Roadtrip 2012

Flying, walking, and Jeeping in the desert!

2012-01-27T22:06:00.001-07:00

One day just seems to follow right after another here in the desert! After a while they all start to blend together. Managed to secure a first class seat in the Bayfield Bunch jeep for a tour around the desert and some of the old mine shafts out back of our camp site here near Bouse.

Al and I reconnoitered some old trails and some new ones while exploring canyons, caves, washes and old mine shafts.

Eventually we returned on a trail leading down to camp from above.

Helicopter’s view while awaiting the launch command.

And, a little higher up …

Far below, a suspicious campsite was observed.

Swooping in for a closer look revealed these two suspicious characters,with obviously nefarious intentions. Either that, or it was Al and Wandering Willy working on the satellite dish repair. No missile launches were ordered.

Next day, it was somewhat overcast and cool, so it was a perfect day to go sheep hunting. No sheep were found, but a few old sheep beds were discovered among the canyons, caves, and cactus.

A resourceful desert rat has barricaded his burrow with hundreds of sharp cactus thorns. It looks like he must hop from rock to rock to gain entrance without being impaled on his own handiwork!

Hailey, ever vigilant for birds, butterflies, and coyotes. Or, maybe just waiting to see if Pheebs and little Cora are going to come over to play again!

Doing our best to tough it out in the wilderness …

Arizona bound. (And famous neighbours!)

2012-01-25T09:47:00.001-07:00

It was a really enjoyable stay near Borrego Springs. The weather was superb, no wind, lots of places to hike and explore, and lots of like-minded company out in the desert.

But is was time to move on, so we reluctantly did a tour of the area, bidding farewell to the mostly BC folks we had been sharing campfires and tales with for the past three weeks. We saddled up and rode down the trail to the ‘water and dump and fuel’ store in Salton City, and then skirted the Mexican border on our way into Yuma. It was a bit of culture shock, going from nearly deserted desert to a busy RV park just east of Yuma. But it is an annual visit not to be missed with my cousins who were due to head north shortly. We made the best of the ‘free’ electricity and ran the vacuum around the rig, and pondered the use of the microwave. The weather was nice there, so did a couple of flights on the edge of town.

My flights attracted a curious crowd, who wanted to know how that thing worked!

Before you knew it, I had been talked into a few photos of a golfing party at the resort.

While in Yuma, the truck announced that it was time for an oil change, so that was taken care of, as well as some pricing out of windshields and tires for future reference.

After a few days of the ‘RV park life’, it was time to get back out into the desert again. I had heard rumours of a Wandering Willy guy who might be hiding out near Bouse somewhere, so we approached cautiously, then sent up the craft for some aerial reccon.

Sure enough, he was spotted trying to hide between a saguaro and a palo verde tree. So we moved into the neighbourhood and then spent a day or so checking out the deals at the nearby RV show in Quartzsite. Traffic was a bit of a zoo, but it was sure a lot nicer to be able to camp away from all that where it was quiet. Bought me a little ‘sticky pad’, used to hold a phone or glasses on the dash of a vehicle. But it had a foreign origin, where translation services must be a bit lacking!! Check this out. Read the whole thing! Must be an unemployed English-speaking 5 year old somewhere that they could contract for their translation services?

A couple days of nice weather provided the opportunity to check out the area around camp without leaving home. Hailey wanted to know if there were any coyotes in the area, and I wanted to check out the hiking/scrambling possibilities close by.

Being security conscious, a regular watch was kept for any visitors that might attempt to penetrate the perimeter of the camp.

Sure enough, the efforts were rewarded when who do we spot approaching, but the (drum roll) world famous – Al & Kelly, and Cora a Pheebs, of the Bayfield Bunch!

Since my ‘readers’ were telling me that they could find out more about my activities by reading other blogs, this has finally forced me to provide an update. It was great to see them all again, and to meet Pheebs for the first time. She is every bit as friendly and nice as I had anticipated. During the introduction process with Hailey, I put her on top of my truck where she could see and be seen without suffering the indignity of any doggy licks, and reduce the chance of any dogs losing a nose to a nasty claw swipe. All was going well, till little Cora saw the open door of my camper and decided to check for any stray dog treats inside. In a flash Hailey was off the truck and charged inside to defend her home against the invasion! I followed and intervened before any fur flew or blood was shed.

So now here I am, camped between the ultimate blogger, the Bayfield Bunch, and the reluctant blogger Wandering Willy, who we are trying to convince to update his blog at least every few months. He has not updated for 10 months, but who is counting …

Looked out the window this morning, and thought I was still blogging, as there was Al and Pheebs out for a morning stroll. Kind of like living next to movie stars! For ‘good’ photos of the area, check out their blog. We hope they are planning to stay around for a few days or longer.

Gettin’ Off Road in Borrego

2012-01-17T00:48:00.000-07:00

But first, it was time to check out the newest sculptures in the area and ones that I had not previously discovered. There must be several hundred different sculptures scattered in all directions from the town of Borrego Springs.

