Lassen National Park, Bumpass Hell

Named after R. V. Bumpass who while giving a tour and telling people to be careful, promptly fell through the thin crust and was severly burned by the hot water and steam.  This is one of the main geothermal features at Lassen NP.
Just make sure that you pay attention to the signs and stay on the trails and boardwalks.  It's a 2 mile hike back to your car if you were to fall in and there are no ambulances nearby. 

How Far Have We Hiked???? Over a half a million steps!

 

Feet over geothermal mud pots at Bumpass's Hell, Lassen National Park

 

8/25     6.6 miles 15,506 steps
8/26     2.9 miles 6,937 steps
8/27     7.1 miles 16,757 steps
8/28     7.4 miles  17,504 steps
8/29     4.5 miles 10,621 steps

8/30   10.6 miles  24,984 steps

 

Total 228.2 miles 535,988 steps

 

8/31 Fly home for Uncle Tony's 90th birthday and Gabrielle's big 15! Southwest connecting

flight is running late, poor Christina, she's picking us up at the airport!

Olympic NP: Tide Pools, Sea Stacks and Rain Forests (oh my!)

Day 2 at Olympic National Park

Using Crissy's post works great!  Too bad she's not around for the rest of the trip.  However formatting is a little off, scroll to the right past the miles hiked and you can see the post.

From Crissy's Blog: www.packedsuitcase.com

Olympic NP: Tide Pools, Sea Stacks and Rain Forests (oh my!)

Just shy of 1,500 square miles, Olympic National Park is the 13th largest National Park in the US.

Olympic's unique because it contains 3 distinct eco-systems within its borders. At lower elevations, it's home to temperate rain forests with moss-drapped trees and ferns aplenty. Then, there's the 73 miles of coastline with rugged sea stacks, rocky beaches and tide pools (with lots of star fish and sea anemones!) Finally, there's the alpine mountains, with jagged, snow-packed peaks and meadows of wildflowers.

On day 2 of our Olympic trip, we traversed to the far reaches of the park to explore the craggly and beautiful coastline and the Hoh Rainforest.

Our first stop was Rialto Beach, where I was utterly gob-smacked by the breathtaking beach. We spent a few good hours meandering to the Hole in the Wall sea stack, exploring the tide pools, spotting visitor-made rock cairns and being thisclose to being caught by the rising tide. (Whoops!)

Here is a video with some of my impressions of Rialto Beach, and a few of my favorite pictures:

These stone cairns were found all around Rialto Beach. Often in natural settings, cairns are used as trail markers. Here, they're just an unobtrusive and reflective symbol to say "I was here" from travelers who have passed through.




I had to take a moment and make a precariously balanced cairn of my own to add to the serene landscape.



.
As we walked to the Hole in the Wall sea stack, we found some huge kelp littering the beach. It's almost as big as Mom!




A view of the Hole in the Wall: a sea carved arch in the stone.




After a 2 mile hike on the beach, I made it to the Hole in the Wall. But the tide was quickly approaching...




When it's low tide, you can find some awesome tidal pools just out past the Hole in the Wall.




Some of the treasures I found in one of the tide pools. (Just like I found at the Seattle Aquarium!)




 We were having so much fun exploring that we kind of forgot about the rising tide. We almost got stuck![/caption]   After we narrowly avoided being stranded at sea, at my insistence we drove 1 1/2 hours to the Hoh Rainforest. I'm sure this spot is a sight to behold in the rainy season, but with August's lack of rain, the moss had dried and was honestly a bit unremarkable considering the effort it took to go out to visit.




A pretty shot of the Hoh Rainforest.



 
Mom and Dad pose under this curved tree.




After a few small hikes at the Hoh Rainforest, we rushed to try to catch sunset at Ruby Beach. Another hour long drive and we were there... just in time to catch sunset's perfect light.


Our first view of Ruby Beach showed a shoreline littered with driftwood.





But then we saw the beach open up.




Turns out this beach is really rocky. No sand here!




But it sure is beautiful!




Dad and I both found a spot to have a little "zen" moment.



   

Come back tomorrow for all the scoop on the last day of our trip when we visit the top of the alpine mountain peaks of Hurricane Ridge and hike to Soleduck waterfall.  

Olympic National Park: Lake Crescent and Marymere Falls

Crissy was with us for the weekend at Olympic National Park.  Why write something when someone else has done it for you!  Here's Crissy's post from www.packedsuitcase.com.  However formatting is a little off, scroll to the right past the miles hiked and you can see the post.

