The Great Northwestern Loop

Mark:

when I first drove to see Mt St. Helens, I was amazed at the power of mother nature. This was a good 20 years after the intial blast. Could not Imagine what it was like just after the explosion. I can understand how you feel. Very humbling in my opinion. I do like going back, the landscape is just so different. Also, I find backpacking here just grand. At least without a lot of trees you will have some grand vistas when the clouds are away.

You'll have to come to WA to visit some of the other grand vistas.

Wait til you get to Oregon!

Dave in Seattle

Zonker's House

We were hoping to meet up with Zonker and his wife, Beth, on 04 August. Our plan was to hit a local supermarket for fixin's and reproduce the meal 'we' prepared at Rimrock Lake, except in the kitchen of Zonker and Beth.

Things started pretty well. We arrived at Zonker's house with supplies, were warmly greeted by Zonker and Beth, and had a good ol' time. Edna and Beth worked on the grub while Zonker and I worked on a couple of michiladas.

The alert reader might at this point begin to expect there to be an accompanying photograph of the festivities. Alas, I left my camera in the truck in deference to Zonker's expertise as a professional photographer, and Zonker (William) was, well, sick of standing behind a camera all day. So no pictures were taken!

The only thing we can show for ourselves is this sketch I made of William from memory after we got back home from the trip:




We slept soundly in Zonker's driveway, and the next morning I retrieved my camera to take shots of some of their Mercedes/Dodge/Fiat collection...



(At this point, you might expect Zonker to chime in with, "What?!? We don't know those people, and we never gave them permission to squat in our driveway! We weren't even in the country on 04 Aug!" Well, we'll see if he corroborates my story...)

Zonker spent quite a bit of time touring the country by motorcycle in his youth, so when we told him of our plans to hit Utah again on the way home, he tipped us off to a great drive. I wrote in my journal...

3-Aug
Hwy 12 Escalante
Golden Staircase
Boulder to Burr Trail
Capitol Reef NP

'Zion' --> Backside through tunnel...
Hwy 12 from Bryce to Boulder, UT...
take Burr trail to Capitol Reef.
-Zonker

None of this was making any sense to me, but thank God I wrote it down (as you will see later).

The next morning I made Edna breakfast in bed. I didn't realize that she was covertly photographing the whole thing. It's pretty clear that flipping eggs involves far more drama than making fajitas...





It looks like the yolk's on me.

We finished our coffee while making plans for the day ahead.



Thanks for the great time, William and Beth! And thanks for the great advice on the road less traveled.

Crater Lake

After leaving Zonker's house, we continued on our planned route to Crater Lake NP. Time heals all wounds, it is said. In this case, about eight thousand years of healing separates Mount St. Helens from Crater Lake.

The lake is 1,949 feet (594 m) deep at its deepest point which makes it the deepest lake in the United States... The impressive average depth of this volcanic lake is due to the nearly symmetrical 4,000-foot (1,200 m) deep caldera formed 7,700 years ago during the violent climactic eruptions and subsequent collapse of Mt. Mazama and the relatively moist climate that is typical of the crest of the Cascade Mountains.

The eruptive period that decapitated Mazama also laid waste to much of the greater Crater Lake area and deposited ash as far east as the northwest corner of what is now Yellowstone National Park, as far south as central Nevada, and as far north as southern British Columbia. It produced more than 150 times as much ash as the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.
Wikipedia

You can still see pumice all over the place-



It only differs from what we saw around Mt. St. Helens by being pinkish instead of beige in color, and by having more rounded edges from years of exposure to the elements.

For some reason (I think it was the lateness of the hour, the smoke from nearby wildfires and perhaps the weather) we were unable to get a picture that does justice to the beauty of this place. How ironic that our pictures of Mt. St. Helens appear much more beautiful and thus do not convey the stark devastation we felt there. I guess that's why we all feel the need to visit these places in person, eh?

