Mile 5507 – Prospect, Oregon, Day 2 (Round trip to Crater Lake). P.J. and I have both been at Crater Lake before, and it can best be admired in clear weather because of its grand vistas and deep-blue lake. This time, due to smoke from neighboring wild fires, it looked like a smoggy day in Los Angeles. Nevertheless, the weather was perfect for hiking or walking around (sunny and upper sixties). We got a nice walk in on a new trail to a waterfall and drove around the rim anyway, so P.J. could take hazy versions of her aunt’s old post cards. We found out that what was called “Enchantment Bay” in the thirties, is now called “Danger Bay”. Probably renamed by Homeland Security.
Mile 5389 – Prospect, Oregon. Started out in Gold Beach, on the Oregon South Coast. It looked like it was going to be another sunny day, but as we started off, we soon got fogged in. That spoiled P.J.’s intent to take an “Aunt Esther postcard picture” of Arch Rock and other South Coast monoliths. We could not see a thing.
On to Redwood National Park, dipped into California. Two of Aunt Esther’s postcards today were in a tacky park called the “The Trees of Mystery”, with a talking 45-foot-high Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox, “Babe”. Normally, we would not have paid to enter such a place, but Aunt Esther “made us do it”. One of the post cards was of the “Cathedral Tree”, a half circle of nine redwoods grown together. Today there are religious texts displayed and schmaltzy music playing. You can now rent the tree for weddings. I am convinced that those who do get married there will live happily after, because they would lack the discrimination to find enough fault with each other for the necessary divorce.
At the end of the day, we needed to drive back to Oregon and we decided to take a “shortcut” through the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. It was a one-lane dirt road that snaked between giant redwood trees, but what a spectacle! The highlight of the day and totally unexpected!
Once we crossed the Cascades on our way to Crater Lake, the weather changed from a foggy 57 (14 C) to a smokey 86 F (30 C). We have not experienced heat in three weeks! The sky turned smokey yellow because of forest fires. ‘Tis the season.
Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox at “Trees of Mystery” Theme ParkRedwoods National and State Parks, California
Mile 5116 – Gold Beach, Oregon. Once you move more south, you lose most of the commercial ugliness. Just breathtaking views and also beautiful bridges. The Oregon coast really is the Gold Standard for coastal scenery (my other favorite is Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, but we’re not there now). The weather forecast was for “mostly cloudy with a chance of drizzle”. Except for some minor (and scenic) mid-day fog that briefly rolled in and then out again, it was another glorious day.
Mile 4922 – Newport, Oregon. Departed from Ocean Park to Oregon via the Astoria Bridge. Visited the Astoria Column, with beautiful views over the Astoria town and peninsula, the Columbia river basin, and the Astoria and Warrenton bridges. Then on to Fort Clatsop where Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1805/1806.
The state of Oregon has the right idea: All beach access is public, no private ocean-front property. Unfortunately, right behind those beaches are often ugly commercial strips with billboards and flashing signs. Now, let’s combine public beach access with Vermont’s ban on billboards and we might get somewhere. Nevertheless, the Northern Oregon coast is unique and very scenic.
Mile 4738 (local miles) Our last night in Ocean Park, Washington. We woke up to more sunshine, even though as late as yesterday the National Weather Service predicted gloom and doom. Walked on the beach, lingered over lunch, and made preliminary plans for the rest of the trip.
Mile 4712 – Ocean Park, Washington. Finally, a rainy day. We got to see the Washington coast the way it is supposed to look. We also caught up on Internet banking, a haircut, and laundry, and we finally got a chance to do more blog work. We actually needed this day, but still found time to go to the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, near Ilwaco— a very well done museum.
Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center in the Sun (August 24)
Mile 4649, Ocean Park, Washington (local miles only). One more cloudless day, a little bit warmer. We spent the day walking around Leadbetter Point State Park and the beach at the north end of the Long Beach peninsula. On the beach we were virtually alone with the plovers, hundreds of them, and seagulls and vultures picking over the carcass of a dead seal. Went back to the house and finally got some laundry done.
Mile 4603, Ocean Park, Washington (local miles only). A cloudless, sunny day with a stiff breeze, ideal for the annual kite flying festival at Long Beach, albeit a bit cool (60 degrees during “the heat of the day”, but fine for me). The kites were wonderful. Very colorful and imaginative.
Then we went to Cape Disappointment, at the entrance to the Columbia River, where Lewis and Clark saw the Pacific Ocean. Gorgeous scenery, many pictures.
We are getting desperate: Too much gorgeous weather keeps us from catching up on our blog posts and email. Plus we need to do laundry, but when? The last significant rain we saw was one hour out of Boston.
Ocean Park RentalInside the Ocean Park Rental HouseMore Kites at the Annual Long Beach Kite FestivalLighthouse on Cape DisappointmentCape Disappointment LightMouth of the Columbia RiverNorth Head Light, Cape Disappointment
Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center at Stevenson, Washington
Mile 4543 – Ocean Park, Washington. The National Weather Service threatened us with clouds and a chance of showers, but once again we experienced a mostly sunny day from sunrise to sundown.
P.J.’s Great Aunt Esther left a lot of postcards in the Mount Hood River valley and along Historic Route 30, a stretch of highway preserved in the Columbia River Gorge, so we spent most of the day trying to find the sites, with P.J. taking comparative pictures. We succeeded with most but not all. (Successes follow in the next post.)
At the end of the day, we drove into the night to reach Ocean Park, on Southwest Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula, where we have rented a house.
Columbia River Gorge Looking Downriver from Spring CreekHood River Welcome SignMount Hood, Beautiful MountainHistoric Route 30 in the Columbia River GorgeColumbia Gorge Looking Upriver from Vista House
Entrance to the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
Mile 4252 – Stevenson, Washington (in the Columbia River Valley).
We woke up to gray skies at the west entrance to Mount Rainier National Park. Even had some drizzle on the way up the mountain. Rainier remained in the clouds as we drove out of the park, but then again it cleared miraculously and we had a wonderful, crystal-clear afternoon by the time we got to Mount St. Helens.
I first visited Mount St. Helens in 1982, two years after the eruption. It was a moonscape then. Now it was much greener. Spirit Lake still has some floating logs left over from the eruption, but it looks much clearer now, and life is coming back more than diverse than before.
Drove through the Gifford Pinchot National Forest all day. Reached the Columbia River Valley by evening.
The North Side of Mount St. HelensStanding Trees from the 1980 Eruption of Mount St. HelensBlowdown Trees from the 1980 Eruption of Mount St. HelensCrater View of Mount St. HelensStairs to the Mount St. Helens Windy Point OverlookSpirit Lake at Mount St. Helens
