Bellingham, WA
Bellingham, WA
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Mount St. Helens
We ventured to the southern portion of the National Monument, hoping to climb up Monitor Ridge and stand atop the volcano the following day. Camping at the Climbers' Bivouac (pronounced BIV-wack), Washington has many places with strange names that the typical Georgian is simply unable to pronounce correctly without the assistance of a native, Brian was especially surprised when it was still VERY light in our tent at 10:00 p.m. The next morning we woke up for an early start, hoping to avoid the crowds and the blistering sun on the treeless climb; again, it was already light! It's quite amazing what a difference it makes to live further north. The hike up was quite intense once we got out of the forested section near the beginning. As you'd expect, the volcano was covered with large igneous boulders. Fortunately, as we climbed over and around them, we were on the west side of a small ridge which was still shaded, making the ascent rather cool. As we neared the top, the composition changed from boulders to deep ash. We were extremely grateful it had rained the day before because the ash was not dusty at all and provided better traction than under normal conditions. Despite these advantages, we still felt like we were taking one step forward for every three we actually took. Reaching the top in about 3 ½ hours, we found ourselves virtually alone looking down in the most enormous hole we'd ever seen. It was completely incomprehensible to think about the amount of force the earth must have summoned to eject that amount of rock and ash from the mountain. In reading about the volcano a bit later, we found out that the amount of rock, ash, and dirt which was launched from the volcano would fill the area of one football field 62 miles high!!! AMAZING! Standing on the rim of the caldera, we heard frequent rock slides - products of the overhanging precipices of rock surrounding the caldera. The lava dome inside the volcano, which has become taller each year since the eruption in 1980, was steaming away, depicting the sleeping giant status of the volcano.
Not only was the view into the volcano incredible, but the clear vistas of Mt. Hood to the south and Mt. Rainier to the north, both of which are other volcanoes in the Ring of Fire, were powerful. We wished we would have had time to stop by the Visitor's Center in the northern section of the National Monument; apparently you get a great view from the side of the mountain which was completely demolished up into the caldera. Hopefully, someday we'll be able to return.
Before leaving, we also decided to visit Lava Canyon. There we discovered the force of the lahars (mud-flows) which result from volcanic eruptions. Until 1980, the lava canyons were nonexistent; layers upon layers of igneous rock from past eruptions simply looked like one large lava flow. However, when Mt. St. Helens erupted again in 1980, a huge mudslide moved through the area of the lava canyons, taking with it huge chunks of the preexisting rock and leaving a narrow canyon where a beautiful river now flows. Wow, again! After finishing the short trail through the canyons, we headed north toward the Olympic Peninsula. On the way, we stopped in Olympia to meet up with our friend Jamie Miller for a little bit; it was great to see him and hear about his experiences in the military before he heads overseas. When we were finished visiting, we continued driving to the North Fork campground on the Olympic Peninsula. -- Molly & Brian Lawrence
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We drove about 40 minutes down a dirt road before we entered the National Park and located our campsite. The first rainforest views we drove through were incredible. An abundance of green covered every available surface; lichens hung from branches and bark, mosses covered every square inch of the ground without other vegetation, other flora like ferns and seedlings grew out of the tops of stumps and out of the sides of fallen trees, trying to gain an advantage over other seedlings which might try to begin their existence on the forest floor. The amount of life that we saw, even at dusk, was immense. An owl of some sort silently landed on a stump near the road. A HUGE banana slug crept slowly along the ground; we wondered how far slugs like this travel in their lifetimes. The forest felt enchanted, rivaling one from a fairy tale.
The next morning, we awoke and headed to the coastline. The Olympic coastline (part of the National Park) is the longest stretch of preserved coastline in the lower 48 states. It spans 62 miles and, as our friend Travis once said, makes you feel like you're Christopher Columbus discovering the New World. After getting our packs ready, we headed out from Third Beach (just south of Mora) for Toleak Point (about 6 miles down the beach). From the parking lot, we hiked through the same type of rainforest we'd camped in the previous night and after about a mile popped out on the beach. We can't imagine finding another place where such an incredible forest lines the beach. Once on the beach, the scenery virtually took our breath away. Huge rocks, with a plethora of plant life, blasted by the waves, tide pools with bright orange and purple starfish and green sea anemones sheltered from the violence by the quantity of rocks in the intertidal zone, cliffs overhanging the sandy or pebbly beach covered with vegetation, huge kelp gardens kept afloat offshore by air bladders in the plants, and huge piles of driftwood (jetsam & flotsam) smoothed out by their bout in the water were just a few of the impressive sites we saw.
