2008 – Week 14

Tuesday, July 29, 2008:
Well, NOAA weather was right. We had rain last night, not a lot, but enough to wet the ground. It is 57 degrees and not expected to clear before tomorrow morning. Daisy and I took a walk around the closed section of the campground and came upon a sign that talked about a big storm that came through here on February 12, 1979, knocking down 79 large trees in that section of the campground. The remnants of that storm is still visible, but the recent damage was caused by two storms in late 2006 and 2007, according to a local who comes here often. Last summer only 2 of the 5 sections were open. He was very complimentary of the US Park Service and their efforts to reopen the areas. I learn lots during these morning walks. We met a young couple from Washington DC who were making a 3 week round trip and camping the entire way. They recognize that that is nowhere enough time, but are doing what they can. There are using the National Geographic book titled ‘America’s Most Scenic Drives’ (or something like that) that we used when starting these expeditions. From all the posted signs, this must be cougar country and not bear country. They tell us to fight back, but we’re thinking ……... We were contemplating what to do when the sky cleared and that decided it. We took a 3 mile round trip walk through the forest. This was different from the Hoh River Forest in that the growth on the ground was less dense and we could see further. This forest is ‘old growth’, and the trees have a very shallow root system. If there is a long stretch of rain and then a big storm, many are toppled. We met an older couple from the area, and he described how it is in the forest when the trees begin to fall. It is noisy and very scary as you don’t know where the next one will fall. All along the walk, we saw toppled trees in various degrees of deterioration. Many ‘nurse logs’ were evident and as before we saw large trees that must have started on ‘nurse logs’ but the ‘nurse logs’ had decayed to nothing, leaving a very funny root structure. It was a great walk and took about 2 hours, stopping to identify plants and trees and picture taking. After the walk, we had lunch and went to Port Angeles for food, gas and mail. From Port Angeles, we drove west on WA113 and went to the Clallam County Campground at Salt Creek near Joyce. The campground is on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and we have a spot in the rowclosest to the water. We are the smallest RV here, and I think there are more large RV’s here than we have seen in any other place except for the RV dealer showrooms. We see Vancouver Island when there are no rain showers. For a brief moment, the sun broke through the clouds and shined on a large lighthouse on Vancouver Island. Since I don’t have any charts, it is tough to determine which one it is. It is white in color with horizontal red bands and located to the west of Victoria BC, which we can see. I found a designation of Beechy Head on a Rand McNally Road Atlas but who knows if that is correct. 
We watched the inbound and outbound shipping which so far has been a large contained ship, a tug pulling a string of barges and several large freighters. Boy, does the weather change quickly here. The wind is now coming from the west at about 30k and the temperature has dropped to 52 degrees with the low expected in the 40’s. With the tide going out (west) the sea is a bit bumpy out there. Susie has suggested that we spend a second night here as it is such a great place. I concur.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008:
What a glorious sunrise! It was quiet when Daisy and I took our morning walk. We explored the park and came across a fortification that must have been built around the same time as Fort Worden but I am not sure. It was a gun emplacement overlooking the Strait and while the gun was no longer there, the projectiles that the gun shot were there so as to give us an idea of the size. Walking down the hill to the campsite, I slipped on the fungus, lost my grip on Daisy’s lease, but she stayed with me, wondering I’m sure why I was on the ground. No damage done. When we got back tot he RV Susie was ready to go to visit the tidal pools that appear at low tide. It was low tide, and all three of us spent several hours exploring the exposed rocks, seaweed, mussels, kelp, taking pictures and goodness knows what else. The tide was low at 9;04am and was well on its way in when we left. It will be high at 3:00pm, and I took some pictures to show the difference between high and low tides. We have seen many inbound and outbound ships, plus small fishing boats and one yawl trying to sail with the very little wind. We can back to the campsite, had lunch and then took showers. It was nice to be clean again! I spent about 2 hours sitting outside the RV reading. Susie came back from her shower and asked if I had seen the bald eagle that flew by, about 50 feet in front and 10 feet above where I was sitting. Of course not, I was reading. The wind filled in, clouds arrived and the temperatures have dropped to the upper 50’s. When the sun peaked through the clouds it is quite enjoyable. The visibility across the Strait is excellent, and I sat at our campsite just looking across to Vancouver Island. When we were on our walk, we could see a long distance to the west, but since it is about 60 miles to Cape Flattery, the most northwest point of the lower 48 states, I am sure we didn’t see that. The campground was full of day visitors and numerous kids. We had to rescue footballs and soccer balls from under the RV to prevent Daisy from putting a hole in them. Staying here an extra day was a great idea of Susie’s, and we enjoyed it greatly. We didn’t listen to NOAA, but the weather has exceeded our expectations. I tried to fly my battery-powered airplane with limited success. We had several wing repairs before the battery ran out. It was not a bad first attempt, but we needed more room than there was at the campground. At least I didn’t fly it into the water.

