Cape Disappointment State Park

This park used to be called Fort Canby, and I don't know that the name change makes it more alluring, although it's a great park if you can get past the moniker.

We decided too late that this would be our June destination and had to reserve three different campsites since none were available consecutively. Here is Arvie in the first spot with the ocean just past those trees, the roar of which I think sounds not unlike a distant freeway. 

The weather for the first day and a half was rainy, but that did not deter us from a walk on the beach and a climb on some rocks. Needless to say, we had this stretch of beach to ourselves. 

 Next we walked out to McKenzie Head, a short hike up a hill to one of the old fort's batteries.

A sun break view of the Cape D Lighthouse, one of two at the park.

The tunnel under the battery was so eerie. I didn't realize it had so many rooms off the main tunnel when we walked through the first time, I just followed the light at the end. But coming back through, I used my camera's flash to take pictures, and couldn't get out of there fast enough once I realized it wasn't just a single tunnel. In this picture, I could not see The Big Guy or that room to the left with my naked eye.

Another of the rooms off the main tunnel. I have no idea how deep this is, and I really don't care to know. All I could think of was zombies lurching out of the darkness. I don't even like looking at these pictures. Creepy, creepy, creepy.

 

The only other activity we did the first day was a very long after dinner walk through all the camping loops, scoping out our spots for the rest of the weekend. This is a big park and just walking the camping sections is quite the trek.

 Because we had to move sites the next day and didn't want to have to interrupt our activities to do so, we drove the rig down to the boat launch parking lot and took off on foot from there. 

It was still a little rainy and gray, but this pretty girl didn't mind at all.

Another of the old fort's remains. Not creepy.

Never a bad view, even on a gray morning.

Our first destination of the day. We toured the center and chatted with the volunteers working the front desk, something we may end up doing ourselves someday when we become full-time RVers. You heard me.

The view of the Interpretive Center from the Cape D Lighthouse, which we neglected to take up-close pictures of, apparently.

After our hike back down, we had lunch, then drove the RV to our next spot. I mean to say, I drove, which I also did for about 10 miles on the way out and from the first spot to the boat launch. I even backed into our site. No, really, I did. 

Our afternoon adventure was to hike the North Head Trail to the other lighthouse. It was very muddy in some spots, and there were frogs jumping everywhere. The map says it is 1.5 miles, so we'll go with that, but I that seems a bit conservative.

By the time we reached the top, the sun had broken through, and it was quite warm and humid.

 We did manage to take a picture of this lighthouse.

More than one. It was actually difficult to get a nice photo since there were other people about and the modern buildings with their wires and towers mar the scenery from certain vantages.

Nothing marring this vantage. I didn't see anything but ocean, though.

On the way back, we saw a few of these, this one was perhaps the largest garter snake I've ever seen, although with nothing to provide scale in this photo I can't show you how fat it really was. I'm sure it's from a frog-rich diet.

There were several of these signs posted throughout the park. I desperately wanted the opportunity to stay away from a baby seal and allow it to sleep, and we searched and searched for a baby seal to stay away from, but we never found one. I think it would be nice if these signs could include when might be the best time to not disturb a baby seal. 

Also located throughout the park are these phones. 

You can use them in emergencies. Or for pizza. Same diff.

"Hello, 911? I have abdominal pain. Please send pizza."

I neglected to get a photo of Arvie in the Friday night spot because I was distracted by Marco, one of our neighbors. The people were nice, too, but not as cute. Marco wasn't yet skilled enough to deter the gaze of raccoons that stole into their camp in the middle of the night, tipping over their weighted-down coolers and making off with their eggs. 

We spent the rest of that evening relaxing, having logged more than 10 miles on foot total for the day. We also made use of the nice shower facilities in the park, which only ran us 0.75 cents total. 

Our Saturday adventures started with a ride on the Discovery Trail, a lovely paved trail that runs from Ilwaco to Long Beach. We once again parked the rig at the boat launch and had to pedal the park roads up to the trail access. That part was all downhill, but the trail itself is relatively flat.

 There are some points of interest along the way.

While Capt. Clark contemplates a large sturgeon, I have employed the old finger-in-the-gun-barrel trick.

Gray whale bones from a juvenile that beached in 2000. I thought it was kind of funny that the chained area surrounds the sculptures and not the actual whale bones.

On the return trip, we rode up to the North Head Lighthouse again and took the Bell's View spur trail to the lookout.