Olympic NP: Sunset at Lake Crescent and Marymere Falls

My parents are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary this summer by taking a 6 week road trip across the US. Just them, a camper van and America's best national parks. (It's tight quarters, so I guess they still must like each other!)

I coordinated my Seattle trip to align with their Pacific Northwest leg, so after living the city life in Seattle, I met up with them for a few days of outdoorsy action in Olympic National Park.

We arrived with just enough time to set up camp, get some info at the Visitor's Center, then go on an evening hike to the picturesque Marymere Falls and the Lake Crescent Lodge.

Here are my top pictures from the day:

 
Sunlight coming through trees on the trail to Marymere Falls. Magical!




A bridge gives me and Dad the perfect photo op.




More trees! Here, they're super tall and skinny.




Mom and Day walking to Marymere Falls.




After a brief and pretty easy hike, we make it to Marymere Falls.




Found this black-tailed deer grazing on our way to the Lake Crescent Lodge.

Lake Crescent Lodge

 

 

 

A lakefront dinner at the Lake Crescent Lodge, right at sunset.

 

 

 

A pretty spectacular sunset on Lake Crescent.

 

 

Stay tuned for more pictures tomorrow of Day 2, where I explored the gorgeous coastal beaches and the Hoh Rainforest!  

Mount Saint Helens detour

While not a planned stop, we made Mount Saint Helens a detour on today's  travel day from Olympic National Park to Crater Lake.  We started off early so we could drop Crissy off at the airport for her return flight this morning and headed south towards Crater Lake. 
Mount Saint Helens was highly recommended by my brother Mike.  So we detoured several hours off our path to see the volcano that erupted on May 18, 1980.  We only had time for one view, so we went to the main visitor center, Johnston Ridge Observatory located off of  Spirit Lake Memorial Parkway. 
It was deceiving when you first entered the park, over 200 sq miles were devestated by the explosions, landslides, lahars and pyroclastic flows that occurred with the eruptions.  I had still expected total devastation.  However in the outskirts of the 110,000 acre park,  Weyerhouser partnered with the Forest Service and processed all the downed trees and replanted the forests in the 80's.  Those areas are forested with lush and beautiful large trees. 
However, when you finally get within the park's borders, the landscape quickly changes.  The visitor center is directly opposite the crater and is situated for marvelous views of the devastation left behind.
Surprisingly, there were areas that were still emitting steam which slightly was obscuring a clear view.  A great visitor center and award winning films and exhibits.  Our drive by turned into a several hour visit.  Definitely a worthwhile stop.  How often does a volcano erupt, you were around to see it happen on the news and you can visit the site.  Not too often. 

Hurricane Ridge and Greetings to the Canadians.

High atop Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park we look across the bay and like Sarah Palin, we can see another country, Canada.  Victoria and Vancouver are a short distance away.  Thought we should wave to our Canadian friends. For some reason, my Verizon phone thinks I am in Canada and keeps roaming on Canadian towers.  It's amazing how close we are. 

Hurricane ridge is know for terrible weather, clouds, wind and rain.  How lucky are we to have perfect weather and great visability, you don't even need a coat.   Speaking to fellow campers, most times the fog is so dense that you can't even see 2 feet in front of you for the 18 mile drive to the top. 
We once again saw Mount Baker, we were all amazed how it dominates the landscape in the distance. 

Three Weeks and 200 Hiking Miles Later

Well, the Happy Hikers have been on the road for three weeks now and we are still happy!  Living in tight quarters doesn't seem to be an issue, nor does living the nomadic life of setting up and tearing down our humble abode every 3 days. 

Just a hiking update, after 3 weeks we have walked 200 miles, really 199.1 but thats close enough for goverment work!  We have seen many beautiful sights; mountains, glaciers, glacial lakes, the Pacific Ocean, sea stacks, tidal pools, geysers, wildflowers, lots of wildlife and bears, bears and more bears at Glacier National Park.  We have a beautiful country and we are very fortunate to be able to experience its many wonders.

Latest update on miles hiked...

8/15     4.5 miles    10,734 steps
8/16   15.0 miles    35,205 steps
8/17     2.5 miles     5,994 steps
8/18   10.6 miles   25,097 steps
8/19   11.0 miles   25,799 steps
8/20     3.2 miles    7,672 steps
8/21   13.5 miles   31,744 steps
8/22     3.1 miles     7,491 steps
8/23    5.2 miles    12,269 steps
8/24    8.2 miles    19,372 steps

Total Hiked 199.1 miles and 443,679 steps

Also have driven 6,000 miles. 

