Pacific Northwest Road Trip
Glaciers, caves, mountain tops, and all kinds of trees. Oh, and orcas! Oh, and a UFO!
July 2018
Table of Contents
But First, A Little Ramble...
This trip started off with a flight to Reno and a few days visiting with my friend Shannon and her new baby, “Poopsie”. The little one was about six months old. Reading back over my travel journal from this trip, I described Shannon as a Super Mom. Now that I have a child myself, I can only reassert that label. We took “Poopsie” to the climbing gym for her first time where Shannon would nurse and then pass off the baby to climb a route. On another day during my visit, we went hiking up a super steep trail which Shannon tackled with her 16 pound baby in the pack as well as their layers and water and snacks for the day. The beginning of the trail had boulder-like steps taller than my knee that she navigated flawlessly, baby on board.
I remember just being in awe of her and hoping that when I became a mother (someday) that I would be that cool and capable. Knowing the pre-baby Shannon and her adventurous personality, it was encouraging to see that I wouldn't have to kiss that side of me goodbye in order to start a family.
Now, writing about this adventure 6 years later, I have a toddler son and am trying for Baby #2. I will be the first to acknowledge that I have been able to still explore outdoors a lot compared to other mothers I know. I am very lucky to have a husband who prioritizes the same things that I do. We are blessed to be able to squeak by financially with me taking time off work to raise my son. That means I get to go hiking at 2pm on a Tuesday when others are stuck at work.
But! It's still different than how I used to roll.
As an example, a foot-loose and fancy free friend of mine (read, no babies) is in Peru right now for a week. I am GREEN with envy. She doesn’t have to schlep around a kid and all their gear through her fun. She doesn’t have to limit herself to what can be tolerated by a toddler. Like hiking for 12 miles is probably NOT going to happen. I’ll get 4 miles or so while Grey is napping, but after that he’s not going to stand being in the pack for much longer. She doesn’t have to beg, borrow, and steal babysitters to cover the time she’s away. Let’s not even discuss if she was a breastfeeding mother at this time, managing pumping and milk storage before her trip to leave a stash for baby and during her trip to keep her supply up. She can just GO!
I used to just GO! I would have a week off of school for Fall or Spring Break and I would kiss John goodbye and live out of my car for the whole 9 days (with the added weekends on either end). And then came glorious, seemingly endless summer when I would scoff at the coworkers sticking around to teach summer school and make the most of my time off instead. I would eat out of a cooler and warmed up cans of Campbell’s soup, wake up before the sun, and go to bed long after it had set. In between, I’d tackle MILES of hiking and HOURS of driving. I would only shower when I couldn’t tell if that line around my ankle was a new level of suntan or ingrained dirt.
So come along with me as I relive one of those epic trips in order to heal my envious heart. Hopefully I can remember to be thankful for what I had, appreciative of what I have now, and excited for what the future may bring.
Day 1- Lassen Volcanic National Park, California
I approached a fellow solo female traveler at the campground to ask if I could snap a picture of her park map on my cell phone. She was leaving the next day and had no further use for it, so I got to keep it instead. It was well creased and torn and partially damp, like it had been well loved during her visit. I appreciated the feeling of camaraderie in our few moments of chatting, each living our best life, doing our own thing.
That night, I appreciated my midnight urge to crawl out of my tent for a pee. The stars were absolutely stunning. I sat at the picnic table for a while just to stare before going to back to sleep.
My first objective in the morning was to climb Lassen Peak, which rose 2,000 feet in elevation in a mere 2.5 miles. It was very steep, but super worth it!
Something about the air movement up there must sweep all sorts of flying things upwards towards the peak. There were tons of ravens and hawks and I swear a million butterflies all zooming around the trail.
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There was even one epic aerial hawk battle that was like my own personal scene from National Geographic.
Snow and pretty views, including a look at Mt. Shasta, awaited at the top.
The trip down went much faster, and then I was on my way to the Sulphur Works area. While Lassen Peak seemed quite sturdy under my feet mere moments ago, this place was a reminder that it is still considered a volcano. It’s dormant right now, but has an active magma chamber inside that is still capable of eruptions. The heat and the smells and the bubbling mud pits in this area were a testament to that.