Thursday, July 31, 2008:
We were slow getting moving this morning. Susie was able to take a shower but I was not due to a jammed coin box on the shower controls. As we were leaving, we tried to dump our sewage, but the dump station was locked. We left the campground and headed west on WA112 and finally arrived at the Makah Indian Reservation. Somewhere along the road, the rain started and the fog settled in. Neah Bay is the only town on the Reservation and the port to many fishing boats. I think I have this correct; the Indians have no restrictions on when they can fish. Unfortunately, the fish are not as plentiful as they were in the past, and the industry is not as profitable as it used to be. There was some road repair work going on, and the man holding the sign controlling the traffic from our direction came over and started talking to Susie, who was driving. He was really funny and managed to have her going in circles in just a few minutes. We continued through Neah Bay and on to Cape Flattery, the most northwest point of the contiguous states. It was still raining so we played a few games of gin rummy before deciding to brave it. Daisy wore her raincoat and Susie and I wore our special LL Bean raingear, bought because we knew we were heading into the rainy northwest (it really has rained for about 25 days). Directly off Cape Flattery is Tatoosh Island. As a side note, when I was working on the JAYC Reunion last year, we were trying to find a young man whose family on Long Island Sound owned a sloop named Tatoosh, and the question was asked where the name Tatoosh came from. Now we know (maybe). I asked a representative of the Makah Tribe who was at the Cape answering questions and looking for whales (he had seen some, but we didn’t) if Tatoosh had a particular significance to the Indians, he said no, it was a Canadian family, adding that his wife’s maiden name was Tatoosh. Funny how things go around. We headed back to the RV and Daisy had lots of compliments on her raincoat. We drove east on WA 112 (no alternatives) to the town of Sekiu WA and secured a site on the harbor. Sekiu has been the center for several local industries: commercial fishing, shipping of logs and finally recreational fishing. No matter what, the industries always have the use of the Strait of Juan de Fuca as a base. On our way out and back, we noticed that the residents had large supplies of wood for winter heating, and there was smoke coming from most of the chimneys. We must have missed fall. It was still raining and the fog had become thicker so we didn’t get to see much. Susie made a good dinner, and then we called Diana. She said Denver has been terribly hot with less rain than normal. They are breaking all sorts of records (in a bad way). Meanwhile Susie and I sat here with a temperature in the mid-50s, rain and fog. NOAA says that it is to rain all night with some possibility of breaks tomorrow.