Olympic National Park, Rialto Beach

Our morning adventure took us to the west coast and the Pacific Ocean.  Olympic National Park has so many ecosystems; ocean, forest and mountain.  The ocean beaches are very rustic with dark sand and flat worn rocks on the beach. 

Rialto Beach is one of the more popular beaches and easy to reach by car.  We arrived midday to walk to Hole in the Wall, a formation along the beach with tidal pools.  We arrived just as the tide turned and had to negociate between the waves to get off the formation, but we were able to see evetyting we had planned on. 

In addition they have sea stacks, rock projections that rise out of the water.  The picture is of sea stacks at Rialto Beach.

Sleepless in Seattle

After a whirlwind visit to Seattle where she didn't get much sleep, we picked up Crissy at her hotel to join us in our National Park adventure. 

After driving through downtown Seattle pulling the trailer, we thought we were on the streets of San Francisco.  I had no idea that they had such steep hills in Seattle!  Tony could give them some advice on timing the traffic signals, we stopped on a steep slope at every intersection trying to get to the highway.  Crissy and I were a wreck, but Tony and the trailer handled it fine. 

Now we are off to Olympic National Park near Sequim, Wa.  Looking forward to spending time with Crissy.

Mount Rainier in bloom

We were told that Mount Rainier was an impressive sight, but having seen so many great sights already, could it be that special?

 What a surprise when it first comes into view, its white snow cover dome towers over the landscape that basically is at sea level.  Rising up 14,410 feet, this domant volcano is ever present in the landscape.  It's dominance reminds me of Mount Vesiuvius towering over Pompeii.  Let's hope Mount Rainier stays a sleeping giant and doesn't become a Weather Channel show, "It can  happen tomorrow!".

We are visiting at a time when the wildflowers are at their peak.  I spoke to a man while taking photos who said in the 33 years that he has been coming to Mt. Rainier, he has never seen the flowers so beautiful.  Makes for great photos and slow hikes.  We stop ever 10 feet to take pictures.

Hiking with the Canadians on the Parke Butte and Scott Paul Trail for views of Mount Baker

After a great night by the campfire with marshmellows and beer, a night under the stars we started off the morning with Tony fixing a great breakfast and packing a lunch for our 9 mile hike to see spectacular views of Mount Baker. 

We took a long dirt road to the trailhead and started off around 11.  This hike had over 2200 feet of elevation climb, so we were a little worried that hiking with the Canadian super stars, they would be frustrated with our slower pace; 1 because Jo Ann is slow and 2 because Jo Ann is always taking pictures.  Chris and Christina routinely hike the Grouse Grind, a two mile vertical uphill climb , so they are in great shape.  However, Christina mentioned she was fine with a "relaxing" hike today, so our slow pace was just fine. 

We were a little worried about the weather, it was overcast and chilly when we woke up, but by the time we reached the trailhead, we were peeling off layers as the sun came out in full force. The hike Tony planned was very interesting with varied terrain and approximately 2,000 feet of elevation.  We started our hike through a forest with large trees and a soft trail.  There were some enormous trees, hundreds of years old; western red cedars and hemlocks that many times had fallen and often across the trail. 

 

 

 

 Within two miles of the trailhead we reached our first view of Mount Baker with a large patch of snow in the meadow.  The view was incredible.  Tony and Chris were tossing snowballs around and all of us just took in the glorious views.  It was really amazing, for during our entire trip at the Northern Cascades National Park, we never saw Mount Baker except for on this hike.  I had no idea it was so close, but the other mountains hit it from view from our location. 

 

 

The trail often had us negotiate crossing glacial melt streams; some quite intimidating which required planning to make sure you didn’t fall in or get swept away.  Chris jumped around like a mountain goat and both Chris and Tony helped Christina and I to follow the easiest path.  Hiking poles and gortex boots were also a big advantage during the stream crossings!

 

Luckily, the largest stream had a suspension bridge so that we could cross.

 

With glacial melt come glacial moraines, the rock that is left in the path of the passing glacier.  Usually this is the most difficult to negotiate as the rocks are either large round boulders or lots of smaller scree which makes it like ball bearings and hard to get your footing and often you slide on the trail if you aren’t careful.  Once again the hiking poles are great and have saved me from falling numerous times. 

Besides the wonderful views of Mount Baker, the most incredible bonus of the hike was the wildflowers, especially the Lupine.  Lupine are blue, my favorite color, which makes them also one of my favorite wild flowers, very difficult to grow in Maryland.  On all of our other hikes the lupines had basically flowered out and we were too late to see them, but not on this hike.  Huge areas were covered in only lupines and their fragrance was incredible.  All of us could not get over how thick and beautiful the flowers were on the hike.