Our last site, dry camping. I drove to this spot, but I did not finish the parking. Better not to ask. Let's just say, some driving lessons are more challenging than others. 

We cooled off, literally, by taking a long walk on the beach. Although the sun was warm, the wind was cool, and we took off our shoes to keep our feet warm in the hot sand. We walked a long way, and I remarked that the sand was hurting my toes. It was, as I discovered later, giving the bottom of a couple toes some blisters! Luckily, I got my shoes on before they got really bad, but, as The Big Guy said, who ever heard of walking barefoot in the sand causing blisters?

Our walk was longer than we'd thought, and we had to hurry up and eat dinner because we'd planned to get down to Waikiki Beach for the summer concert series where we were also meeting a friend of mine who just so happened to be staying in Ilwaco for the weekend. We were running out of time, so we decided to drive down to the parking area in the rig.

 This is the view of the platform stage, the bleacher seats, and the natural seating on the rock face.

We sat on the bleachers. It was warm in the sun, but the wind was chilly. The musicians mentioned that their fingers were getting numb, but despite that, the music was great.

While my friend and I visited before the show, The Big Guy got a few shots of the view from Waikiki Beach.

After the concert, we visited in the rig for awhile longer, then we made our way back to camp.

Where someone else was parked in our spot.

Hey, remember these? We drove around until we found one, and tried to call the ranger. They gave us another number to call, which ended up being voice mail for an administration number. Not helpful, emergency phone!

We drove around a little more, and found an employee, who said he'd contact the ranger for us, and advised us that it's a good idea to leave something in your spot if you need to leave it because they tell people who arrive after hours that they can take any unoccupied space. Oh, well, shoot, if we had known that we could have saved a lot of money. Silly us making and paying for reservations!

By the time we got back to our space, the occupier had moved, and minutes later the rangers showed up. Fortunately, they weren't needed any longer, but it was good to know they were actually available. I missed my opportunity to ask them about the best time to leave baby seals alone, though.

 

Our last morning we motored down to park and take a walk out on the North Jetty Road. This is another view of Waikiki Beach.

It was very windy, and the low clouds were being blown quickly along the sand.

Looking back at shore from out on the jetty.

Thanks, Cape D, for a great, action-packed 3-star time. I'd give you 4 stars, but you'll need to fix that reservation thing, and there's also the matter of the missing baby seals.

 

 

Begin at the End

While we love Arvie and the hikes she takes us to, sometimes she's not invited and must stay home. Today was one of those days. Today was about getting our shoes dusty on a nice, long walk with friends.

It began in Cle Elum, where the Coal Mines Trail begins. Or ends if you begin at the other end. 

The trail is a nice, even grade, well-maintained, with a lovely mix of shade and sun on such a day as this one was. There is a Honey Bucket cosmetically concealed by the fence in this pic, and I appreciated not only the facility but the camouflage beautification. 

There was a spur trail a mile or so in, and the guys decided we should take it to add a little oomph to our walk. We stayed on the regular trail on the return trip because we're all about variety.

I wanted to see some critters, and I thought I was going to when I heard a wild turkey but it was only Corey's water bottle.

I look pretty happy about that 1909 explosion, don't I? Egads.

The trail connects Cle Elum to Roslyn (and further on to Ronald, but we didn't know about that extension when we planned this outing.) It is about three miles between the two towns. Coincidentally, today was the first day of the new Roslyn Farmer's Market, where there was food, music, all manner of hand-crafted items, and a glittery hula-hoop dancer. 

When I drove out to Seattle in the summer of 1992, I was excited to go through Roslyn and see this building that was featured prominently in the then still-running TV series Northern Exposure. I drove through the town, saw the building, and in a fit of embarrassment kept right on driving. The ironic part is that I was en route to Seattle to try to put my theatre degree to work and had even sent a resume to this very show. Ha! Too shy to stop because strangers might see me. Isn't that the whole point of acting? That strangers might see you? As you may have gleaned from previous blog postings, I am no longer shy about being a gawking tourist, and here is photographic evidence of that. 

The Big Guy took this photo of the California poppies. I think they are so pretty every time I see some.

After the walk back to Cle Elum, we motored over to this place in the south of town that is located inside an old railroad depot building and came at the recommendation of a mountain biker we met at the trail head earlier that morning. 

The old railroad has long since been converted into a extensive trail system, different sections of it which we have cross-country skied and mountain biked. Today, we made our state park visit official with this picture by the sign right outside the depot. 