I was really trying to get my miles in here at Lassen, so next on the list was a hike to Terrace, Shadow and Cliff Lakes, which is a round trip of 4 miles. The start of the hike was DOWNHILL which is always a red flag to me being from Colorado. Ninety-nine percent of hikes there are uphill to start, with the reassurance that it will be easier on the way back.
I had the trail pretty much to myself as I passed Terrace Lake first.
Shadow Lake was my favorite. A deep blue from a distance with a very scenic backdrop for a nice selfie.
While the trail didn’t feel crowded at all, I do think a lot less people press on to Cliff Lake. So if you are feeling like Shadow Lake is a little popular, keep going to the more isolated Cliff Lake for your snack.
I thought I would keep the lake theme going and hiked next to Cold Boiling Lake. It was a bit of a letdown because it was really only this tiny marshy section that was bubbling.
But even after 10.5 miles of hiking this day, I wasn't done yet!
Ah, the glories of spending a whole day on the go without a toddler…
My last adventure for the day was to King’s Creek Falls which was a really spectacular hike. I especially enjoyed it because it wasn’t just one of those hikes where the destination is the only cool part.
There were lots of falls along the way, as well as mossy trees and pretty wildflowers.
After all that, I certainly earned my dinner. A can of Campbell’s warmed over my camp stove and eaten straight out of the can, a cheese stick, some berries, and part of a veggie tray with ranch dip. I washed it all down with some sweet tea and then settled in to rest and relax before the next long day I had planned.
While I had spent most of the day feeling like I had the Park to myself, it was at the campground that I felt a bit crowded. That evening after dinner I found myself glaring at two girls who kept tromping through my site in an effort to short cut their way to the bathroom. Then I was awoken in the middle of the night by a screaming toddler who sounded like he was being eaten by a mountain lion. Suddenly I was thinking that being a Super Mom like Shannon would come along with some Super drawbacks.
Day 2- Lassen Volcanic and Redwoods National Parks, California
Thankfully, I found blissful solitude for most of the day before leaving Lassen.
I started with a stroll on the Interpretive Trail in the Devastated Area. There I got to see examples of the power produced by Lassen when it erupted a little over 100 years ago. There were GIANT boulders along the trail that had been thrown MILES from the top of the volcano.
Next I hiked to Paradise Meadows, passed some mossy trees and waterfalls.
The meadow itself should have been named Mosquito Meadows, so I didn't stay long.
I was really starting to feel sore and tired hiking Chaos Crater. I probably should have stopped for a snack first. But I did enjoy all the chipmunks and squirrels along the route and the cool views at the top.
I did finally stop to eat at Manzanita Lake which is where I got the cool photo of Lassen Peak reflected in the water that was at the top of Day 1. This place was packed, so it wasn’t a spot to find tranquility. But there were a lot of cute geese and ducks with their babies swimming around that were entertaining to watch while I snacked.
After hiking 22.5 miles in across two days in the Park, I was feeling like I could bid Lassen farewell for now and head on towards the Redwoods.
Day 3- Redwoods State and National Parks, California
The drive between Lassen and the Redwoods could have made the whole trip worth it by itself. The Shasta-Trinity National Forest was scenic and driving by Shasta Lake made me want to return with John’s boat someday. Then I was on the 101 with coastal and Redwood views all around. Just amazing!
I had just enough time to grab a $1 shower at my campsite (which made me feel as great as the scenery looked!) before joining a Ranger program at the amphitheater. The title of the presentation was “Advice from a Redwood”, which I have seen now on book marks and greeting cards since then. While the “advice” was a cheesy as you might expect (“Stand tall.”), I learned soooo much about Redwoods that really helped me appreciate and understand them better during my visit here.
Despite their large adult size, their cones are only the size of an olive and their seeds are the same size as a tomato’s. But they mostly reproduce by cloning, and you can often find little baby Redwood saplings growing in a ring around the adult. This cloning can happen even after the parent tree has been chopped down. Can you spot 2 “babies” in the photo below?
The tallest Redwood is 380 feet tall, which is higher than the Statue of Liberty.
Redwoods have shallow roots, considering their height, but they intertwine roots with other Redwoods for increased stability in the wind. They also pass along warnings and nutrients to each other across these root webs.
