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AROUND THE LOOPJul 12, 2009
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LAKE ON HWY 101
PACIFIC OCEAN OFF 101
LOTS OF DRIFTWOOD
| Our day started with us telling all the Evergreens what a wonderful time we had with them and thanking them for including us in their weekend. We would loved to have stayed but if we are to get home before Christmas, we need to move on. Our plan for the day is to travel the loop. The loop being Hwy 101 around the peninsula, being the Olympic National Park. It will be a long day. The mileage will be over 400 miles with all the side trips. So off we go. Our drive will be in and out of the forest that runs along the coast and along views of the Pacific Ocean. On our first stop overlooking the ocean I find my first Banana Slug. It is huge, at first I thought it might be a snail, but no shell. I asked a ranger later and he told me what it was. I took pictures of yellow berries. Not knowing what they were I did not eat them. Later down the road I asked some hikers. That's how I found out they were salmon berries and that you could eat them. They are in the raspberry family. When ripe they turn a red with some orange around the bottom of the berries. They taste great too. After riding along the coast and seeing beautiful views we turned inward to go to the Hoh Rain Forest. What a drive. The ferns are so plentiful and huge. The undergrowth so heavy. Trees laden down with moss. It was a spectacular sight. Seeing the telephone roof covered in moss, you know moss will grow anywhere. When we came upon cars just stopped in the road, our first thoughts were there was an accident. No accident, just several elks eating away at the lush vegetation. This is our first elk since leaving Yellowstone National Park. On down the road we stopped at probably the biggest tree in the rain forest. As you can tell from the pictures it is huge. Leaving the rain forest, we head for the most north western part of the continuity United States. The views with all the sea caves, Tatoosh Island with its lighthouse, the sound of the waves hitting the rocks and the sea gulls making their noises, what else could you ask for. The feeling of the wind on your face is amazing. We started the long up hill hike back to the car, when someone on the trail told us there was a whale spotted at one of our earlier stops. We hurry off to hopefully get a look at our first whale. Getting there we asked the people gathered there if the whale was still there, about that time I saw and heard the whale blow. I have never seen or heard this in person, so there's no need for me to tell you how excited I was. Some one said it was a Humpback Whale. I didn't care, it was a whale. I couldn't take a picture, I wasn't fast enough. But I did see and hear the whale blow again. On the way back we saw members of the Makah tribe working on their fishing nets. Further up the road we saw a huge fishing boat on a trailer. They were on their way to launch the boat. We pulled off the road so we could watch as they put this big boat in the water. Our last look was of Los Angeles at the harbor. We still had 135 miles to go to get back to the motorhome. We got back to the campground before midnight. Tired sure, but what a wonderful day. Tomorrow we will drive down to Astoria,Oregon. Will be checking things out to see how we will be going thru Oregon when we leave here. Before we leave we will be going to Mount St Helens and to Spirit Lake. RAMBLING ALONG..... |
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