Day 8: Week 2 begins

Kim and Carolyn arrived safely on Friday in Seattle and we are now a foursome again! After a brief stop at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens, we joined Keith, Katie, Emily, and Megan for dinner in Mill Creek. After another enjoyable evening with them, we are ready to head north to Whistler, BC.

Day 7: Rain, rain, rain

Well, it is a rainforest. So what else should we expect? Besides, if it wasn't raining in the rainforest, it just wouldn't look right, now would it? That being the case, today the rainforest looks perfect, because it hasn't stopped raining since...since we got here, pretty much. But that hasn't dampened our spirits. We hiked about 4.5 miles this morning through this temperate rainforest, seeing all manner of spruce, cedar, fern, and other water loving vegetation. It's amazing to think that for every inch of rainfall we get in Tucson annually, here they get a foot. That's right: they average 12 feet a year in precipitation! It's very cool to watch the clouds/fog drift across the lake and through the moutains as the rain moves from mist to downpour back to mist again. Besides the hike, it makes for a lazy day napping (Myles) and reading by the fireplace (Robert). Time to start thinking about dinner...

View of the lake from the lodge deck


A trail that disappears into the rainforest...


Robert on the boardwalk in the cedar bog


Myles and Robert on the largest Sitka Spruce tree in the world


"Sleepy" Falls (you'll have to ask Robert)

Day 6 evening: So much for strategic decisions!

After beginning our drive this morning, we could see Mt. St. Helens in the distance and decided it was clear enough to get a closer look. So we drove to the Johnston Ridge Observatory and were awed by the sheer power and destruction caused by the 1980 eruption. We stopped at one of the gift shops and had lunch on the deck, staring at the mountain in the distance. It was definitely worth the trip.

We still wanted to take the long way to Lake Quinault, which turned out to be a beautiful drive along meandering rivers and forests so thick that they are forever shrouded in darkness. I've never seen trees so thick, and Robert commented that he had never seen a Fire Danger sign that indicated "Low."

So now we are sitting in the gorgeous main room of Lake Quinault Lodge. A small fire is burning in the massive fireplace, a gentle rain is falling, families are playing cards and chess, another couple is on their computer (so much for lack of internet access), I'm sipping a Widmer Hefeweizen, and Robert is texting away on his phone. Tomorrow we will venture out onto the trails, especially the Quinault Rain Forest, and see what we can see.

Mt. St. Helens with beautiful wildflowers (notice the steam wafting up from the dome)


Robert and Myles at Mt. St. Helens

Day 6: Heading to Lake Quinault

Robert and I have made a strategic decision this morning to skip trying to see Mt. St. Helens (again) today on our way back up to Washington. It was too cloudy to see on Sunday when we came down from Seattle, and it is cloudy today as well. We did get a glimpse of it (I think) yesterday coming in to Portland. Mt. Hood looked spectacular as well! But we're not complaining - two days of nearly cloudless skies was wonderful!

So, we are going to take the long road to Lake Quinault, following the Columbia River to the coast on Hwy 4, then catching Hwy 101 through Aberdeen and up to the lake. If the weather clears by the time we get to the Longview/Kelso area, we might decide to detour back to the volcano. We shall see...

Also, the town of Quinault appears to be quite small - in other words, I'm not sure what kind of internet access we'll have there. So, if we are silent on the blog for a couple of days, you'll know why.

Oh yes, our adventure at Powell's lasted for about 5 hours. I'm sure we didn't see everything either. But we did purchase 10 books, a map of British Columbia, a yo-yo, a T-shirt, and an action figure! The day ended perfectly with some gelato ice cream across the street!

Day 5: Wahclella Falls and Powell's

This morning we hiked the short 1.8m up Tanner Creek to see Wahclella Falls. It really should be named Wow-clella Falls. Wow! It was awesome! After lunch at - you guessed it - our favorite pizza pub (we ate two lunches and two dinners there), we drove to Portland, checked into our hotel for the night, and proceeded to the largest new and used bookstore in the world: Powell's City of Books. After three hours, we thought we had better rest and have dinner. So we had a lovely dinner at PF Changs, sitting outside on the sidewalk in downtown Portland. Beautiful. I'm typing this in Powell's coffee shop before heading back into the three floors of books spread over an entire city block. Beautiful. We'll try to not blow our entire trip budget here - but it's going to be tough!

Tanner Creek


Robert at Wahclella Falls


Myles and Robert at Wahclella (thanks to a couple from Columbus, OH)


Ahhh...Powell's City of Books, downtown Portland, OR

Day 4, Part 2: Beauty beyond words...

What a phenomenal day! The weather was perfect! We hiked a total of about 8.5 miles and saw seven incredible waterfalls: Punchbowl and Metlako (see earlier post), Horsetail, Wahkeena, Bridal Veil, Latourell and Upper Latourell. This gorge is amazing: beauty beyond words:

Horsetail Falls


Robert on the trail


Robert at Wahkeena Falls


Robert being goofy in a tree


Myles being goofy in a tree


Robert at Bridal Veil Falls


Robert at Latourell Falls


Beautiful wildflowers


Upper Latourell Falls

Day 4: Hike to Punchbowl Falls

Robert and I headed up Eagle Creek this morning to see Punchbowl Falls (pictures below). It is an absolutely beautiful day! We also got a nice view of Metlako Falls on the way. Last night, we had dinner at the popular Salmon Row Pub which was delicious! We went back there today after the hike to get Robert a sandwich and I had left-over pizza from last night. We will likely go there for dinner tonight as well, so you know it must be good! We ate lunch on our hotel balcony looking out at the river, just enjoying the quiet and beauty of the Columbia River. This whole area is just filled with beauty - it is hard to describe it all. So we'll let the pictures tell a thousand words...

Robert on the trail


Eagle Creek


Eagle Creek


Upper Punchbowl Falls


Upper Punchbowl Falls (darned tree...)


Local wildlife on the trail


Metlako Falls