Two or three different Redwoods can merge into each other at the base as they grow, forming one tree.
Redwoods get up to 50% of their water intake from fog.
And lastly, there is an entire ecosystem that lives in just the canopy of the Redwoods that includes other trees and bushes growing out of their branches, salamanders and even a species of shrimp! (Mind blown emoji!)
Since I hadn’t eaten dinner until after the presentation, this was my first time using my new Coleman Camp Lantern that John recently gave me for a gift. It has really come in handy on a lot of nights since. And I love that it came with a case to protect it during travel.
Day 4- Redwoods National Park, California
I started the day with an early morning tide pool walk with a Ranger. It was super fun and now I make it a point to do it anytime I am along a rocky shore. It was funny to compare my initial hesitant actions, tip toeing through creepy drifts of seaweed, to gaining courage and experience and just tromping on through.
I saw crabs, little fish, barnacles, snails, and clams galore.
My favorite were the starfish and anemones. I even got to feel the “stinging” of the anemone when I touched it, although it just felt more like lightly rubbing the sharp side of Velcro.
Who would have thought that some of my favorite parts of my visit to the Redwoods would actually be found in the tide pools!
Then I got my permit for the Tall Trees Grove, which at the time you had to get in person. Now you can reserve them online 6 months in advance. I’m not sure if the number of permits issued has changed, but when I was here in 2018 it seemed like everyone and their sister could get a permit. But my timing must have been perfect because I had the whole walk and most of my lunch break on the trail to myself.
There were (obviously) a lot of tall trees…
… and some really interesting different forms of Redwoods as some trees were half-fallen, half-burned, or sprouting clones in strange shapes. (Forgive all the diagonal photos that came from this location. I was trying my best to capture as much of the trees’ height as I could.)
It was only 70 degrees that day, but had to have been 100% humidity and the hike back up to the car was steep. I was sooooo sweaty that I just immediately stripped my clothes off at the car and aired out for a minute. You’re welcome bystanders.
I had no trouble using the permit code to get in the gate when I arrived, but couldn’t get the lock to open on my way out.
A kind fellow hiker helped me out, perhaps one who had seen me mostly naked in the parking lot and worried I needed help on a whole 'nother level...
Next, I walked the loop at the Lady Bird Grove, which time and again remains my favorite spot in the park. If you only have time for a short walk and want to see some amazing trees, this is the place to do it. It’s just soooo peaceful and serene here.
This walk features other pretty plant life, including a bunch of rhododendrons which were in bloom with their pink flowers when I was here in July.
Then I was on to Trillium Falls, which rivals the Lady Bird Grove simply because the trail is longer so you get to spend more time amongst the giants.
The falls themselves are pretty lame, but let's be honest, that's not why you're really here now is it?
I saw my first ever banana slug here and could hear elk eating, but could barely make out their bodies through all the foliage.
Possibly the best part of this trail was walking passed a memorial plaque for someone whose name I don’t remember, but the plaque said…
"She was a beautiful woman, but even lovelier for the way she treated people. Friends and family loved and remembered her for her unselfishness, caring, and service to others."
Wow! What an inspiration to consider the impact you make on others and the legacy that you will leave behind.
I was sort of getting choked up in the moment, when a black feather drifted down out of no where to land right in front of me. I kept it to honor that woman, who was perhaps sending me a message.
Once I got myself back under control, I completed the hike and proceeded on to Fern Canyon to see where Jurassic Park 2 was filmed.
I could totally imagine dinosaurs meandering amongst the ferns here. It seemed very ancient and primal.
Let me warn you that my photos are misleading. While I did find plenty of peace and solitude at the Redwoods, Fern Canyon was pretty crowded. I waited long amounts of time and was very strategic about my photography to get shots that look isolated.
I then tried to proceed further on the Coastal Trail to see Gold Dust Falls and apparently it didn’t go so well. I say “apparently” because I actually have ZERO memory of this, but in my travel journal I wrote, “tried and failed 3 times to get to Gold Dust Falls! I don’t want to talk about it. Type 5 Fun.”
