A San Francisco Treat

Good Morning All! (Well, for those of you in EST, Good Afternoon!) The days seem a little less exciting when I don’t have bear stories to share with you, but there will be wildlife in this one, so read on. Yesterday we left Eureka for our little jaunt down the Pacific Coast. It really is a gorgeous drive if you ever have the time (or the stomach) for it. For much of the way you can see the coastline and waves breaking over the offshore rocks. That was probably the coolest thing for me. It’s sort of surreal because while you watch the waves rise and fall, they look rather calm, especially from a distance. However, when one of these “calm” forces meets a rock, it’s like a collision of energy and they spray water up in the air and even away from the beach, you can imagine the magnificent sound that they create.

The other pretty amazing thing is what a great ocean view the cows in pasture have in California. So much of the land on the north coast is undeveloped but I didn’t really comprehend what that means. Apparently it means that cow pastures go right up to the edge of the sea. We did see quite a few bits of land for sale, so get out your pocketbook if you’d like to claim your own oceanfront property. The drive to get to the coast from the 101 was very, very, very curvy. Did I mention it was curvy? You have to cross the coastal mountains that lay between 101 and 1 and the resulting road is a test for drivers’ nerves and passengers’ stomachs. My stomach barely passed. The long stretches where I could see the beach once we were on 1 wasn’t too bad, but Tom really seemed to push it to the limit at the end as we neared the city. At one point we actually had to pull over. So before you buy up that aforementioned property, I’d check out the commute once or twice.

And now, as promised, the wildlife portion of today’s program: Pelicans and Sea Lions (or Seals, we’re not sure which.) As we drove down the 1 we pulled out to see what little critters lay on the beach below and boy were we in for a surprise. The entire finger of beach that stretched across between the ocean and some little inlet was covered in animals. They were very orderly in who got what space. The seals (we’ll just call them that for now) ringed the outer edge to be closest to the water. Every now and then we’d see one shimmy down off of the beach and the transformation from a lumbering beast to a graceful something (words are escaping me for an appropriate opposite to “beast”) in the water was amazing. On the inner layer of the circle were the pelicans and further down the beach, where the “C” of animals ended were the lowly sea gulls. Once again, we get to check another animal off of the list of things to see, even if we’re not sure if they were sea lions or seals.

We drove over the Golden Gate in San Francisco and were lucky that as of our arrival the fog hadn’t rolled in yet (that happened about 10 minutes later) so we had a clear view of the city and bridge. We stopped by Fisherman’s Wharf (wanted to see the touristy stuff, plus there were views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate across the water) and then headed up to Holly’s house. We’d been craving some pasta so we went out to a little place called Val’s. The pasta was good but we opted to not stick around for karaoke at the lounge next door. The best part about Holly’s place (other than the kick-ass view over the city)? The dogs!! She’s got two black lab mixes and it was a welcome sight to not only see a face from home but a couple of furry, four-legged faces as well.

Today we’re off to Yosemite for a few days. It’s unfortunate how the timing worked out because it’s Friday and the park will be absolutely packed with people. Hopefully the crowd won’t diminish too much from our experience.

PS-Almost forgot, we got a chance (inadvertently while leaving Fisherman’s Wharf) to drive down a couple of those very steep streets that you think of when you think San Francisco. Crazy!
PPS-We had an earthquake this morning! It was a 4.2 across the bay in Oakland early this morning. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to feel it (or maybe that’s fortunate), either way I can say that we also experience an earthquake on our trip!

Tom with a Tall Redwood

Wizard Island, Crater Lake

Nothing Says July Like 45 Degrees

The sea was angry that day; like an old man trying to return his soup at the deli.

-Tom (borrowing from Seinfeld which was borrowing from Hemingway)

So last night we probably pushed the driving thing too far as we didn’t get to our campsite until 10:30 or so. We had thought about getting a hotel, but we didn’t. By the time we started setting up the tent, I think we both wish we would have just got the hotel! Then it rained in the night. It’s nice and dry in the tent (rain fly does its job, don’t even have to worry about touching the edge of the tent) but it makes it a bit of a mess to put away. We had breakfast at a little place on the way to Crater Lake this morning.

Which brings us to our first big adventure of the day: Crater Lake. We had all kinds of plans and options. Well, really just two: do we hike down to the water or hike up an old volcano to get a bird’s eye view of everything. We finally settle on the later, with Tom vaguely recalling that somebody had suggested that hike to him before we left. The drive to the park was very reminiscent of a Smoky Mountain vista: the road we were on paralleled a river that alternating from calm to bubbling over rocks and (very) small waterfalls while all around us were thick forests of pine trees draped in moss and fog alike. This is not a stationary fog, it’s one that seems to grow and shrink like it had a breath of its own.

Well, if the fog was born from anywhere, it must have been Crater Lake. As we drew nearer our visibility lessened and the temperature dropped. For people who have spent the better part of the last few weeks with temperatures around 100, 45 degrees is QUITE the shock to the system. I had to get out my blanket when we got back in the car! The unfortunate side effect of the weather is that it hampered our view of Crater Lake. The deep blue color for which it is famous only seemed evident on the edges; the middle was too busy reflecting the silver-white of the low hanging cloud that dominated our view. Though ours may not have been the traditional view of Crater Lake, we were privy to the appearance and disappearance of Wizard Island as the fog bank would alternate between covering the whole vista and pulling back for a peek-a-boo moment of wonder.

Where Olympic’s rainforest failed to live up to expectations, California’s Redwoods definitely live up to the hype. It is absolutely awe-inspiring to stand in a grove of 200-300 feet tall trees as they tower over you. I found myself walking with my head all the way back for much of the visit (which, if you know my propensity for clumsiness while doing ordinary things like walking, was a dangerous position to be in!). The trees also had a solidness that it seemed like even the biggest of the giants in the rainforest was lacking. There are wider trees in California, but the tallest are in this area. Hopefully we'll see some more monsters in Yosemite. All in all, I’d recommend it if you ever get the chance.

We stayed in a hotel tonight in Eureka, CA and tomorrow we’re going to continue down the coast to San Francisco. So far the coastal drive in California has been WAY better than Oregon…you can actually see the coast here, not just glimpses of it through buildings.

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!