Here is a shot that illustrates the deep blue color of the water, said to be the purest water anywhere in the world.

Crescent City

We camped at Crater Lake N.P. It was cold to us, like most of the weather we had experienced since leaving Houston. Meanwhile, Robert had been talking about going to the beach, "Go beach, Dad? Dad, go beach." So we decided to head for the beach. We found it in Crescent City, CA.



Edna decided to forgo directly experiencing the Pacific this day, preferring to chronicle Robert's and my journey instead.



Even though Robert is a very cool fellow to know, he has a few shortcomings, one of them being that he can't perceive three dimensions too well. But Robert is nothing if not determined and Robert wanted to go to the beach. As we returned from the adventure Edna captured the following sequence where Robert shows us all how to live: Set a goal. Be patient but persistent. Accept help from others when it is offered. Have a joyful heart.







Life is good, eh Robert?

Y'all lift my spirits. Thanks

Y'all lift my spirits. Thanks

See you at the pop-up bowl, Jay?

Mark,
I'm wrestling with some health issues but my plan is to at least stop by for an overnight. Its still not for sure but keep your fingers crossed.

Might want a beach with a bit more sand next time Nice report. Sounds like a great time.

The pictures of you helping Robert up the beach, and the big smile on your face when you were on the gravel is very touching. They brought a tear to my eye.

|Redwoods||Lost Coast||Redwoods|

From Crescent City...



...we continued down the Northern coast of California on "the" 101.



Our plan was to see big trees and then head to wine country, but since we had been on the road for a couple weeks, we also needed to do some laundry. We passed through Redwood National Park...



...and back to the ocean...



...back to redwood trees...



We saw some interesting artifacts from foreign countries...



...and (possibly) other worlds...



We didn't know what to make of these:



Tsunamis, really? When has that ever happened? Not so very long ago, turns out. The Good Friday, 1964 Alaska earthquake triggered a series of waves (four?) that repeatedly washed through Crescent City. Quoting from the article, that quotes from their book, Peggy Coons and her husband Roxey wrote--

"The water withdrew as if someone had pulled the plug. It receded a distance of three-quarters of a mile from the shore. We were looking down, as though from a high mountain, into a black abyss. It was a mystic labyrinth of caves, canyons, basins, and pits, undreamed of in the wildest of fantasies.

"The basin was sucked dry. At Citizen's Dock, the large lumber barge was sucked down to the ocean bottom. In the distance, a black wall of water was rapidly building up, evidenced by a flash of white as the edge of the boiling and seething seawater reflected the moonlight. The Coast Guard cutter and small crafts, that had been riding the waves a safe two- miles offshore, seemed to be riding high above the 'wall' of seawater.

"Then the mammoth wall of water came barreling towards us. It was a terrifying mass, stretching up from the ocean floor and looking much higher than the island. Roxey shouted, 'Let's head for the tower!'-but it was too late. 'Look out!' he yelled and we both ducked as the water struck, split and swirled over both sides of the island. It struck with such force and speed that we felt like we were being carried along with the ocean. It took several minutes before we realized that the island hadn't moved.

(I have a feeling those signs are exactly equal with "spit in the ocean"...)

I'm not sure where, exactly, we saw these guys tracking all over somebody's property right next to the road...



We came to a sign that said, "Redway," and it was lunchtime, and I was ants-ey about the laundry, so we went there to check out the town. Seeing a sign that said, "Shelter Cove," a light went off in my head-- The Fisherman!

...continued...

The Fisherman

Edna was doing laundry while I was waiting for lunch to be prepared at D'Amato's Pizza & Deli. (The kitchen lost my order until the owner, curious about why I was hanging around, found it!) I was thinking, "He lives around here somewhere!?!"