If you have read my article on the Types of Fun, you will know that Type FOUR is when you “don’t want to talk about it”, and Type 5 is when the event haunts your nightmares. Apparently they are the type of nightmares you wake up from in a cold sweat, but don’t actually remember what happened.
There is a river crossing that I would have had to navigate in order to make it to the falls. My assumption is that the river was too rough to cross and I must have tried (and fell) 3 times before I gave up. I really am just confused why I don’t remember this AT ALL!
I was on a roll to check off all the things in the Redwoods I wanted to see and do in the short time I would have here. I kept it going with a scenic drive and a tiny stroll to see Big Tree, which is actually 100 feet shy of the tallest tree.
As of this writing in 2024, Hyperion holds the rank for tallest Redwood. There is no established trail to reach the tree and the Park strongly discourages visitors from damaging the ecosystem in order to reach it via social trails. The Park website points out that tree tops (if not whole trees) are constantly falling down, making “Tallest Tree” a title that changes branches all the time.
While “Big Tree” isn’t the tallest, I did appreciate the funny sign beneath it, reminding visitors that they are SURROUNDED by “big” trees.
I finally called it a day after that and returned to camp. After several days of cans of soup, I wasn’t super jazzed about my dinner plans for that night. While listening to another baby cry at a neighboring campsite, I thanked heaven I didn’t have kids (yet!) and ate a chocolate pop-tart instead of dinner. Cause that’s what people who aren’t pregnant, or nursing, or trying to be a role model for a toddler can do!
Day 5- Redwoods National Park, California and Oregon Caves National Monument, Oregon
I started the day with more tide pooling led by Ranger Melissa. I could hear sea lions barking the whole time, but couldn’t see them because of the thick fog surrounding their morning hang out rocks.
Like the “Advice from the Redwoods” presentation, I learned a lot about tide pool creatures from this well-informed and passionate ranger.
Sea stars have eyes on the ends of their arms and research suggests that they have “preferred” arms, like humans are right or left handed. They eat by pushing their stomach out of their “oral disc” in the center. This is the same orifice that is the “out” hole of their digestive system. If an arm detaches from the creature WITH PART OF THE ORAL DISC ATTACHED, it can regrow a whole sea star!
You can tell the difference between a male and female crab by looking at their apron. A male will have a more “Washington Monument” shape (as Melissa described it) and a female will have a more triangular shape. Interesting parallels there with human anatomy… This skill became useful when John and I started taking the boat up to the Puget Sound and San Juan Island waters to do our own crabbing every August.
Female crabs carry their eggs under their apron. Male purple speckled rock crabs will back into a crevice after their female to defend her and the eggs, a very rare paternal behavior among tide pool creatures.
There were other species of crab, and I got to see more starfish and open anemones in this tide pooling adventure than the one the day before. I even got to see the tiny feet of the star fish!
After that, I set out on my last hike in the Redwoods (for now!) to see the Boy Scout Tree. At 5.5 miles, it was one of the longer day hikes that I wanted to do in the Park. I didn’t run into a single person along the trail. The forest seemed endless and positively oozed calm and ancient wisdom.
I didn't even do much thinking as I walked. I simply WAS.
It was “Redwoods raining” on me as I walked, as the trees collected the fog in the air and then it dripped off the foliage.
The Boy Scout tree was huge and impressive, but the walk itself was really the best part.
I then tried to do the little half mile loop at the Stout Grove trail, but the parking lot was a madhouse and I was still riding the peaceful high from my Boy Scout Tree experience and didn’t wanna ruin it. So I wrote it down to try next time I was in the area and hit the road for my next stop, Oregon Caves National Monument.
I started at the Visitor Center. When I was first exploring National Parks, I would always just sort of ARRIVE with no particular plan, grab my map at the entrance, tour a Visitor Center, then chat with a Ranger to decide how best to spend my time. I need to go back to doing this more often. I think I got burned a couple of times at the bigger Parks by being at the wrong entrance, hours away from what I wanted to do. I also think I have gotten less patient with the crowds and lines that are often a part of strolling through Visitor Centers or waiting to ask a Ranger a question. I am hoping that as Grey gets a little older, my Type A planner self with take the backseat and let Grey look at the maps and the displays in the Centers and get tips from a Ranger. Then maybe HE will be the one deciding what trails we walk and what sights we want to see.
