Rolling Along

Highway 101 weaves to and fro from the coast like an extension of the waves that batter the shore from which it parallels.

That little gem was for Tom, since we were discussing our great differences in communicating. Him: big hills with trees. Me: mountaintops covered in clouds and evergreens. But anyway, this is the information that you get on the blog today as we continue on the very literal road trip portion of our adventure. We are traveling down the Oregon coast before jutting inland to Crater Lake. We had wanted to see Mt. St. Helen but were foiled by the low hanging clouds, which also extended to the ground in the form of rain showers now and again.

The drive has been OK, but in all honesty I thought we’d be able to see more of the coast as we went along. I guess you could compare it to driving north on US-23 (the highway, not the expressway): you see some glimpses of the water and long expanses from time to time, but most of the journey is obscured by houses, distance, trees, or a combination of all of the above.

So in essence, you get a reprieve from my increasing wordiness as I sit back and enjoy the sea air and verdant foliage that surrounds me. Ewww…actually, scratch that, I’m surrounded by sea air tinged with the very pungent aroma of dead fish…

Actually, rewind time just a bit. This morning it was raining at camp (figures, the day we need to pack up the tent…oh well, it can air out tonight) so we broke camp and started on our journey. We stopped at the sound end of Olympic and had breakfast overlooking Ruby Beach. We had bought sausages, eggs, and OJ yesterday so we did it up in style. Heck, something other than granola or PB&J is impressive to us at this point! So yeah, that was our morning and you already know about the afternoon. Next up, the evening!! That’s if I ever find a WiFi around here…

Waves Crashing at Rialto Beach (WA)

Sea Stars at Low Tide

Big Leaf Maple (and Me)

Mossy Tree in the Hoh

From H2O to Hoh

Today was pretty varied as far as ecosystems go, but they do have one thing in common: water. We got out to the beach this morning before low tide so we were able to walk to the Hole in the Wall tidepool and see some pretty interesting things. I am fascinated by sea stars for some reason and there were orange and purple varieties (actually, I think they are the same variety, just at different stages or something.) These contrasted nicely with the sea anemones that were also on the rocks. These came in green and purple/pink. They’re pokey little fingers remind me of those morphed koosh-like balls that seem real popular these days…the kind that stretch and can be turned inside out. I guess I never realized what they were modeled after before but after seeing the anemones, there is no question in my mind.

Even though we weren’t at the beach yesterday at high tide, the difference between then and low tide was astounding! Yesterday the waves seem to be the only menace to those who would venture forth into the surf but today, well, today was a different story. Rocks galore! The rocks and sea stacks at Rialto beach are remainders of what used to be the cliff shoreline until the effects of water, wind, and waves have taken their toll. The big trees that are washed up to the beach edge actually serve as a bit of a buffer to delay further erosion. I found out that these monster skeletons of trees actually come from inland; they are carried to see by the rivers and bounce around until big winter storms push them very far up the beach. Now that would be a cool sight to see!

The Hoh Rainforest isn’t really what we expected. Now, before you say anything, yes I realize that it’s not a tropical rainforest and there will be no monkeys jumping from tree to tree or bug eyed tree frogs peeking around every corner. However, I did expect something … else. First of all, it hasn’t rained a drop since we’ve been here and the forest didn’t even look damp. All in all, the Hoh doesn’t look that much different than the forest our campground in. Now don’t get me wrong, that’s not to say that it isn’t neat, because it is, it’s just not what we expected.

In addition to the big trees, the moss is probably the second coolest part. It drapes off of every branch and trunk of some of the trees, so thick that it looks like they look a bit like sea creatures covered in algae. The most baffling thing to me is that the water that runs through the streams in the rainforest is absolutely clear. I know the reason (it percolates from the mountains above so it is filtered by sand and gravel) but the logical reason seems to register a half-second behind my brains initial expectation. I guess I think of forests and rain and then I think of mud; therefore the streams should be muddy messes. Another water note: the river that flows out of here (Hoh River) runs gray; this is because the glaciers grind up pieces of rocks into fine particles and these color the water. Yes, it does seem that I’m very aware of changing water colors, but I think that you would be too. Perhaps it’s an encoded survival thing to be wary of water that is unfamiliar to what we know to be safe. At least it gives me something to ponder.