Collectively, they are called Galleta Meadow Estates. It is private land, but you are allowed to camp, hike, and explore the area to your heart’s content.

One of the newest is this 350’ long serpent, that appears to cross under the road you are driving along! There are a total of five segments making up this massive structure.

After a good day of hiking and scrambling in the rough off-trail areas, the feet needed a day off, so it was time to go for a cruise and see what else we could find within a few miles of camp. I started off checking out the Arroyo Salado campsite, just off highway S22. But the road down the wash kept on going, and going ….

So we did too. Hailey was likely glad she was not along, as it got a bit rough at times. There are some incredible formations in this wash.

Eventually this route joins up with the Truckhaven Trail, and the going gets considerably rougher. There were a few spots where you definitely would not want to meet another vehicle!

Driving the wash

Gettin’ High!

2012-01-15T23:50:00.001-07:00

There are plenty of great ‘official’ hikes to be explored in the Borrego area and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, but there are almost limitless possibilities by just heading out into the desert or up the nearest mountain range. The distances are quite deceiving however, and a short hike often turns out to be quite a bit more than expected. Aptly named Coyote mountain is one such challenge. This Google Earth view shows the irrigated groves of oranges, grapefruit, and lemons to the west and Clark Dry Lake to the east, where many of the RV folks stake out their spaces in the sun.

On several occasions, I have hiked up the various ridges, and have always been amazed by the variety of terrain, hidden canyons and ridges that cannot be seen from below.

Some of the Ocotillo cactus were starting to bloom.

Looking eastward toward the camping area.

Clark Dry lake.

Flying weather has been good as well, providing some more good photo ops. This shot was taken from directly above our camp. I think the space shuttle waved as they went by .

Looking north toward Clark Dry lake.

And, to the south west towards the town of Borrego Springs.

Lower slopes of Coyote Mountain.

Three weeks at Borrego … and counting!

A month on the road.

2012-01-09T20:42:00.001-07:00

Today marks a month since we shovelled the snow from in front of the fifth wheel, made a run up the snowy hill for the main road, and almost lost it on the black ice near Lake Louise.

What a difference a month makes! Now it’s shorts and sandals and T-shirts, windows down and looking for shade to park in. We’ve found ourselves somewhat stationary just outside of Borrego Springs for over two weeks now, just kicking back and enjoying the absolutely wonderful weather. There was some wind gusts a couple nights ago, and that’s the extent of the ‘bad’ weather, if you can even call it that.

Hard to believe that it has been a week before I blogged last, but there has not been anything particularly bloggable.

Of course, UPS and I are still playing games. They continue to amaze me. One day they hit a home run with bases loaded, and the next day, they don’t even show up.

Got a package delivered to, and sent from Palm Springs, and that was all excellent. Then I got one delivered to Borrego Springs, which was good, but there is no depot here, and you can’t send an international package without jumping through all the hoops. So on Saturday, Hailey took her place on my lap, and we were off for a scenic drive to Ramona, where there is a UPS store. All was going well, till they told me it would cost $98. to ship this tiny box to Canada, or it could go by ‘mail’ for about $50!! I told them it had only cost me $23 to ship the identical box from Palm Springs, but no, there were no alternatives! So I told them where they could stick their business, and used the good old US postal service to send it today – for about $23, but saving me a drive to Palm Springs again. I think this was a franchise UPS store, so I guess they feel the need to inflate the prices by 400%+!

I can see you asking the question about why I am shipping all these boxes back and forth? No, it wasn’t Christmas presents or anything – well maybe to myself.

Nope. It seems that I mortgaged the farm more or less and bought myself a very expensive, high-tech, radio controlled helicopter. This helicopter is built in Saskatoon, has 6 blades, is computer controlled, and specializes in aerial photos and video. The astute among you may have been noticing a few photos on the blog taken from a somewhat unlikely angle lately. You guessed it, they were taken from the helicopter. Unfortunately, the controller for said helicopter does not seem to like to be charged using power from my onboard 1000W inverter. The company and I have been trying to find the causes and solutions to this problem, but in the meantime, we are keeping UPS afloat shipping pieces back and forth to keep it in the air.

We have quite the ‘little Canada’ down here, and I have been running into mostly BC Columbians, as I like to call the neighbouring province. Lots of happy hours, camp fires, and stories told. I’ve been here long enough, I’m starting to run into people I recognize in town.

It was pretty busy out here over the Christmas and New Years break, but now it is pretty quiet after all those folks had to take the kids back to school or go to work. I remember work. I used to have a job, but it sure cut into the fun times I tell ya. I much prefer this – and not having to freeze, or shovel snow!

Hailey has been really enjoying it here I think, as she gets to run around without her harness and leash on. Visibility is good so I can be assured there are no coyotes around during daytime, though they make their presence known at night. There are a few other night creatures on the prowl as well.

Photos from the air …

That’ll have to do – till the next time I get around to blogging!