Anywho, in the Visitor Center, I definitely gained a greater appreciation for the cave system I was about to explore. I learned that many little critters that evolved to endure the hardships of a more glacial era have slowly retreated to cave systems such as this as the planet has entered this warmer phase over the last twenty thousand years. Without these cave systems to fall back on, these little beings would have become extinct. Plus! Caves act much like islands to create little isolated pockets of evolution.
So there were several creatures that were endemic to ONLY this cave system, meaning they are found no where else on the planet!
I had a cave tour scheduled for the next day, so I spent the rest of the evening completing three small but steep hikes to explore the above ground area of the Monument.
It was my first time meeting a madrone tree, which have since become one of my favorite plants. I just love their smooth, red trunks.
I also saw a unique looking pink snail…
…cool views of some layered hazy blue hills…
… and plenty of examples of the marble stone jutting out into the sun that I would soon be exploring from the darkness underneath.
In a lucky turn of events, I thought I had lost my car keys and backtracked almost the entire hike to find them still laying there on the trail. Whew, thank goodness!
On my way to the campground, I longingly gazed at the restaurant menu at the Chateau, but figured I could save some money by just eating another can of soup. But after days of very populated campgrounds, I found the completely empty one here to be a little eerie. That’s just the human experience isn’t it? Annoyed by site trespassers and crying babies at the crowded campgrounds and creeped out by the silence at the vacant ones. Can’t be happy.
So… I drove back to the Chateau and had an excessive dinner complete with marionberry cobbler for dessert. Highly recommend!
Day 6- Oregon Caves National Monument and Crater Lake National Park, Oregon
I joined my small group at 9am to enter the cave. When I post this article, my mom will probably have a panic attack just looking at this picture of the steps going down. She is not a “tight, dark spaces” kinda gal.
Our tour guide, Ethan, was very funny and knowledgeable. I loved the way he said, “mawble” instead of “marble” as he described the stone. And there were certainly some spots that looked just like some counter tops I’ve seen.
There were all the usual cave features, including stalactities and -mites and columns where they have merged over time.
I particularly "loved" a heart shaped growth in one section of the ceiling.
The cave is most famous for its jellyfish like features that are pretty amazing.
We got to see some “modern” bear bones, although I was sad that more ancient remains of a jaguar and a short faced bear were also in the cave, but not a part of the public tour.
I enjoyed my time here immensely and was quite pleased this little pit stop between the Redwoods and Crater Lake turned out to be a worthwhile stop all on its own.
But speaking of Crater Lake, I did meet a couple on the tour who had just come from there and gave me great advice about camping, and dining, and (more importantly) where to get good ice cream! So I started my road trip play list once again and continued on.
My tour buddies had recommended camping just outside the Park at the Natural Bridges area, so that’s where I went. Again, I started my exploration at the Visitor Center and learned information that really helped me later appreciate all that I saw. I learned the lake is the deepest in the U.S. and has possibly the purest water of any place on Earth. That’s because there is no inlet or outlet for the water here. It’s all collected rain and snow water, so contaminants can’t get in from other access points. The crater itself was formed when a huge volcano erupted and cracked itself around the edges like an egg. The upper portions collapsed into the magma chamber, creating the crater for the water to fill.
This happened 7,700 years ago and the Klamath Indians have oral histories of the event, so they were here when it happened.
I made myself do a couple of little teaser hikes around the base of the crater before I was going to see the lake itself. Saw some cool rock formations and beautiful wildflowers.
It was nice to do some exploring in the less trafficked areas of the Park. It seems like most people just drive right up to the rim and don’t do much else.
I pretty much had the hike to Garfield Peak by myself with my first views of the lake.
I planned to join a sunset Ranger walk, but then learned it wasn’t actually on the rim to see the sunset over the lake. So I decided to just find a good west facing spot on my own and hunkered down to watch the light fade.
Day 7- Crater Lake National Park, Oregon
I started the new day with hike up Mt. Scott for distant views of the lake and all the surrounding hills and mountains.
There were a lot of pretty wildflowers along the way and a similar updraft effect that I had noticed at Lassen, meaning there were just hundreds of butterflies swirling everywhere. I noted in my journal that I felt really strong on this hike and really enjoyed having this walk mostly to myself.
