Fourth of July weekend, only a small part of the park was accessible to tourists.

If you take a look at the first photo below, you'll see how much snow was still left in the park then. The only reason that we could visit the park at all during that weekend was because of the incredible dedication and unbelievable amount of work put in by the people working at the park and the National Park Services. I must have said it thousands of times and I'll repeat it again and again: National Parks are America's best idea and they are the main reason why I love living here.

Carter Lake NP is the sixth oldest National Park in the United States, and the only one located in Oregon. The park encompasses the Crater Lake caldera, which rests in the remains of a destroyed volcano, as well as the surrounding hills and forests. The caldera rim ranges in elevation from 2,100 to 2,400 meters (7,000-8,000 feet), whereas the lake surface is at 1,883 meters (6,178 feet).

At its deepest point the Carter Lake is 594 meters (1,949 feet) deep, which makes it the deepest lake in the United States and the ninth deepest in the world. Because of its depth and because its waters come only from rain and snow, the lake has an amazingly beautiful, deep blue color. As you can see in the pictures below, the color of the lake contrasts perfectly with the white snow and graphite mountain peaks.


The road leading to the park:

Crater Lake:

Wizard Island:

Portland

Some people love it and can not imagine living anywhere else, others can not imagine living there. I'm in the latter category :) Not that there is anything wrong with Portland. It is actually quite lovely: it is very green and peaceful. Just a little bit too peaceful for my taste.

Even though half a million people live in Portland proper, and two million more in its metropolitan area, it feels like a small provincial town. There are no high-rise buildings even in downtown Portland, so it feels like one big suburb. Admittedly, a nice one, if you like living in the suburbs.

Like in San Francisco, there are many artsy, hippie types, who are into yoga, healthy living, organic food and good coffee. Also, nature around Portland is very pretty and green (no wonder, if you consider how much it rains there). In fact, the nature is so pretty there that Anil and I would even consider getting short-time contracts in Portland, so that we can explore some of hiking trails there. Of course, we would only consider moving there during the summer months (June through August); after that we would need to quickly move to a warmer place. Nine months of constant rain and overcast sky is not something either of us would enjoy.


Portland and Mt. Hood:

Portland and Mt. St. Helens:

One of the buildings in downtown Portland:

Portland's Beaver:

Historic Columbia River Highway

I love scenic byways and whenever there is an opportunity to take one, I do. Therefore, I could not resist the opportunity to drive along the Historic Columbia River Highway, an approximately 75-mile (120 km) scenic highway through the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. The highway was built between 1913 and 1922 and it was the first planned scenic roadway in the United States. From the very beginning, the highway was envisioned not just as means of traveling, but designed to take full advantage of all the natural beauty along the route. As such it was recognized in several historic registries, e.g., as a National Historic Landmark and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

The highway indeed runs extremely close to many beautiful sights, including several waterfalls. We stopped at two of them, Horsetail and Multnomah Falls.


The Horsestail Fall:

The Multnomah Falls:

Bridge of the Gods

Would you like to cross a Bridge of the Gods? If you do, there is one on the Columbia River, between Cascade Locks in Oregon and Skamania County in Washington:

Strawberry Island Hike in the Columbia River Gorge

We liked the Columbia River Gorge so much we decided to explore it a little bit more and go for a short hike there. We asked several locals for recommendations of nice hikes in the area and we decided to go on a hike around Strawberry Island.

It was a short, maybe 3-4 mile long, completely flat hike through beautiful, lush green and serene landscape. In the distance, we could see and occasionally hear cars rushing on the highway, and we felt extremely grateful for finding this little island of serenity amongst the urban noise and mess.

The hike was made even better by the “show” of several different bird species: we got to see some of them hunting for food, building their nests, and defending their territory. Some of them flew so close to us that we could almost feel the air¬¬–moved by their wings–bounce off our faces.

I would definitely recommend this hike if you are in or around Portland. It is only 30 miles away from the city and can be accessed via the beautiful Historic Columbia River Highway, which is also worth seeing.

Cape Disappointment

Our initial trip plan did not include a visit to Lewis and Clark National Historic Park, as I had no idea that the park existed. As we were driving up north, I was getting more and more intrigued by the signs announcing its existence and inviting to its different parts. I was particularly intrigued by the Cape Disappointment State Park, mostly because of its cool name.

I managed to convince Anil that we absolutely needed to go to that park and I think he was not disappointed that we did ☺ Even though the weather was gloomy and at times it was raining, we enjoyed the park a lot as it had very peaceful and serene energy. We were also amazed that we saw more species of birds than people. We hanged out for quite a bit at the North Jetty enjoying the views of the Columbia River delta, where its waters mix with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, and two lighthouses.