Friday, August 1, 2008:
When Daisy and I started our walk, there was no sign of sun anywhere, but as we returned, the sun had started to break through the clouds in the east. It was still foggy and dark to the west. Numerous fishermen were on the water, all working the ebbing tide. We went to take showers, and while I was waiting for Susie a young bald eagle flew overhead and landed in a nearby tree. When Susie came back from her shower, we got her bird book and decided, after much discussion, that this was a fledgling born this year. It was not black yet, but was well on its way. We started to search the skies and eventually found 2 adult eagles and 4 fledglings. We were unable to determine if it was a single or multiple families. If it was multiple families, they were living in close proximity, unusual but with an ample food supply probably OK. By the time the eagle show was over and we had breakfast, it was 11:30am before we left the campground. We drove in the rain for about an hour to the Mora Campground. This campground is located in the remote section of Olympic NP on the Pacific Coast extending from the Makah Indian Reservation approximately 60 miles south to the Quinalt Indian Reservation. Most of this section of the Park has a wilderness designation and thus very few access points. One of the access points is Rialto Beach. It is within walking distance and a pebble beach with tree stumps and trunks that were washed ashore. The pebble beach has large stones above the high water mark and become smaller and finally ending the size of sand at the low water mark. Off to the west we could see the clouds beginning to break and wondered when we would see blue sky. We returned to the RV and noticed about an hour later that the clouds had broken and overhead were patches of blue. We had dinner, and Susie took Daisy for a walk as I cleaned up. They were gone longer than I expected, but returned safely. She had found a walk-in campsite on the Quillayute River and sat to watch the goings on of the area. She saw a bald eagle with a big stick in its talons, trying to fly but it lost altitude as it crossed the river to the point the end of the stick was dragging in the water. Once it was over dry land it was able to gain altitude and fly on. Susie watched it until it was out of sight. At 9:00pm, we went to a US Park Service Ranger talk about the efforts to remove 2 privately owned dams on the Elwah River that flows north into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The construction of the first dam was started in1909 to provide electric power for a lumber company in the area. The construction of the second followed shortly. Today they supply 38% of the electricity for that company and are being removed to allow the salmon to return to their original spawning grounds. Before the dams were built it was estimated the 400,000 fish returned to this river every year and now only 4,000 do. The removal of the dams is to start in 2012 and take 2.5 years to complete. No demolition or water release will take place when there are fish in the river.

Saturday, August 2, 2008:
It didn’t rain last night, but it is 57 degrees and completely overcast. We learned this morning two fire fighters who lost their lives fighting a forest fire were employed by the US Park Service and were from this immediate area. One was just out of high school, stationed in Mora Campground and was killed by a falling tree. It was a dismal enough day without hearing that news. There is no wind and a heavy mist with not many prospects for improvement. Susie made the comment that whenever we go to an area where the weather might not be the best, we see mostly campers and small RV’s. There are no large RV’s to be seen. We have discovered that the warmest places in this campground are the toilets. Excessive use of electric hand driers must be the cause! We decided to head to the Indian town of La Push on the opposite side of the Quillayute River as we going on a US Park Ranger tour of Second Beach. For orientation purposes, Rialto Beach is the furthest north, then the Quillayute River, La Push, First Beach, Second Beach and finally Third Beach. First Second and Third Beaches are separated by headlands during high tide, but you can walk from one to another during low tide. La Push is a large fishing port for the Indians and is protected by stone jetties. It is also a town that is showing signs of progress and is building tourist facilities. There is a new hotel (that was full) and an expansion is underway. A RV park is being added. These facilities overlook First Beach. There is a US Coast Guard Station here. There seemed to be only one restaurant in the town and is adjacent to the marina. We had lunch there and the place was about 75% full. The food was good and reasonable. Before we had lunch, we had venture out to a parking lot near the entrance to the Quillayute River and noticed a number of surfer dudes trying to get organized. The waves weren’t very high but the boom box was at full volume. Susie noticed a bald eagle (if you hadn’t noticed, they are pretty numerous here) and watched him land in a small pine tree about 100 feet away. Armed with my camera at the ready, I walked as quietly as I could to get a photo of him. I think I did OK and was having fun watching him have fun watching me. It was great until some teen-age girls drove up close, took a picture and then locked the car door with a remote that flashed the headlights and blew the horn. The eagle flew away! After lunch we drove to the Second Beach Trailhead to park, but it was full. We drove