Then I hiked to Plaikni Falls for more wildflowers and butterflies, plus the Pinnacles rocks, and (of course) a waterfall.
Finally, I did one of the tiny rim walks that most people do here and chose the one called Sun Notch. The day before, watching the video in the Visitor Center, I struggled to contain my eye roll as the movie opened with various shots of lots of people all saying, “whoa” with their jaws dropped when they beheld the lake for the first time. But I actually found myself expressing a similar sentiment in this particular spot.
This was finally the right angle or the right lighting that really showed off that otherworldly blue in the water that I had been looking for.
I spent the remainder of the day on a 7 hour drive to Mt. Rainier, talking on the phone to my mom and John to pass the time and stopping in Portland for some Chipotle. I got to my campsite in the dark, but used my handy dandy lantern to set up camp and then fell right to sleep.
Day 8- Mt. Rainier National Park, Washington
Mt. Rainier is one of those places where you can mess up by being at the “wrong” entrance from the attractions you are hoping to see. It was an hour and a half drive between two different areas I was hoping to explore, but thankfully I had two whole days here and was able to cluster the hikes I wanted to do together.
I started in the Paradise area, which is aptly named, and on the Skyline Trail.
I couldn't have said it better myself, John Muir. While not exactly a solitary experience, this trail remains at the top of my all-time favorite hikes!
I was reunited with a flower species that I have only very rarely seen in alpine locations. I first saw it in Glacier National Park. Its nickname is “mouse on a stick”. Seems right.
I loved finding places to pause and just watch the clouds roll over the mountain and listen to the glaciers creak and moan and pop.
As I mentioned, it wasn’t the most isolated place in the Park and I had to at one point just kinda squeeze by a large family group that was hesitating over how to cross a TINY little stream with rocks to step on. As I nimbly hopped across, they asked in astonishment, “how’d you do that?!?!?!” Those folks are what John and I would call “city walkers”, unable to walk without smooth concrete sidewalk and bridges everywhere. Rolling eye emoji.
But I WON’T complain about the group of shirtless army guys out on leave that I “had” to hike with for a little.
So, you know, pluses and minuses to hiking in crowded areas.
Then I went to my second hike for the day in similar area to Skyline Trail called Comet Falls.
I really love hikes like this, where the main attraction is really just PART of the awesomeness.
There were actual three really pretty falls on this trail, tons of wildflowers, and a mountain goat!
Day 9- Mt. Rainier National Park, Washington (and John joining the trip!)
Today I spent time in the lesser visited side of Rainier, in the Sunrise area. I started with the Mt. Fremont Fire Lookout Trail and am so glad I did! The views along the whole hike were just stunning!
Then, at the top, I just spun in a circle taking pictures of the 360 degrees of gorgeous.
I had the whole trail to myself and highly recommend this hike if you prefer to avoid the crowds on the Skyline Trail.
Then I hiked the Emmon’s Glacier Trail.
The glacier itself wasn’t super impressive because the ice is carrying a lot of dirt and looks a little less like the dramatic bluish white walls that I got to see in Iceland.
But the sight of the valley itself as you turn around to head back down was super worth it.
As was finding a spot to touch the super fine glacial sands left behind by the grinding force of the ice.
Satisfied with my time in Rainier, I left for my hotel in Seattle for a shower, a sink wash of some clothes, a carry out order from Pizza Hut, and a few hours of sleep before picking John up at the airport at 1am to join the rest of the trip.
Day 10- San Juan Island, Washington
After traveling through the night and not much sleep, John tried to catch up in the car ride to the ferry.
He continued to try to catch up on the ferry ride itself.
We were on our way to Friday Harbor for an opportunity to kayak with orcas!
But first, we visited the orca museum and ate “so-so” seafood before strolling around looking at boats. This was a little over a year before John would purchase his own boat and we would start coming here on our own tour, complete with crabbing, kind salmon fishing, and orca sight seeing! Subscribe to be notified with I write about those trips!
We assembled on the beach with our tour group to get geared up…
… and then hit the water!
We sure enough did end up seeing the orcas!