To the right we had the North Head and to the left of the Cape Disappointment Lighthouses. The latter is the oldest operating lighthouse on the West Coast. It was constructed in 1856 to protect mariners from the treacherous river bar known by then as "the graveyard of the Pacific."

The story behind the park's name is an interesting one: "In 1788, while in search of the Columbia River, English Captain John Meares missed the passage over the river bar and named the nearby headland Cape Disappointment for his failure in finding the river. In 1792, American Captain Robert Gray successfully crossed the river bar and named the river "Columbia" after his ship, the Columbia Rediviva. Only a few years later, in 1805, the Lewis and Clark Expedition arrived at Cape Disappointment." In the park, there are several short hikes, many of which follow routes that Capt. Clark and the Corps took to explore the ocean beach below.

More information about the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the first United States expedition to the Pacific Coast that was commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson, can be found on National Geographic or Wikipedia page.


The Waikiki Beach:

The Cape Disappointment Lighthouse:

A seagull flying over our heads:

The North Jetty:

The North Head Lighthouse:

Ships on the Columbia River in Astoria

Columbia River enters the ocean in Astoria, a lovely little town located in Oregon, just next to the boarder with Washington. It is seventh longest and by volume it is the fourth largest river in the US. Its delta is definitely very impressive and it looks more like a big lake or ocean, than a river. It must also be pretty deep as there were many large transporter ships cruising on it. We got to Astoria around sundown, which added even more charm to the ships on the river:

Bridge connecting Oregon with Washington:

The North Oregon Coast

I find Oregon coast very picturesque and just could not stop taking photos of its different parts. I was particularly captivated by the rocks sticking out of the sand. Thanks to them every bit of the coast looked slightly different and beautiful in its own way.

Below are two photos of Haystack Rock, a 235-foot (72-meter) sea stack in Cannon Beach, Oregon:

The Central Oregon Coast

In Oregon, U.S. Route 101 is seldom out of sight of the Pacific Ocean, which gave me ample chances to admire the beauty and diversity of the Oregon Coast. I was amazed how much it was changing from south to north (e.g. it was getting greener) and how different it was from the Pacific Coast in California.


Central Oregon Coast:

On a side note, Anil and I drove together the full length of Hwy 101, all the way from its southern terminus in Los Angeles in California, to the northernmost point in Port Angeles in Washington. We did not do that during a single trip, but I think it is still pretty impressive taking into account that the full length of the highway is around 1550 miles (2500 km).

Riding ATVs in the Dunes

A large part of the South Oregon Coast is covered by dunes. That gave me a brilliant idea: we should try either dune surfing or riding ATVs (all terrain vehicles) there. In Florence, we found a shop that was renting out boogies, as well as bigger multi-wheel vehicles. When I saw from up close how massive boogies were, I was ready to give up and suggested to Anil renting the multi-wheeler instead, as it looked more stable and safe. My husband refused to do that, saying that it was my idea to rent ATVs, so I had to stick with it. I could not argue with that, so we ended up renting two ATVs for one hour.

We listened to a safety tape informing us how dangerous riding ATVs was, we got a short introduction into how to operate them, and then off we went to the dunes. Already riding on a dirt road leading to them was challenging. My boogie was turning left and right all the time, and it was constant work to keep it going straight. I had even more trouble keeping a straight course while trying to go up a dune and the first several times I ended up circling back to the bottom of it, instead of going across it. But through trial and error, I learned how to get my vehicle to the top of a dune.

ATVs do not have particularly strong engines, so driving them is not as easy as you might think. To go uphill you need to drive it at a full speed, and you’d better make sure not to slow down even for a second, as then you might get stuck in the sand. Starting an ATV pointing towards the top of the dune is pretty much impossible, so if you do get stuck, you need to turn it around and point it downhill. As I managed to get stuck once, I can tell you that turning it is not easy. Even with the help of Anil, I barely managed to do it.

Additionally, as dunes are uniform in color and reflect the sun very well, it is very difficult to decipher their precise shapes and steepness. Therefore, as you reach the top of the dune, you need to slow down to make sure you will not collide with a person that might be coming from the other side. Because all of that I was constantly worried that I would either collide with somebody, or that my ATV would collapse on me. My fear prevented me from having as much fun as I should have had and after a mere hour in the dunes, I was completely exhausted and almost collapsed in the car.

As you can see, my brilliant idea–like so many of them–backfired. Still, I have no regrets and I thought that it was an interesting experience. I’m also sure that I’ll do much better next time, now that I know what to expect.


A few photos:

Meyers Creek Beach

Meyers Creek Beach is another example of the beauty of the Oregon coast: