Mt Rainier

I have no memory of where we camped last night.  Oh yeah, we were at a private campground with the entire dry camping area (no water, sewer, electric) to ourselves.  Weekday (Sun-Thu) camping has been best for us, ample sites to choose and firewood to harvest from abandoned sites.  We saw bats while around our campfire last night and I heard coyotes early into the night.  Oddly in all our camping it was only the second time I recall hearing them.

46.53539,-121.77438

Target today was Mt Rainier and we camped not too far from it.  We arrived early to find the South West approach shrouded in clouds.  It seemed unlikely we would get a glimpse today.  We stopped and read some information at a kiosk and read of the rain shadow the mountain casts and how the opposite side got little rain.  We were off.  Sure enough as we came around the other side we were greeted by clearing skies and much better visibility.  But where was the mountain?  My navigator with his improving map skills correctly concluded it was behind us.  We kept looking over our shoulders at clearings until we found one that afforded us a great view.

 

Falls Creek near Rainier.

Still lots of snow!

I was hoping to camp another night on the Pacific so despite Tyler’s lack of interest I set a course for the coast.  When we got close to Tacoma we detoured North to visit my cousin Lee and her husband Mark.  We had a nice time talking about our trip and Tyler was tickled to meet their dog Chili.  Tyler was hoping to meet their boys but they were off enjoying their summer vacation.

Two weeks.  Two weeks and we have to be home.  I wrestled with our next target and I ultimately gave up on the coast and set a course for Yellowstone.  I want to see it midweek or not at all.  I suspect it will be crowded even then though.

There will be a few detours with our route as usual.  Never can be sure what we’ll find between here and there.  We rolled in to camping at Lake Kachess and found a nice site for $10. (47.35655,-121.24700)

8:32AM, May 18, 1980

Up early and too cold too linger we escaped from Nottingham and headed for the Columbia Gorge.

 A guy we met at Oregon Caves suggested seeing it, as did the Pacific Crest through hiker we talked to at Crater Lake.  The German family we exchanged camping tips with at Newberry suggested avoiding camping in the Gorge, no escape from the highways or railroads on either side.

We cruised West on the Oregon side towards Portland.  It was windy, the weather visibly deteriorated the closer we got to Portland, the rain never fell though.  We stopped at one of the Visitor Centers for the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.  Sadly they too, were no longer employing Junior Rangers.  No worries though, we took some pictures at Multnomah Falls on the Lewis and Clark trail.

We grabbed the freeway a bit (yuck), and crossed into Washington state.

Mt. St. Helens slowly grew on the horizon, but not before the Jeep sputtered and stalled.  Out of gas again.  I was trying to make it to Battle Ground, WA but ran out in Dollar's Corner, WA.  A little better than before, just over 21mpg.  Lets hope the mileage keeps improving.  

We stopped at Ape Caves in search of the legendary cave apes.  We found a natural lava tube at Mt. St. Helens and hiked nearly 3/4 mile down the easy side of the cave.  It was awesome and nothing like Oregon Caves.  The park service did this one right.  If you want to explore the tubes, dress warmly and be sure to have at least three sources of light.  The park has not wired the cave or made the path user friendly save for a set of stairs to get you through the natural opening to the floor of the tunnel.  Except for one low point it was large enough you could drive a Jeep right through this cave.  Well, the 51 Willy's could make it with the windshield folded down.

Oh and it was dark, despite the popularity of this part of the Monument you felt truly alone as flashlights didn't carry far as the cave twisted and turned.  Just the soft echo of other voices and cave apes let you know others were down here.

The park service was renting lanterns for those less prepared.

After the cave and upon a rangers recommendation we drove to Windy Ridge and were afforded a close look at the damage caused by the eruption and pyroclastic flow.  Trees all leveled laying in one direction.  The lake still partially covered in 30 year old downed timber.  As you got further away only the largest trees stand as solitary statues, dead and bare of any branches.

We headed North, again, to the tallest point in Washington, but stopped at a commercial campground on the way, $22 and we have the entire tent area to ourselves with plenty of firewood to boot.  We win.

And just enough signal to send text only blog updates.  Pictures tomorrow we hope.

Where is my Maid Marion?

We ended our day at Crater Lakes in a motel, our fifth motel/hotel of the trip.  It was a log cabin themed affair with live bullets embedded in the clear cover and seat of the throne.  Classy.   At any rate it was clean and after partaking of what they called a continental breakfast we were off.

Our first stop was the Newberry National Volcanic Monument, one of our country's youngest, created in 1990 if I recall correctly.  It has a large obsidian rock flow.   Obsidian being very sharp is often used as surgical scalpels, particularly for the eye as it is superior to steel and gives clean cuts that heal with little scarring.  I tested this theory on my finger tip.  Yup, it's sharp.

We did a short hike through the flow with Ranger intern Ashley then returned a short while later as I had forgotten a camera.

They didn't participate in the Junior Ranger program, but we had fun nonetheless.

After we were done exploring we headed North, hoping to see the highest point in Oregon (11,239').  We spent the night, figuratively, in the shadow of  Mt Hood at the Nottingham campground.  It was called Robin Hood a few years ago but it got sacked by the East Fork of the Hood river.  We grabbed one of the last two sites available.  Always tough to find camping on weekends.  The RVer's take over everything with all their junk in tow.  (Sorry, Pam and Dan).

We had a nice fire and paid the Sheriff the $12 dollar tax when he came collecting.  Still a great deal!  We had a good night, though I was awakened at 12:30AM to the sound of something brushing against our screened windows.  I kicked the side of the cab and whatever it was moved on.  We both awoke again a little later to crawl deeper under the covers.  A cold night, morning temp was 40 degrees.

Oregon

We slept well at Grassy Flat campground, which was bereft of grass and not so flat.  I backed the Jeep on to a pair of rocks just to try to give us a level sleeping position.  We decided to eat on the road and left camp before 7AM.  Our first stop was to be Oregon Caves National Monument in Cave Junction, OR.  It was not our first stop.

We made it in about six miles of the 22 mile access road before the engine sputtered and died.  Out of gas again.   Just over 20mpg for this leg.  I dumped our 5 gallon reserve into the tank and continued to the Monument.

We had the place to ourselves or so it seemed and made the 10AM tour with with Ranger Marc.

After Oregon Caves we topped off the fuel tanks, did some grocery shopping and headed North East to Crater Lake National Park.

All local camping was booked near the park so after a long drive we found a motel on the way to Bend.