Far side of the Lake

2012-01-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

Most lakes I am used to, require some sort of boat to cross. Fortunately, here in southern California, many lakes are dry, and a mountain bike or hiking boots is all you need!

I decided to go back over to the far side of Clark Dry Lake off Rockhouse Canyon Road, near Borrego Springs. Motor vehicles are not permitted in this part of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, so it was a good way to distance myself from the hordes of Atv’s that come out into the desert from San Diego and LA on holiday weekends. I don’t mind Atv’s per se, and the vast majority of these ones thankfully head for the designated off-road areas, but there were still enough of them roaring around to create huge dust clouds that almost blot out the sun at sunset.

It’s a long walk across the lake, but with a mountain bike it is a pretty quick trip.

Once on the far side however, it is almost eerily quiet, walking among the ghosts of past homesteaders and explorers, and the remnants of their efforts to tame this wild area.

I did not want to disturb the owls I had found previously in a large grove of old tamarisk trees almost buried in drifted sand, so I checked out some other ruins.

I had thought that Rockhouse road had gotten it’s name from a house built of rock somewhere, until I came across this likely explanation. It appears that it was a Mr Rock’s house that was overwhelmed by sand at the other grove, and he had to rebuild in a spot more sheltered from the wind off the dry lake.

I know that those who drive Fords can be a little sensitive at times, but I just wanted to show some compassion and tell of the great respect I have for the quality of their oil filler caps. It appears that this is all that remains of a Ford that attempted this road at some point. .

Slot Canyon and Kelly the Flying Ranger

2012-01-02T16:18:00.001-07:00

The weather here at Borrego Springs has been perfect. Rarely a cloud to be seen, and temps just warm enough at midday that shade looks inviting, and windows are down to drive. And no wind.

I had tried to do the Slot Canyon hike last year, but found that the trailhead parking had no shade at all, and it would have been too hot to leave Hailey in the truck. Knowing that, I left her behind this year and headed out to check it out. On the way however, I spotted a plane fuelling up at the airstrip, that had ‘Ranger Patrol’ in huge letters on the wings. So I stopped to talk to the pilot Kelly, who told me she was giving a presentation in an hour on her job as a Park Ranger Pilot. So I stopped by and took in her interesting talk.

I could tell you all about her talk, but I was apparently not alone there. RV Life on Wheels was also present and has better photos and description of Kelly’s work on his blog, so go there and read about it!

And if that isn’t enough information, you can read Al’s excellent description of a similar tour last year on the Bayfield Bunch blog.

Wow, this blogging business is really easy, when others do all the work for you and take better photos. All I have to do is provide the links!

Ranger plane in the foreground.

After the presentation, I resumed my original plan and headed out to the trailhead, passing through ‘Texas Dip’ along the way.

The ramp down to canyon bottom is a steep trail, but once down it is flat walking, but very narrow in many places. Unlike up above, it is refreshingly cool in the depths of the canyon.

The route is very very narrow in some spots, not a good place for large backpacks or camera cases. Several places, I had to turn sideways to squeeze through, and I am not exactly overweight.

There are no signs on the trail at all, other than a few tiny rock cairns, so you are not really sure when the hike is done, and when you are starting to explore random side canyons.

In keeping with this blog’s theme of letting others do the work, here are some more links to the Slot Canyon trail!

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=940797

http://www.everytrail.com/guide/slot-canyon-anza-borrego-desert-state-wilderness/map

http://www.efmer.eu/trails/usa/ca/borrego/slot_canyon.html

I had some space to fill at the end of the blog, and these photos were making my camera sort of heavy, so I thought I would put them here and solve both problems .

2011-12-30T10:59:00.003-07:00

RoadTrip 2011 finally does the Marshall South home site hike!

After reading about this place for several years in the Bayfield Bunch posts, I finally found myself headed into the Blair Valley and up Ghost mountain to check this out.

Essentially, it is a story about a man and his wife who raised a family here, and attempted to live off the land in the 30’s and 40’s. He was a well known author and writer.

But, instead of me re-writing everything about this place, why not just go to the Bayfield Bunch blog and type ‘Yaqitepec’ in the search box, and Al will tell you all about his 4 (?) and counting visits to and thoughts about this place.

Marshall’s sundial.

I will just say that it is a very nice area to visit, and very scenic. Unlike Al (and I don’t want to jinx us here), we have not suffered from any wind at all while boondocked in the Borrego Springs area.

Time to put on the hiking boots and head somewhere else today!

Late addition: Thanks to Lori for reminding me. I did check at the Park Info center and confirmed that the concrete structures were aerial gunnery targets from when the lake bed was used as an airfield and range. I also researched a bit and it appears that the wires on low posts that I found may have been part of a radio telescope from the same era.

Drive, Bike, and Hike

2011-12-27T23:30:00.001-07:00

After a day of kicking back and relaxing in camp, it was time for a bit of a move. So Hailey hopped into the truck and off we went, bouncing up the washboard of Rockhouse Canyon road, up into the hills, past Clark dry lake bed.