 

At the crossroads near the end of the 9 mile hike, I felt like we were in a scene from “Independence Day” when Chris pulled a slightly cool beer from his pack to celebrate our accomplishment of our hike and as it was time for happy hour we all drank some in Cancun tradition.

 

 

Later that night after pizza and beer at a local restaurant, we returned for a bon fire and smores. We were joined by the children of our camp neighbors.  Laura and Neills from the Netherlands had never had smores, so Jo Ann was happy to teach them this American campfire tradition.  Over many smores, Laura and Neills entertained us with their humor and enlightened us about some of the Dutch traditions.  One of which is that upon graduation from high school you go on a big family trip. Laura just graduated and had wanted to come to the United States.  Her parents started their trip in the Canadian Rockies and worked their way down to Yellowstone and the Tetons and now were on their way back to Calgary for their flight the next day.  I gather they were the most amazed by the huge number of buffalo in Yellowstone and how they like to stand in the road.

 

 

As the family departed early Monday morning, we wished them a safe journey and thanked them for a whole pile of supplies that they couldn’t take on the plane.  We divided up the gifts with the Canadians who shortly afterwards also hit the road to head back to Vancouver to go to work.  Retirement has its advantages.

We had a wonderful visit with Chris and Christina and we were sorry to see them leave, but Cancun is only 3 months away.  However, in Cancun the only mountain to climb is in Chichenitza, so I guess we will just resign ourselves to happy hour on the beach!  Dos cervas por favor……

Here Come the Canadians!

Well, we can't get anyone to visit us in Florida where we actually have an extra bedroom.  I was thinking that no one really likes us.  However, we go camping 5,000 miles away in the Pacific Northwest, we get company.  The Canadians came to visit us in the North Cascades.  As Tony was planning the route, I  had no idea that we were so close to Vancouver and our Cancun friends in Canada.  If I had known, I would have brought passports and planned a side trip, we can do more than just hike!

Christina Lees and Chris Kaulback decided to take a trip to visit with us, spend the night and hike and explore the Cascades with us.  They arrived in time for happy hour, a longggggg standing Cancun tradition.  We had a great dinner in Ricchiuti fashion, and a bonfire for smores in Pararas tradition.  We had a great time sending pictures and making our Chris and Mike and Kim jealous that they aren't here.

Chris after a long rest in the tent

As we sit around the breakfast table, all connected on our ipads and computers connected to my Verizon hotspot, it brings home the realization that camping sure has changed! 

Having  a great breakfast, thanks Chef Tony and looking forward to a full day together. 

Saint Mary Lake in Glacier National Park

It's our last day in the park, so we started out early as we have a big day planned.   We started off the the morning going back to Saint Mary Lake to get a picture of Goose Island.  Yesterday we saw it and it was drab and overcast.  However, this morning  the light was perfect to capture this serene island. 

Going to the Sun Road

After clouds and storms moved in yesterday around dinner time, rain and drizzle continued through the morning.  We are driving Going to the Sun Road, trying to find the sun.  I think we found it! 

Glacier National Park

On Tuesday we hiked to Grinnell Glacier.  On the hike we passed by Grinnell Lake, a glacial lake formed by runoff of the glacier.  Glacial lakes have beautiful aqua water due to the suspended sediment of glacial flour, ground stone made by the movement of the glacier.  The sun hits the water with the suspended flour and all the colors of the light is all absorbed except for blue, which is reflected.  Blue lakes, my favorite color!

One of the most scenic hikes we have ever been on.

Update on Sunflowers

When passing through South Dakota, I mentioned the fields of sun flowers that were all facing east.  That really seemed odd, so trying to learn more on the subject, I found the information that I would like to share;

Facing east at sunrise, the sunflower’s head follows the sun across the sky to face west at sunset. This heliotropic movement, called nutation, results from a bending of the stem toward the sunlight; there is asymmetric growth on the shaded side, causing the flowers to be in a position facing toward the sun. Growth is equalized during the night, the stem slowly straightens out and by dawn is facing east again. On a cloudy overcast day, the sunflower remains facing eastward, awaiting the next clear sunrise. The leaves of the sunflower are also heliotropic. If they are removed, the sunflower head would be unable to follow the sun.

When sunflower plants reach maturity, most flower heads permanently face east while their backs change color from green to yellow.