After destroying our really nice camera with a slip into a waterfall in Belize, I was too scared to risk our really nice replacement camera on this journey. So we only had our cell phones and the orcas were too far away for phone pictures to really show much. But John brought his really nice binoculars we uses for hunting and so we did get a good view of them. (There is a black bump I’m looking at in this picture below, that’s an orca!)
I saw several fins breaking the water and lots of “blows” when they were breathing. A couple of times, they came up out of the water enough that I could see the white eye patches. I wasn’t looking in the right spot and missed one doing a jump, but immediately after that, a juvenile leapt out of the water to imitate its elder. The young whale curved its body into a C shape like he was REALLY trying to get all the way out of the water.
We also saw harbor seals, river otters, a couple of bald eagles, and TONS of jellyfish in the water.
In the quieter moments when there wasn’t much to see, our tour guide taught us a lot about the whales that live in this area. There are 3 distinct pods named J, K, and L. The pods will sometimes co-mingle, but before they do, they will line up facing on another and call to each other before breaking rank to meet their neighbors. The whales here are salmon eaters, unlike their brethren who wind up on the Discovery channel hunting seals and other mammals. All orca pods are led by a matriarch (an elder, dominant female). Males are called bulls, females are cows, and young are calves.
Mature bulls can have dorsal fins that are 6 feet tall!!!!
Individuals can be identified by their unique white saddle patches. Females can live longer than males because they (unfortunately) pass off toxins to their young through pregnancy and their milk. Females start having babies in their teens and can have 3-5 babies in their lifetime. Years later, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science had a traveling orca exhibit set up that shared one final fact that actually brought tears to my eyes. There are only 5 mammal species in the world where the females long outlive their childbearing years. If you think about it, once a female is done having children, she is “useless” in the eyes of evolution, so it doesn’t make sense for her life to extend much longer. Four of those five species are whales, including the orcas. The fifth is humans. Scientists hypothesize that in these species a “Grandmother Effect” is equally as beneficial in an evolutionary sense as childbearing. These five species have cultures that depend on elders to hold on to and dispense wisdom to the younger generations.
So go learn something from your grandmothers, if you are lucky enough to still have them in your life.
We had a really beautiful paddle back through water that was suddenly as smooth as glass.
We had much better seafood for dinner at Cask and Schooner and then sat watching more boats come and go before catching the last ferry back to the mainland. It was 2:30 in the morning by the time we made it back to our hotel. John had some more sleeping to catch up on.
Day 11- Olympic National Park, Washington
It was a morning of errands as we resupplied on groceries and then made our way to Olympic, getting caught in traffic along the way. I was super stressed out about getting a “first come, first served” campsite with the later arrival time, but we safely got one of the last spot in the Heart of the Hills Campground.
We used the early evening to Hike Hurricane Hill and Sunrise Point for some great views of Mt. Olympus and the rest of the Olympic Range.
At the top, we could also see the Salish Sea and all the way into Canada.
The wildlife all came out to say hello, including a deer, mountain goats with their tiny babies (squeal!), enormous marmots, and a grouse.
When we returned to camp, John prepared us a “mountain man” camp dinner over the fire with beef, onions, and chopped vegetables all wrapped up in foil to cook. I was eating like a queen since he had joined the trip. No more soup from a can for me!
Day 12- Olympic National Park, Washington (and meeting John's cousin)
Our campsite was right next to the trailhead for the Heart of the Woods trail, so we hopped on that first thing in the morning. It was quiet and serene for most of the walk, perhaps because of our early start.
I was loving all the new-to-me plant life! After hiking in the alpine yesterday and at many other locations on this trip (Lassen, Crater Lake, and Rainier), it was amazing that the same Park also encompassed this dense and varied forest.
Our next hike was to Marymere Falls, which was a busier trail. The falls themselves were pretty cool because partway down the water bounces off an outcropping and it causes this cool “slow down” effect as you are watching the water move.
We set up our new camp at Mora Beach and headed for the coast to sit on a log and watch the waves hit the cobblestone beach for a while.
When our rumbling stomachs were starting to down out the sound of the waves, we walked back to camp to make campfire pizzas.
Another improvement John made to my road trip meal planning. They were DELICIOUS which just the perfect little crispy-almost-burned bottom.