We made it about 13km or so before the rocks got a bit large and the width of the road not really suitable for a vehicle with paint on the sides. A couple jeeps went on a bit further, but they soon turned back as well. I didn’t see a single Ford, though I did find the remains of one on the road today – just an oil filler cap. A state park ranger had been up the road even further in his jeep, so we had a nice chat when he came out. He had not seen the other jeeps as they had turned around before getting as far as he’d gone.

After discovering that some other Canadian bloggers were camped not far away – from their comment on my last post – I rode my bike over their way this morning and introduced myself to Jean & Skip, who hail from Nanoose Bay on Vancouver Island, and are also bloggers at http://travelwithjeanskip.blogspot.com/

We had a coffee, discussed boondocking locations, other bloggers and blogs, dogs, cats, and the price of fuel among other things. We left a few world problems unsolved, but made a good start at it. We’ll have to solve a few more over a happy hour soon I’m thinking!

They told me they had hiked across the dry lake bed to the far side, and I thought it sounded like a good idea – except for the hiking part.

The dry lake bed looked pretty interesting, but in this area distances are very deceiving, and everything is further than it looks. Vehicles are not permitted, so I drove down to the ‘lakeshore’, then rode my bike across the lake bed to the far side, then hiked around a bit. There are some groves of big trees there, partially covered with sand that has blown in among them. I found evidence of an old chimney from a house that must have been there at one time, and quite a few owls inhabiting the trees.

Out on the lake bed were two of these concrete structures, about a half mile apart, more or less identical. Like Jean & Skip, I have no idea of their origin or purpose.

There may have been some type of mining in the area at one time, and there are a large variety of stakes and other stuff scattered across the expanse of the lake bed.

This row of low stakes seemed like they had at one time had wires strung between them. I don’t know if it was some type of surface level power line, or …?

I may have to make a visit to the park office on the far side of Borrego Springs one of these days and see if the folks there can tell me. I also want to see if the self-serve roadside grapefruit stand is in operation at a junction not too far from here. Last year they were sure good, and cheap as well.

The weather here has continued to be gorgeous. Warm sunny days, and virtually no wind. It cools quickly when the sun goes down, but warms up fast again in the morning. I think I can take this a while longer!

Hailey has been out on her own and very well behaved and staying close, but when the coyotes started to howl late this afternoon, she thought it would be wise to watch for them from the windows instead. Driving back from the lake, I saw one not too far from the accumulated RVs.

Speaking of which, the population here seems to have almost doubled today. A lot more rigs showed up last night and today, many of them appear to be groups, or friends camping together. Maybe they have all completed their festive family commitments and are back on the road?

Till next time …

Borrego Christmas

2011-12-26T12:00:00.001-07:00

Here are the photos of the sea lions on the California coast near the Hearst Castle that were on my other camera and not available for the last post. The beach was not too crowded this time, so there was not as much fighting and squashing, and flippers-full of sand thrown in each others eyes this time. Multiple human volunteers were on hand to answer questions.

After we moved inland, we visited with friends for a few days in the Desert Hot Springs and Palm Springs area. Hailey had a chance to check out the urban cat lifestyle.

While visiting the UPS (Santa?) store, we found it was very near the Palm Springs airport.

I thought that this sign advising of the end of the pavement might have been a little redundant, given the guardrail, the bushes, the airport perimeter fence? Watched the planes for a few minutes, and was surprised to see two Canadian registered Lear jets take off one after the other, as well as a WestJet.

From there we headed south into the desert near Borrego Springs, and the Anza-Borrego desert state park area. There were a scattering of other rigs out in the area, but we managed to get into the same place as last year (or was it two years ago?), when the Bayfield Bunch tracked us down here. It seems like the weather we have here has been a bit warmer than what they are having over in the Benson-Douglas area. It is lower elevation here as well, so daytime temps have been in the 20’s celsius, while at night it just gets close to the freezing point. But not a cloud in the sky, and virtually calm, so it is not that hard to take at all.

Hailey heard that Santa might be in the area, so she got up on a high perch to keep an eye out for the jolly old guy!

But mainly, it was a very laid back, relaxing, and stress free Christmas – just the way I like them.

I think that as long as the weather remains the same and the food supplies hold, there will be no reason to move from here for a few days. It will be tough, missing the snow shovelling and frozen fingers the way I do! But I think it will be manageable if we work at it!

Hope your Christmas was as good!

Feast or Famine

2011-12-22T11:45:00.001-07:00

And we’re not talking Christmas dinner here. We are talking about blog photos. It always seems that I have way too many photos, or not enough.

In this case, it is the latter

Speaking of this concept, UPS seems to be on the same page; either their service is absolutely atrocious, or fabulous! More in a minute.