I called Zonker... no answer; I called davinski, no answer... Finally the pizza came. Back at the laundry, Edna had finished drying and folding all by herself. As we shared the *pretty good pie* the phone rang. It was Dave in Seattle. I had asked him to find the directions to The Fisherman's house that were posted on or near the Pigapalooza thread. I wrote in my journal:

Hwy 101
Redman exit
Shelter Cove Rd. W
Whitethorn Const. 14 mi. on right
P.O.
1st Left after P.O. driveway
Matolle River too far

(Minutes later, Zonker called to confirm these directions.) Off we went to Jon's house!

He wasn't home.



This was the point when I started to realize we couldn't see places AND people- we had to make a choice. This loop was about places. The next loop would have to be about people.

Lost Coast, Redwoods Redux

On the way back to Redway we noticed something vaguely familiar to me from other trip reports.









We decided not to camp here, so we continued South...




We thought of camping here on a river--



...but two local women we talked to said we would definitely run afoul of the ranger who patrolled the park.

Finally, we found a camping spot with vacancies.



It was pretty cool to sleep right next to a giant redwood!



One of the things Edna loves about camping is campfires...



This was the half-way point of our loop, and we were loving it!

The shot of the three of you around the campfire is what its all about. The kicking back and enjoying life that you each reflect in that photo is why we do what we do. Thanks for sharing.

Napa



We had been to Napa for an afternoon last year and we wanted come back with the camper and spend more time. It turns out that reasonably priced campsites are not easy to find. We were finally directed to Skyline Park by a Ranger at the full State Park where we stopped. We only had to ask for a tent camping site and they gave it to us for $15! We were the only people 'tent camping' so it was great.



Unfortunately for Edna, she got a little carried away with wine tasting, so she spent the evening laying down inside the camper. We bought a couple cases of the different wines she 'liked'... I hope she likes them as well when we open a bottle at home!

The next day we headed for Yosemite by way of Lodi, where Edna's aunt lives. We saw another FWC|F250 combo there.



The front hitch is interesting to me for the simple reason there is no place to jack the front of my truck with a Hi-lift. (Jacking on the snatch rings just bends the rings.)

The front hitch is interesting to me for the simple reason there is no place to jack the front of my truck with a Hi-lift. (Jacking on the snatch rings just bends the rings.)

I put a receiver up front and it has been good for hauling extra stuff but I wouldn't use it to lift the truck with the hi-lift as it will fall one way or the other. Worked for me on the front rings

Woah! I read that comment on the Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forum and accepted it as true.

Going outside to try this...

Confirmed.

John, what do you do, Hi-lift-wise, for the rear?

I installed a front receiver to my F250. That allows me to switch my Warn from front to back to suit the winching action required....pull myself in deeper or back myself out.

With a little metal-working one can also mount a spare tire to the front receiver.

Never tried jacking from the front rings, though. I like that idea.

-Buzz

Y'know, pods8, giving wrong information is one of my pet peeves, and if it is the case that the thing I presented as "an avalanche chute" is really just a gully, then I feel bad about that and I'm sorry.

Here is an image I got from Googling, "avalanche chute mt rainier"...


To me, the object I presented looked like the objects in the googled image result, but I am far from an expert.

Meanwhile, can you help identify the location of your really neat photo in the my photo from the road? Edna wants to know where it is located.


I was going on my recollection of that location gushing a lot of water in the spring (I spent a summer driving in/out of the park for work) but that doesn't mean it doesn't avy snow off those rocks in the winter too.


That cracked up ice shot is taken from 12000', basically on your road shot from the bridge looking up the receding glacier you'd need to go over top of that ridge line. I was mainly posting it to give some perspective on those cracks you see from the road verse in person (those little dots going across the snow pack are people).

Confirmed.

John, what do you do, Hi-lift-wise, for the rear?


PRAY I discovered the options are not real good. The is the hi-lift accessory, lifts the bumper


I don't have one but I carry some chain that I can wrap around the bumper support and jack it. I need to get the real part, they're $30 shipped on ebay.