The scenery wasn't the only trait which distinguished this beach from others; hiking on this northwestern beach was also quite different than a typical hike on a beach. The cliffs which extended towards the sand were impassable when the tide was too high, so we had to climb up and over them. Not to fret, the park service had installed primitive hanging steps and ropes to help hikers traverse the practically vertical slopes. We felt quite adventurous scaling cliffs with our backpacks! Each cliff we ascended sapped our energy, but also reinvigorated it with the views of the forest and the ocean from on high. That evening, we saw an incredible sunset - a rare event in such a moist area (west of Mt. Olympus rain is common - over 140 inches of rain is average for this area!); in the morning we awoke to find a thin layer of fog covering the tree tops, making them appear as if God had taken a chain saw during the night and chopped off their apexes. The entire time we were in awe of the beauty which encompassed us.
After our hike out, we found a place to take showers before beginning our next backpacking trip. WAHOO!! We then drove to Sol Duc Hotsprings, another part of Olympic National Park. (I should probably take a quick tangent to explain the set-up of the park. Olympic NP is unlike most others in that no road cuts through it, meaning 95% of the park is wilderness area. Instead, there are five or six access roads which enter the outskirts of the park in various locations around the peninsula. Because there is no road cutting through the park, hiking is the chief means of transportation when exploring the 900 miles of trails; many areas take two or three days to access, which means few people explore some of the most remote areas.) Because we had hiked 6 miles on the beach that morning, the first day of our hike on the High Divide trail out of Seven Lakes Basin was quite short. We hiked up to Mink Lake, eating tiny mountain blueberries along the way, and found ourselves alone with a mother duck and her babies at the beautiful lake. The next morning we continued to climb until we reached the ridge. When we did, we were constantly treated with beautiful mountain flowers like tiger lilies, glacier lilies, pink heather, columbine, lupine, beargrass, several asters, funky hair flowers (that's my own made-up name) and many others. A little further off, Mt. Olympus with its huge glaciers glimmered in the sunlight. The views were spectacular, as was the lake we camped at that evening (Lunch Lake). Unfortunately, the organic bug spray I'd purchased a while ago did NOT effectively ward off the swarms of mosquitoes; thank goodness for long sleeves, pants, the bug nets we wore over our heads, and, most importantly, the tent. The next morning we continued on our loop, deciding against climbing up to Appleton Pass as we'd originally planned. Since we'd already lost most of the elevation we'd gained the day before we decided to hike a bit further, but a much more gradual trail which dropped us off at Sol Duc Falls . Along the way we saw an American Dipper, a little bird which actually swims/walks underwater in rushing streams, tons of lower elevation, moisture loving flowers (bluebells, fireweed, corydalis, bleeding hearts, etc.), and many beautiful lakes and streams. That evening, we camped right up river from the falls by the incredible Sol Duc River; no one else was around once dusk arrived and we could explore the riverbank as well as enjoy the falls alone. It was wonderful. We had only a short 3-mile hike out the next morning, for which we were both grateful. Although there was a pool by the parking lot, it was a hot pool which cost $10.25 per person. After a long hike, the last thing we wanted was to bask in warm water, so we skipped the pool and headed for Port Angeles to catch the ferry to Victoria, British Columbia on Vancouver Island. -- Molly & Brian Lawrence
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Victoria , BC was a fabulous city. As the ferry neared the shore, we enjoyed the views of the Empress hotel, the Parliament building, and other features which gave us a sense of what Victoria had to offer. In addition to the city, tons of sea planes landed and took off from the bustling harbor. It was quite unusual to see mini airport terminals with sea planes docked out front. We arrived on the ferry at about 8:00 in the evening and, after giving up our one piece of fresh produce, an apple, to the Canadian customs agent, made our way to a really great provincial park just ten minutes out of town. We happened to get the last campsite out of 170. There we felt VERY fortunate to be eating canned food, rather than only noodle packets and to have access to a shower. Although bathing in a shower which only stays on for five seconds per press of the button is rather annoying, to say the least, it certainly beat the alternative of going without a shower. We noticed that Canada appears to have taken a big stand on recycling when we went to throw our trash away and noticed a sign on the dumpster stating that any recyclable trash thrown in the trash can would result in a $1000 fine! We didn't quite know how that rule would be enforced, but it sure sounded worthwhile to recycle our recyclables. :-)