That brings me to my last point, being in nature and away from the responsibilities of everyday life (and mind-numbing effects of media) definitely makes one think about more varied topics. This you may have noticed from my blogs, which I’m sure have become more cumbersome to read. But hey, I’ve been including more pictures, so that evens out!

Qwik-E-Mart

Beach Sunset with Seastack

Olympia N.P.: A Place Shrouded in Mist and Mystery

We took the ferry from the Seattle area across to the Olympic Peninsula today to embark on the Pacific portion of our adventure. We started our time in Olympic at the Visitor Center, a tactic that has served us will in not only gathering information but getting good suggestions for hikes and camping. This place seemed a little less helpful, but then again it might attract a different sort of Park Ranger than the rugged Tetons, Yellowstone, or Glacier.

From a distance, Olympic definitely seems to be a mysterious place. Clouds envelop the peaks, only to reveal the tops for a while and fit the mountain like an ill-place cummerbund. Upon closer inspection, it still doesn’t reveal itself as the trees seem to be covered in fur…yet it is just moss. That’s what’s really interesting to me about this forest, it seems so desirable to find a place here that they are willing to grow (and tolerate others growing) one on top of each other. It’s the New York City of forests!

The mystery of the park is added to by its many contradictions. You have the aforementioned deep and green forests. But there are the rugged peaks capped with glaciers. And still more! These glaciers run off into lakes so blue I’m not sure if Crayola makes a crayon to color them! Our campsite is near the ocean (just a mile or two away), but from where I sit typing this I’m in the densest and most immense forest that I’ve ever been in (granted, I’ve never been to Hartwick Pines though I doubt that it could muster this much diversity).

I mentioned a comment of Tom’s back in Yellowstone, that it seemed like dinosaurs should be roaming about such a strange landscape. Well, Yellowstone may have seemed prehistoric in its geological features, but scale-wise, this is where the dinosaurs belong! Everything seems super-sized here. The clovers that cover the ground on the edge of the park road are almost as big as the palm of my hand; the big-leaf and broad-leaf plants and trees took this characterization to heart and have stretched their greenness to the max; and the trees, goodness are the trees big! To give you an idea, I stood next to one at the beach that had fallen and on its side, buried in the sand, it was almost as wide as I am tall.

Which brings me to the last point for this evening: the beach. Yay, ocean! I’ve been excited to get to the Pacific and see a little change of scenery. We just walked a bit today after we set up camp but we’re going to go back at sunset tonight. I guess we lucked out with the tide schedule as well; tomorrow should be one of the lowest tides in a while so we should see some good marine life specimens. We plan on walking the beach for a while in the morning and then heading off to the Hoh Rainforest for a little bit and then back to camp. We’re going to stay here tomorrow night and then it’s off to Crater Lake. (I’m saving ocean description stuff for tomorrow when we do our hike.)

On a side note, the trip is starting to make us weary. The rest of the stops should be a nice balance of sight-seeing and moving on to the next destination and the major hikes are probably behind us (possibly with the exception of what we decide to do in Yosemite). By no means do we regret taking this long of trip though; there’s something to be said for full immersion in a pursuit; you definitely appreciate it on more levels and different ways. Although, in all honesty, as we are caught up in the day-to-day, the immensity of our undertaking probably still hasn’t sunk in for us yet (someday though!)

PS-I forgot to mention yesterday that we saw our first Qwik-E-Mart (in anticipation of the Simpson’s movie). Brandon had told us that they redid some 7-11s to be like the Qwik-E-Mart and sure enough, we saw one. I’m going to look for the picture and hopefully post it for you to see…

Catching a Fish at Pike Place