It seems that another package was on it’s way for me via UPS, this time to Palm Springs. Judging by the time it took them to deliver the last one (and the time of year), I estimated the thing would not arrive till perhaps just after Christmas, so I was not in a hurry to get to PS. Well perhaps the US arm of UPS is faster than the Canadian one, but they surprised my by getting it here in about 24 hrs from Saskatchewan. So then, I had to uproot myself from the beautiful spot on the coast, and head inland to receive it, in case they had a relapse and sent it back again!

I did stop at the sea lion lookout near the Hearst castle and take a couple of obligatory photos, but they are on my other camera …

Anyway, after leaving the coast at Cambria and cruising through the wine belt around Paso Robles, there is how do I say this nicely, umm, not much to see . From the vineyards to the orchards, through the veritable forest of oil wells, thence on a short very rough section of I-5, and on through Bakersfield we went. It was still early, so we passed on the Walmart ‘campground’ there and continued up over the pass to Tehachapi, Mojave, and eventually into Barstow. Walmart there is officially RV unfriendly, but security will help you find a spot on the road immediately adjacent if you’d like. Even though it was dark and getting later, the spot looked less than ideal in many respects, and ‘looked’ noisy! So, off we tooled into the dark down toward Lucerne valley where I recalled some wee backroads that would provide adequate, and quiet rest area. They were right where I’d left them (!), and in spite of slightly below freezing temps in this fairly high desert, we stopped for the night.

Morning was a beautiful sunny day which warmed up beautifully while enjoying morning coffee and a stroll outside. The smell of the sage and creosote bushes certainly rival the smells of the ocean. Hailey headed for higher ground, so out came the camera.

After a couple of quick stops in Yucca Valley to get the rims/tires swapped back, and a bite to eat, it was down the big hill past Morongo, and into Desert Hot Springs. All the way down the hill, the Allison tranny held things in check, and I did not have to touch the brakes once. Unlike the tanker truck ahead of me who emitted enough hot brake smell for an entire convoy.

After dropping the rig in Desert Hot Springs at a friends place, it was off to UPS to pick up the package! This time kudos to UPS – what a difference a couple of weeks makes!

Now, we’ll have to dig out the maps and decide where to head next.

And before I forget (again), I’ve been meaning to tell you about a link so that you don’t miss any highlights along your next travel route. It’s called OnTheWay – a better way to get there.

http://www.onthewayapp.com/

Similar to Google Maps to plan a route, you enter your origin, destination, and anywhere along the way, and it will instantly pull of a whole list of attractions along your route that you may not know about, or may wish to visit! I see that the website is for sale, so you can even own it if you want! Check it out. It looks like a very legitimate travel planning tool! No, I’m not associated with the website, but the developer did call me with a heads up!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Big Sur

2011-12-19T22:47:00.001-07:00

Just as all good RV’ers and travelers do every morning (you do, right?), I checked all my tire pressures. They were all right on the money, but one of my older tires on the trailer was showing some interesting cracking near the bead, that seems to have gotten more extensive and interesting looking since departing home. Not really wishing to experience what a blowout might be like on a tight downhill corner on the coastal highway, I decided to bring the spare tire in to the game. Since I was already parked in a perfect tire-changing spot, I did that before hitting the road south.

At interesting spots along the coast we stopped to enjoy the scenery and see what the binoculars could pick out on the shoreline. At several of these pull-offs we ran into this nice young lady with a telemetry antenna, that she was aiming at the water. Doubting they have any bears in the water (!), I asked and found out that she was tracking some sea otters. With her help, I managed to pick some out myself – not an easy task with all the otter-like kelp floating in the same waters.

South of Lucia, there is some substantial construction going on of an impressive looking new bridge, where the old highway has been continuing it’s slide into the ocean.

This time we got smart and unhooked and went on a scouting mission to be really sure that there was adequate clearance and turn-around spots on the road we planned to take. I have been over it plenty of times in the past, but never with the 5th wheel. As expected, it was narrow in spots, but there was a decent selection of u-turn possibilities.

After finding our favourite spot vacant, and with no new ‘anti-camping’ signs, we settled in to stop and smell the roses – or the California equivalent.

Having now adopted the laid back California attitude, the need to leave in the morning did not seem to overwhelm us. And it seemed like an ideal day to go for a little hike.

So, we trekked all the way up here, for a good look around, watching the hawks enjoy the thermals as they soared.

One other trail user was also out enjoying the sunshine and T-shirt weather.

From there it was all the way down to the water’s edge to see what the tides were doing.

Nothing to see here. Just looking out the camper door!

We left Trinidad

2011-12-18T23:14:00.001-07:00

Trinidad, California that is, and headed further south along the north coast. Unlike blogger weather reports from much of southern California and Arizona, the weather on the north coast has continued to be very nice. From Trinidad, we cruised southward through Arcata, Eureka, Garberville, with a fuel and food stop in Willits.