After dinner, we walked back to that same spot on the beach for a Western sunset. When we’re on eastern coasts, we try to catch a sunrise, but the West is for sunsets. And this one did not disappoint.
This didn't turn out in the pictures, but it was my first time seeing a "Serengeti Sunset".
This is when the sun takes on the appearance of layered “bars” of light. I feel like there is an illustration of this in the movie The Lion King, but I’m not able to find a good image to explain it on Google. But it was VERY cool to see and I’ve never seen another one since.
A couple of seals popped up their heads up out of the water once the sun was all the way down.
Day 13- Olympic National Park, Washington
We started Day Lucky Number 13 with 7 miles in the Hoh Rain Forest area. We used the Hall of Mosses, Spruce River, and Hoh River Trails. The plant life was just so alien to anything I’m used to seeing, it truly seems like you are all of a sudden in the Amazon.
Along the river trail, we really enjoyed the color in the water from the glacial “flour” silt.
Then we had a long drive to North Cascades National Park. John introduced me to a phrase that he seems to always be able to pull out, no matter where in the world we find ourselves, “Hey, I have a cousin/friend who lives here! We should stop in and see them!”
He doesn't seem to realize that adjustments to the itinerary need to go through a rigorous approval process requiring advance submission of any requests by a least 5 business days.
But sure enough we stopped at cousin Khon’s house for a shower and a real bed and a quick hello before we took off again at 6 in the morning. The excellent shrimp ramen stir fry we had for dinner was worth the stop all by itself. Request approved!
Day 14- North Cascades National Park, Washington
We made it to the Visitor Center plenty early still and got our hiking intel. We started at the far east side of the Park for Maple Pass loop.
This trail was added to my list of all-time favorites. It had everything!
A beautiful forest, stunning lakes, gorgeous mountains topped off with perfect weather. Well, I guess there were a lot of bugs (biting flies AND mosquitoes), but nobody is perfect.
MONTHS after this trip, I was showing print outs of the pictures to my family. My sister flipped through the pile and then very casually tosses out one in particular. “This one has a UFO in it,” she says, with literally no extra emotion or anything in her voice. Sure enough, there it is flying in the sky! I hadn’t seen it in real life during the trip, or in any other time looking at these pictures. There’s even a similar shot of me standing on the same rocky outcropping in the slideshow above and it’s not visible in that photo.
So, yeah, this trail really did have everything. Including alien encounters!
Day 15- North Cascades National Park, Wyoming
Before I knew it, the trip was coming to an end. For our last adventure, we hiked to Watson Lakes, which was really pretty but couldn’t quite compare to the awesome-ness of the day before.
I did really like the views of the glaciers on Mt. Baker on the way back.
Upon arrival to the Sea-Tac airport, I returned the rental car I had picked up in Reno. I had named her Diamond because she was BRAND SPANKING new when I drove off with her. She had about 30 miles on the odometer and still had plastic film stuck on some parts. Well, by the time I was through with her, she had a lot more miles and quite a few stains that we were hoping were bird poop and strawberry jam. Different stains, not all in one stain.
In Reflection
So yes, I had quite the life before choosing to start a family. And I must say, I continue to get to live it up more than perhaps could be expected with a toddler. I am currently finishing up this article while sitting passenger in the truck on our way to a fishing trip in Glendo State Park, Wyoming with a bunch of friends and their toddlers from our street. We plan to take the kids out in the kayak, see if Grey will reel in his first fish, and in general enjoy lots of sandy, splashy fun on the beach.
So yes, life is different. But life is still good.
Also as I write this, I am 14 weeks pregnant with Baby Number Two! I’m sure a year from now, our lives will be even more different, but even more good.
Additional Reading
Gear
Merrell Trail Glove Trail Running Shoes
Deuter Day Pack
Coleman Camp Lantern
Camelback 3L Bladder
Big Agnes Sleeping Pad
Big Agnes Manzanares MtnGlo 3 person tent
Kelty 0 Degree Sleeping Bag
Asolo Hiking Boots
Links provided will take you to Amazon to purchase. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Anything linked here is something that I actually own and used on this adventure, unless otherwise noted.