The next morning, we headed off to the city in search of a REAL breakfast (no cans or noodle packets - just the real thing). Unfortunately, nothing really opened until 9:00am (and we arrived at about 7:30am). Whoops! Wandering around waiting for breakfast, we ran across some interesting stores. Probably the most surprising was a condom store! Who has ever heard of having a store with just colorful condoms? We didn't even see that in New Orleans! :-) Finally, breakfast stores began opening and after a three course meal (a muffin at one restaurant, an egg, potato, and bacon quesadilla at another restaurant, and a raspberry scone at the first restaurant - in that order), we began exploring the town. There were tons of incredible stores and markets. Much like England, or so we've been told, there were specialty stores like Christmas houses with nothing but Christmas ornaments, nativity scenes, and other festive decorations or soap stores with all natural bar shampoos, conditioners, and bubble baths (check out www.lush.com). Bastion Square consisted entirely of local artisans selling their work. On top of the shopping, there were a diversity of excellent restaurants from which to choose. We ate at an incredible Italian place, courtesy of the recommendation of the visitor center agent in Port Angeles; it was quite a good deal for lunch, too. After lunch, we tried coconut gelato, which we both really enjoyed. After wandering around a little more, we headed north to Butchart Gardens. With over 55 acres of solid flowers, the gardens were truly beautiful, awe-inspiring, and indicative of hard-work. Never would I want a garden that large! Fortunately, they have a staff of 70 folks working full-time in the summer to keep everything looking nice. To wrap up the day, we took the ferry from Sidney to Anacortes (not pronounced ana-cor-TEZ, instead pronounced, ana-COR-tiz). The route passed directly through the San Juan Islands, which were truly beautiful. We had no time to stay there, but sometime in the future we may explore the islands. -- Molly & Brian Lawrence
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North Cascades and the Final Few Days
The last leg of our journey led us to the more eastern mountains in the state, the North Cascades. Although the taller of these mountains are merely 8,000-10,000 feet tall (a few are taller than 10,000), they get such a large amount of snow that many of the trails are impassible until August. Fortunately, the snowfall last winter was lower than normal and the warmer than average temperatures had effectively removed the majority of it before we arrived. The hikes we took on in the Cascades were quite distinct from those in the Olympics, but equally or more beautiful. Most surprising to both of us were the incredible alpine views, despite the forest at the lower elevations. On every hike we took on (Heather/Maple Pass, Blue Lake, Sahale Glacier, & Glacier Peak Wilderness backpack), snow-capped, rugged peaks surrounded us, deep-blue mountain lakes glimmered in the sunshine, and entire hillsides of meadows flaunted their summer colors. It seemed amazing that all of this was accessible in only a short 6.5 mile loop. At times, we felt like we were in Ireland, in one sense, because of the abundance of green meadows filled with wildflowers covering the hillsides. Some hills literally appeared to have no rocks, no trees, just flowers! One particularly impressive hike was the one up to Sahale Glacier. The initial portion of the climb consisted of 37 moderate switchbacks with incredible views of flowers and surrounding mountains. From the pass, we decided to continue upwards towards a campground at the bottom of Sahale Glacier. It was quite a climb, but when we arrived at the campground we felt like we were on top of the world. Large boulders were everywhere, since we were near the top of the peak and we wondered where one might set up a tent. After a little exploring we found the tent sites - little patches of dirt surrounded by a 3 foot rock wall to block the wind and right on the edge of the mountain! There was even a makeshift toilet that overlooked the mountains - best view we'd ever seen from a toilet! Our 3 day backpacking trip in the Glacier Peak Wilderness (we camped at Blue Lake then White Pass) was equally as stunning, but there were far fewer people.
From the mountains we headed to Bellingham for a visit - what a great little town with the college community and great access to outdoor activities - and then back to Seattle . After a short day-hike with Lynn, we visited downtown Seattle, with its amazing Pikes Place Market. Local organic produce, fresh fish, and incredible flowers were just a few of the things you could find there. After buying a fresh piece of salmon at the fish stand where the employees throw fish around, we went home and Lynn grilled it for me - Brian ate steak instead! (Crazy, huh?) We concluded our visit on Friday by meeting up with Brian's cousins David & Michele who introduced us to an incredible bakery (The Essential Baking Co.) - it's probably a great thing that we don't have one in Athens or I might give up work and hang out there all day long waiting for the fresh breads and pastries to be put out. Even though our visit was brief, it was great to see both David and Michele and get an update on what's new with them.
In closing, it seems a little harder to come home from our vacation each year - this year was no exception. Georgia's heat and humidity seem significantly more intense after becoming accustomed to the dry heat again (yes, the heat in Washington was dry by our standards - natives claimed it was humid, but they had nothing like Georgia to which they could compare it). There are noticeable differences in the western lifestyle as well. For example, we couldn't believe it when we found the VAST majority of drivers abiding by the speed limit or driving slower than it. Also, on sunny, beautiful days, the lakes and mountains near the city are filled with people, as if Seattleites take the day off of work if it's a beautiful day. An increased awareness of the need for environmentalism was also refreshing - even the airport had recycling bins and one restaurant we visited only gave out metal spoons for sampling ice cream in order to reduce trash. Needless to say, we had an incredible journey, met many wonderful people, and certainly plan to return someday! -- Molly & Brian Lawrence
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Bishop, CA
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Charleston, IL
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