My boondocking database does not have many entries for the area immediately north of San Francisco. Fortunately, we discovered one of the nicest campgrounds around a few years back – which is on Lake Sonoma. It is an Army Corps of Engineers site which is one of the nicest, most scenic, and steepest campgrounds I have ever seen. They have a problem with the water system, so fees are a reasonable $10 for dry camping.

I got downright comfortable there, even hooking up my satellite internet system and TV for the first time since thawing out the rig from the frozen north. It was so nice that I spent part of the day hiking in the hills above the campground, then decided to spend another night.

Besides, that way I would not be faced with driving through San Francisco in weekday traffic.

I made a new perch for Hailey in the back seat, so now she does not spend all of her time on my lap when we are on the road!

We crossed the GG bridge, the morning after watching a documentary about the escape from Alcatraz. I have often gone toll-free on the bridge, perhaps because I am usually northbound (?), but got dinged a full $18 for this crossing.

Traffic was light, however and we were soon back on the coast southbound through Pacifica, Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, and Monterey, with a short break at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse.

There used to be a great boondocking spot near there, but it has had big ugly ‘no camping’ signs for a few years now.

While trying to expand our boondocking database we checked out a couple of side roads leading up from the coast – that really should have had signs saying ‘no trailers’! One we tried out was a one lane with pullouts type, through big overhanging trees. We had to carefully wheel our way through that maze for about two miles before finally finding a place to turn around.

Not learning the lesson very well, we did the same thing on another road shortly after, but the helpful local traffic was friendly and pointed out places to turn around.

Eventually, we found a spot we could agree on, complete with an ocean, and bridge view!

Big Sur next.

Perspective …

2011-12-14T22:45:00.001-07:00

Why is it that temps around freezing seem warm in the spring (if you’ve been spending it up north), and well, freezing in the fall? It’s all in the perspective!

Same with fuel prices. Today I was thrilled (!) to find fuel at the Fred Meyers in Brookings Oregon at $4.09, which I could get at $4.06 with my Freddies card! But that’s only because I knew it would cost me around $4.29 as soon as I crossed into California. We’re talking diesel prices here, BTW.

And, after fighting a headwind up a hill, getting 17L/100km seems like a bonus.

Yesterday, we were getting set up to perhaps spend the night at the Walmart in Coos Bay/North Bend, but they now have anti-camping signs which can likely be ignored, but who likes to get kicked out anyway? And the alternative, at the Mill Bay Casino is right by the main highway, and can be very noisy. So we turned off on a random road near Reedsport and found a perfectly adequate spot for overnighting near a restored marsh along the Smith River Road. Another location to add to our growing database of decent camp spots – where the price is right. In the morning, we rolled in to Reedsport and had breakfast, picked up a few groceries at Safeway, fueled up at $3.76 (it’s all relative), and refilled a propane tank.

I learned something new today while filling up. The lady at the ‘full service’ pump, which is all you can find in Oregon, told me that we diesel customers can actually serve ourselves legally in Oregon, although certain stations may not let you. It’s only those gasoline customers who must be served by law in Oregon!

It was a bit grey and overcast today, which was just fine for driving, but it did not inspire me to whip out the camera very much. Well, not at all as it turns out. So yesterday, I had way too many photos to post on the blog, today I have none. That’s why you are forced to read this and not just look at the pictures!

Then when I tried to get on the computer this morning, I found that Hailey was already on it!

Same thing happened this evening – she was on the computer again! I may have to look into some of those ‘parental’ controls or limit her time on the computer if this becomes an ongoing problem!

Because the weather today was not all that inviting to stop and look at the scenery or smell the roses, we kept on rolling through Coos Bay, Bandon, Port Orford, Gold Beach, and Brookings, where we topped off the tanks again before the higher prices of California.

We managed to run California ‘customs’ with our bananas and strawberries intact, and carried on down the coast past Crescent City, and Orick. I have some good camp spots around Orick, but two of the three are better for truck camper than 5th wheel, and the last place is not that easy to get into when it is getting dark – which it was. It will be nice in another week when the days finally start to get longer again. So we kept on moving, and finally set up ‘camp’ at the very nice casino parking area near Trinidad.

My time’s up! Hailey wants back on the laptop!

Snow-free and Southbound

2011-12-13T21:10:00.001-07:00

It didn’t take long to get over the disappointment of losing Hailey’s catnip plant at the border, and we were soon on our way south. We picked up I-5 near Bellingham and stopped for the night at the Tulalip Casino in Marysville, Wa for the night. Since it was Sunday, the next day was an easy cruise through both Seattle and Portland, with a quick stop at the Fry’s electronics to pick up some new memory cards for the cameras.

Most diesel fuel was priced around $4/gal in the area, but we lucked out with some for $3.76 just out of Portland. Of course Oregon, with it’s full serve stations is not a problem for Canadian credit cards, but I also lucked out when we filled up north of Seattle, and didn’t have to dance the zip code dance there either.

The Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville, Or has a nice big parking lot, so we took advantage of their hospitality again. I have toured both of their exhibits in the past and they are both well worth the visit. When I was there a couple of years ago, they had a 747 just sitting out in a field, and I was able to walk all around it and take photos of it.