We will definitely revisit the Coal Mine Trail someday. We'll just have to decide at which end to begin.

Lake Wenatchee State Park

We only had three days instead of our usual four for this weekend getaway, but that was really all we needed this time. The weather started out great, sunny and hot, and was predicted to stay that way for at least the next day. We took our time driving over the mountains, with one fuel and coffee stop along the way.  

The Big Guy says this is the right place.

Arvie nestled in her spot. This was a dry camp for us because there were no hook-up spots available when we made the reservation. Our rig was perfectly capable of handling that, but it was a little annoying to watch several folks pitch their tents in hook-up spots, leaving plenty of tent spaces unoccupied, especially since all the spots were pretty comparable in every other way. Oh well! If we spent our time being annoyed by what other people are doing or not doing, we'd have no time left for anything else. Oddly, there was no radio reception, and I panicked a bit because I really like to listen to the radio when we camp, especially since we usually get something different to tune in.

Our afternoon was spent walking along the north park's trail, which was very well-maintained with fresh wood chips. It lead to the lake, of course, and this nice little beach area. We wished we already had the folding kayaks we're planning to get because we would've had a nice paddle. I will miss our two-person kayak when that day comes since, as it is now, when my arms get tired, I can slack a little while TBG paddles. Is that wrong?

Scoping out the scenery.

Preparing to wade in the cool lake water. The morning we left for the trip, I woke up with a bruised heel that I have no idea how I got. As with almost every injury I ever get, it hurts more not to do something than to do something, but it felt good to pause and soak my feet. Also, do you like my new hiking hat? It even has a secret compartment. Well, it did.

 The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent just relaxing, watching other campers arrive and set up, reading, an evening stroll to check out other rigs, and finally finishing the puzzle Mom sent me for Christmas. I also checked the radio again, and a classic rock station was coming in. Not the best, but something for a little background while I puzzled. By morning, we were getting NPR, too, and that was even better.

As seems to be the norm for our state parks here, this one is split into two, and the longer hiking trails are only accessible from the southern campground, which, naturally, is not the one we were in. And, as usual, there isn't a proper connecting trail between the two. 

At least there was a sidewalk on the bridge. The rest of the walk between the two consisted of roadway shoulder-walking, but it wasn't too harrowing as has been the case in the past. It was, however, at least a mile before arriving at the trail head we wanted. 

The other sign.

 The day was cool and gray for our trek on the Nason Ridge Trail. The whole thing is something like 29 miles, but we certainly weren't doing that much, especially with a bum heel. The signs warned of too-friendly mountain goats in the area, but we didn't see any. Likewise bears. Or really anything of much interest.

The trail was easy to follow but not well-maintained, very rutted from dirt bikes. The grayness made for some dreary views, and the low-lying smoke from controlled underbrush clearing in the area was good for some burning nostrils.

 TBG hugs TBT. He's such a nature-lover. He also stopped twice on the way down to do a little trail maintenance by digging a few trenches with sticks and rocks to guide the water off the path. You're welcome other hikers!

We made the best of it as we always do, and our goal was to go for an hour before turning back. Although it's called a ridge trail, we're not sure when the ridge part actually starts. It was a steady climb the whole way, and TBG made it a goal to get to 3000' before we stopped and had our snack.

 This is not a goldfinch. I always get these (Western Tanagers) mixed up with goldfinches. Except for the rosy face, they look a lot alike. 

This is also not a goldfinch. Or a tanager. I think it is an osprey. This nest was on a man-made pole by the bridge, and this little one was awfully noisy. I was glad we could not hear it from camp.

The wildflowers were still pretty. I think they're even prettier on a gray day. Grayness seems to make the colors more brilliant, and this time of year, the green here is so, so green.

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may have noticed something missing in these photos. If you know us in person, you already know our sad news.

 A week ago, we had to say goodbye to our much-beloved Zuli, our companion for almost 13 years, our last dog. So much of our lives revolved around her, that the starkness of her absence was nearly unbearable. We thought taking an RV trip so soon might be a bad idea since we have never gone without her. It was difficult a few times, like finding the random poo-bag in a jacket pocket or the baggie of biscuits in the backpack or looking over at the couch where she wasn't anymore.

What more can I say, really? She's not here, and we're going to have to keep tripping over that fact for awhile until we can enjoy the memories of our time with her without the sharp knife of her loss.

Zuli Ramona

2003-2016

You were smart, beautiful, funny, frustrating.

 You were my heart.