Today we packed up our campsite and headed toward the Northern shore of the state of Washington. We would drive around Olympic National forest in which is Mount Olympia; however, the weather would not give us a chance to see the mountain as it started raining shortly after we left the campground and rained all day.
Leaving Warrenton and heading towards Astoria, ORColorful Astoria, OR
About an hour North of Astoria, Barb finds that South Bend, WA has a statue of the worlds largest oyster. We stopped and in the rain located the statue. Voila!
South Bend, WAOlympic National Park / Forest
We stopped in Forks, WA at the Timber Museum and ate lunch in the van before touring the museum. Although small they had some fascinating relics from the BIG timber days of 100 years or so ago.
Forks, WATreehouse
At the other end of the town of Forks, another museum displayed thousands of items that the owner, John, had collected over the past 47 years from the beaches in the area along the Washington coast. Although a high percentage of his collection is fishing floats, he also has a large collection of items from the 2011 Japanese tsunami that washes across the Pacific.
I managed to get up early this morning and go for an hour long walk. The first of the trip ☹️
The walk took me along the shore of a small lake near our campsite and then I headed toward the beach. It’s early so there was almost nobody about.
Coffenbury lake
I managed to get these two pictures of what remains of the wreck of the Peter Iredale. This was a 3-masted steel hulled barque that ran aground in 1906 during bad weather when trying to navigate into the Columbia River just a half mile North.
Peter Iredale – bowPeter Iredale -masts
After returning to the campsite, we spent a relaxing morning enjoying the sunshine albeit somewhat cool at just 14 degrees C.
After lunch we decided to take our bikes down onto the beach to ride them along the hard packed sand.
Riding South along the beachOur Rad Power Bikes RadMini’sTony found a much better cell signal and did some writing.Barb enjoying the experience of riding on the sand
For dinner we enjoyed steak, potatoes and grilled vegetables with some wine we picked up at Arcadian Moon Winery in Higginsville, Missouri. For the record, the mosquitoes were really bad and the citronella candle was required to have them leave us alone.
Today was the first of two full days we are spending at Fort Stevens State Park, a little downtime from traveling and time to enjoy the West coast a little.
View South along the beachWreck of the Peter Iredale (1906)We rode our bikes on trails to the Northern end of the beachWild Rhododendron View Eastward from the tops of the dunes and across the Columbia River toward the state of Washington
Last evening a small thunderstorm rolled through shortly after we had setup at the campground. This morning it is dry and we awoke early to use the showers, they were clean and the hot water was plentiful. Ahhh.
We ‘treated’ ourselves to a McDonald’s breakfast (our first fast food on the trip) and then we topped off on provisions at the Walmart before getting back onto the I-84 towards Portland,OR.
Leaving Pendleton the highway takes one last drop down into the Columbia river valley. For the next few hours we drive alongside this majestic river passing several large hydro-electric dams. Our route is shared with the railroads that also recognized this as a good route up from the ocean and into the heartland of the continent.
Columbia River
As we get closer to Portland we notice that the grasslands of the higher elevations have given way to more arable lands and then forests of tall cedars and firs. A clear indication that we are now on the West cost of the continent.
Mt. Hood Historic railwayHood River, OR
Along with these forests we witnessed a significant increase in the number of logging trucks on the road.
At Portland, we turn North and join I-5 into the state of Washington for a short drive to Longview, WA where we once again turn west and back into Oregon towards the coast. Longview is clearly a lumber town as we saw huge yards of logs being stored and awaiting shipping overseas where they will be turned into finished goods for shipping back to North America.
As we head towards Astoria, OR we realize that for the past two weeks we had been watching our elevation on the GPS rise from a few hundred meters to several thousand and now that we are near the coast, it is reading less than 50 meters. Before long this should be close to 0 meters as our target for the day is Fort Stevens State Park, OR.
Arriving in Astoria, we notice on Google maps that the primary bridge to the park is closed for maintenance and so Barb re-routes us across the town toward and alternate bridge. This new route through town turns out to be a 40% road upwards over the ridge and down the other side. I want you to think about San Francisco but in an RV. I head toward the hill now staring me in face and ask Barb, “are you sure?” To which the answer is “Yes” and so upwards we go, past the sign for ‘No trucks allowed’, up, up, up and over the top. Of course, the van made it and we were reminded of not blindly trusting what a map might suggest. We laughed at what the folks living on the street might have been thinking.
Arriving at Fort Stevens State Park we get ourselves settled as we are staying here for 3 nights to wind down and enjoy some time off-grid. Internet is not very reliable here and so a few days might go by before further posts are made. Back soon!
A dry morning awaited us as we looked out across the vineyard, today we are driving into Oregon.
We’ve learned that the Oregon trail passed through Glenn’s Ferry, so named because of the ferry service that once existed here. The Snake river at his point is fairly fast flowing and wide, and during the 1800’s many wagons and animals were lost attempting to cross the river at a point where three islands exist. This prompted the creation of a ferry service which existed for many years assisting those wagon trains heading westward to the coast. Although the ferry service no longer exists, it is remembered in the town name as does the 3 Islands crossing as many businesses use this name.
Our first stop of the day is in Boise, ID at an Oregon trail historical site. The area is now a park where many walk their dogs; but back in the 1800’s it was a crossing point of several trails and a location from which settlers would have had their first glimpses of the fertile Boise river plain. Many would call this far enough and today Boise is a prosperous city surrounded by lush farmland. Yes, they grow a lot of potatoes in this valley.
Oregon trail historical site
Leaving the Boise river valley, we climbed again into the hills and the land became more grassland and rolling. Stopping at a rest stop in one of these valleys, we enjoyed lunch in the van as we watched a variety of travelers exercise their dogs.
After lunch, we continued westward and the fauna changed again to coniferous forests. By mid-afternoon we were back at about 1500m and approaching Deadman Pass, a 6 mile 6% downhill grade that twists and turns it’s way out of the Oregon hills. We stopped at a viewing sight at the top where we could see the vehicles descend and appear to shrink into Tonka toys as they drove down the hill.
Deadman pass
Once at the bottom of the pass, we only had a few miles to drive before we arrived at Pendleton, OR. Tonight we are staying at the KOA in town and it is full, I think we got one of the last sites, but the full hookups and hot showers will be welcomed. Tomorrow we head to the coast.