Now, they have it sitting on top of an entirely new building – which is a waterpark!!?? Not sure how they got it up there?

From there it is just a short drive to the coast, and we have been moving slowly southward, revisiting familiar areas and checking out new spots. Not far from the museum, I contemplated dumping Hailey, but there were complications!

So, I decided to just buy more cat food and keep her!

Soon, we were on the coast and the weather was just excellent for mid-winter. Clear, sunny skies and light winds were the order of the day. At one of my ‘undisclosed’ oceanfront view camp spots,

I watched the golden sunset, and was pleased to also watch a pod of whales spouting regularly as they moved along the coast. I also counted 19 fishing boats within sight, as I think the crab season had just opened. Quite a difference compared to when I spent two weeks on the gulf of Mexico coast last January and only saw one boat the whole time, and that was an oil rig service vessel.

At Newport, fishing vessels were busy passing in and out of the harbour with their catches, and the Coast guard was conducting some training on towing vessels – as they were towing one of their own into the harbour.

Hailey kept a sharp eye out for gulls while we were stopped.

The breakwater rocks had some interesting forms.

Further down the coast, near the Sea Lion Caves

there were groups of them out in the water swimming and cavorting in groups. Hailey wanted to check them out further, but was prevented by the big cliff and the darn leash!

I must say, I sure miss all the snow and cold, and the box of my truck so full of snow, I couldn’t tell what was in there! I guess I am safe now to dump out my pail of ‘insurance’ gravel that I brought from home?

That’s it for now. Check back later to see where we are!

The Pigs are Flying!

2011-12-11T14:46:00.001-07:00

And, believe it or not, UPS finally ran out of excuses not to deliver the package I was waiting for.

Since the pigs were flying and the weather was good, it was finally time to make a break from the beautiful, but frozen north.

With my ‘slightly less than new’ all-season tires, I was a bit concerned about making it up the first hill out to the main road, but with a pail of gravel as insurance, and both Hailey and I crossing our fingers (paws), we made it with no problem. Soon, we were on dry pavement, and headed down the road into a breezy, well above freezing chinook wind. Just west of Lake Louise, on bare pavement, we tested our reactions on some black ice that had us doing some amazing manoeuvres for a few hundred yards, but disappointed the ‘ditch gods’ who were sure they were going to claim us more than once.

The next day was clear sailing as well, and we breezed through Salmon Arm on on westward.

The BC road reports said the Coquihalla road conditions were ‘bare with slippery sections’ but the worst we encountered was some wet and dirty sections coming on the downgrade into Hope, when the sunshine changed to cloud and clag.

Once we were beyond Hope (ha, ha), there was no more snow or danger of black ice hiding on the road, so Hailey kicked back and took a cat nap.

She did her best to be cute, then intimidate the bad men at the border crossing, but they ended up taking her very own catnip plant. There was no line-up at all (perhaps that Harper-Obama discussion helped out?), so of course we got searched, but at least they were professional and polite, which is not always the case .

Elk tracks on my lawn at home.

Now it’s time to find some cheap(er) US diesel, some almost free US beer, and think about de-winterizing the rig as we start heading down the coast.

Good-bye long johns, hello shorts!

Come along for the ride!

The road Grader was right on time!

2011-12-05T17:36:00.001-07:00

To drag me back onto the road, that is. For some reason, the grader was a day or two late (!) coming by to remove the snow from the local road.

Conditions were not that bad, however, there were only two wheel tracks in the snow, and even us big 4x4’s had been dragging bottom. I pulled well to the side upon meeting my next-door neighbour on the road, and with the deep snow and barely freezing temps, my front wheels were like useless rudders, and I was slowly slipping off the shoulder with every attempt at extrication.

The neighbour stopped, but it was so slick that his 4x4 in the driving lane could hardly pull itself, let alone me. Just when we had decided to go home for some better shovels and sand (or wait for spring?), along comes the grader! I just hooked my tow web to him and was back on the road in no time. But you can see why I am waiting for slightly better conditions before attempting to drag a loaded 5th wheel down that same road – and risk meeting some over-width drill rigs or such. So – I am still holding fort at home keeping the fireplace company, waiting, just waiting for the perfect day. Sure hope that is somewhat prior to April!

All I can say is that I’ll bet the Bayfield Bunch, and that Wandering Willy guy, and Tioga & George are pretty jealous of me right now. They are stuck in the land of sand and cactus, and sunburn, cheap(er) fuel, cheap(er) food, cheaper (almost free) beer, and have to worry about getting sand in their sandals, while I am luxuriating in another wonderful 7 month long winter wonderland!

Besides, if I get stuck in the snow, I can always use sand. If they get stuck in the sand – what do they use. See my point there? I won’t rub it in too much, as I know they are all really miserable down there. In fact I hope to even get down there and share some of the misery with them before this year runs out!