up the road a bit to a medical clinic (closed) and parked in that lot. We met the Ranger a 2:00PM and were the only 2 on the tour. It took us an hour to get to the beach, and after he left Susie and I both agreed that we have been here long enough as we knew most of the answers to the questions he asked. The beach was full of trees, including the roots, for a width of about 75 feet. Very interesting to walk over! Some of these trees must have had a 4-foot diameter. There were numerous seastacks along the beach. Seastacks are pieces of the original mainland that remain after the ocean water erodes the land between them and the mainland. They are large enough to support tree growth on the top that is at the same elevation as the mainland. Some can be reached at low tide without getting your feet wet. We walked the entire length of Second Beach, around-trip distance of 3.5 miles and brought back plastic bottles, foam rubber and polyester line to throw in the trash at the Trailhead. The life of these products is more than 200 years so if you’re on the water, don’t throw it overboard. We learned that every April there is a volunteer effort to walk the beaches of Washington to pick up trash. It must be a success as there really wasn’t much debris. We returned to the RV and had a snack before returning to the Campground for dinner and another Ranger talk, this time on Sea Otters. Back in the mid-1800’s there were estimated to be about 400,000 seat otters, but, due to hunting, by 1900 they were down to less that 1,000. A treaty stopped the hunting of these animals that were desired for their fur pelts. The population has rebounded but over the last 10-15 years there has been a decline in the population in Alaskan waters. In brief, the overfishing of Pollack (faux crab) and sardines has reduced the number of seals, thus depriving the orcas of a food source, and the orcas have started eating sea otters. It continues to amaze us how the impact of one decision (overfishing) trickles down and impacts many other species. Tomorrow we leave the Olympic NP, wash our clothes in Fork and head south towards Portland. We then turn east, following the Columbia River upriver, to explore the northeast section of Oregon.

Sunday, August 3, 2008:
It was cloudy and humid this morning so we put our heads under the covers and kept sleeping. When I finally got up, Daisy and I had a long walk along the river, but didn’t se a thing. We spent a good portion of the rest of the morning brushing all the pines needles of the inside carpet and the outside walking mats. Susie to Daisy for a long walk, and she was lucky enough to have a bald eagle fly from a tree, disappear from sight and then fly down the river about 100 feet away. Unfortunately she didn’t have a camera so the great view was lost. It was almost as if the eagle was putting on a show. We drove to town, noting that the sky cleared about 6 miles from the coast, and spent about 2 hours and $25 washing the laundry. We had promised each other that we would not get as far behind as we did last time, but that promise was broken quickly. We had lunch in a local café, taking advantage of the local seafood. We stopped at a local produce market and replenished our fruit supply. We had a piece of paper that indicated that there were showers in town, but we couldn’t find them and so started south along US101. Every time we approached the coast, the clouds returned. We drove about 120 more miles and ending stopping in the town of Montesano WA where we had dinner and camped at Lake Silvia SP (been there before). There are lots of kids here running around and making lots of noise. Hopefully the exercise will make go to bed early. Tomorrow we head south into Oregon. Once again, we are having problems charging the house battery again but I think I may know the answer. Anyway, we’ll conserve electricity as best we can. We also have smelly water again. We have flushed the tanks a few times and asked the RV Repair folks, but they said just keep using the water an don’t let it stand around. We may try some baking soda. We also have a leak in the same area that was fixed this winter. I hope that the collision on the ferry didn’t open any joints. I have tape and will try to seal a suspect area.


Monday, August 4, 2008:
We had a nice morning and Susie walked Daisy around the lake. Daisy didn’t want to go to the end when I walked her earlier. We put baking soda in the water tank in the hopes of clearing up the smell. We left the campground around 11:15am and headed towards Portland where we’ll spend the night and then head west along the Columbia River. We had to buy some new fluorescent lamps for the bathroom, and that took us 2 stops. Susie needed more pencils for her drawing so we stopped at a Michael’s. By the time we reached Portland, we had driven 135 miles, and it was 4:30pm. We turned the RV off when we were checking in, and when we went to restart, nothing happened. We have plenty of battery so it must be in the starter circuiting someplace. We found a Winnebago dealer, and he gave us the name of a Peterbuilt GMC repair shop in the area, and we called AAA and arranged for a tow at 10:00am tomorrow. Susie and Daisy will stay here in the RV Park while I ride with the tow truck. We are not sure that we will cured the intermittent house battery problem, but if we can drive this thing, all the better. There is an isolator that controls whether the car charging system is capable of charging the house battery and something may be wrong there. Hopefully I can launch my blog for Week 13 before we tow the RV to the shop.