Sunrise here now is 0834, and sunset is at 1624, and you can almost knock an hour off both ends of that equation to allow time for the sun to rise above, and set behind the trees. At least when I finally get moving, the days will almost be getting longer .

Ms Hailey, the reluctant snow-leopard decided to brave the elements outside for a little while.

I think she was trying to give me a hint when she hopped onto the roof of the truck camper (our home away from home for summer travels), as if to say – let’s GO, already!

For the second time, I hope that this is the last post before this roadtrip blog actually goes on a ROADTRIP!

Christmas is coming …

Last post? (before putting pedal to metal)

2011-11-27T12:40:00.001-07:00

I’m off on a short pre-roadtrip roadtrip, having apparently survived the month of November essentially at home in the (sometimes) snowy north country. It has not been an easy task – reading about the Bayfield Bunch, John & Brenda, Rick & Paulette, all bragging about the sunny warm weather, the heat, the swimming pools, the horses in the desert, the stars, and campfires down in Arizona. Nevertheless, I will soon be headed down to join them – after this short tour to Saskatchewan.

Temperatures did drop down to –31C one night, which was kind of cool. Much to my surprise, my diesel truck started the next morning, without even being plugged in! We received a bit of snow on a couple of occasions, but chinooks shortly after have melted most of it. Today is +10C with strong winds, so the last of the snow is melting fast.

Hello GMC truck designers. What on earth were you thinking? Don’t they have random drug testing there?

Hint: If you own a 2008 GMC diesel pickup with dual batteries, and your driver’s side headlight burns out – just sell the truck is all I’m saying!

Remember the old days when there were four screws holding a metal rim that secured your headlight in place? It was awkward seeing and getting the screwdriver in there to remove them, and you always lost at least one screw in the dirt or dark! So I was very impressed when I saw the arrangement on my 2003(?) Chev 3/4 ton at work. The whole headlight assembly could be removed without tools by simply removing one pin! A headlight or signal light could be changed in less than a minute, did I mention – without tools! Jump ahead to this week. I noticed that my driver’s side headlight was not attracting any moths! I went to Canadian Tire and found my $18 bulb among all the other $9 ones. I opened the hood, and looked for the handy pin to release the headlight assembly. Nope, looks like it’s been re-designed and I’d have to remove a small bolt or two to get it out. That didn’t work at all; the bolts I removed were clearly holding nothing! Perhaps the assembly might have been frozen in place? I read the very helpful owners manual that said simply ‘twist the bulb to remove from the socket’. Ya right. If GM wrote space exploration manuals, I’m sure it would say, ‘Land on moon, then go for spacewalk’!

I stopped in at the local GM dealer to see what I was missing. They were very nice and printed out FOUR pages of diagrams and instructions for two separate, theories I’ll call them, on how to approach this mission! One involved going in through the wheel well, AND removing the grille. The other involved removing the auxiliary battery and the windshield washer tank. The wheel well hypothesis involved removal of a number of those pop out connectors that always break when you remove them, and the grille removal surgery involved more pages of printout that I was not privy to, so I opted for the more direct ‘battery’ approach. I disconnected the battery cables without creating fire, then was pleased to see that the battery was restrained by only one well-placed bolt! Actually getting the battery out of it’s snug little home pretty much necessitated the removal of a radiator hose. I wondered how much fluid would leak out?

Instead, by crushing my finger and thumb simultaneously, while verbalizing my thoughts about GM design engineers, and once again avoiding any sparks, flames or acid baths, I got the battery liberated. Removing the battery did not improve the access to the tactical objective at all. I still had to remove the windshield washer fluid reservoir – which was held securely in place by the battery support base plate –which was very well attached by 8 (eight) bolts of varying lengths! After all this was done, I did my best impression of a midget contortionist and got the bulb out while still retaining partial skin cover on my first and third knuckles. Meanwhile, Hailey supervised the operation, and was very helpful, but she had to cover her ears a few times when I expressed my opinions on GM design.

Eventually, I got things back into place, crushed a new finger getting the battery in, cleaned up and stored all the tools away. Then I got out all the tools again – and re-connected the battery. Sure hope I never have to add air to the tires – or something complicated.

It’s hunting season in this area. I know this because I saw this buck from my living room window – hunting for a cute doe.

Hailey has been a little less eager to get outside and go hunting these days. We’ll both be glad to get down to the desert sun and dry sand.

There was a tall crane in town the other day – they were installing a new Roger’s cell phone tower. I don’t think it is tall enough to provide any better coverage to Dogpound (!), or to my place out in the sticks.

So that’s about it. After a three day trip to Saskatchewan, I’ll be pulling off the truck camper, hooking up the 5th wheel, and heading south as soon as I can pack up and have suitable road condtions to the left coast! Hopefully by next weekend – Yahoo!

Warm weather, here we come!

11 Nov 2011

2011-11-11T12:01:00.001-07:00

Remembrance Day

In memory of
Flying Officer
CLIFFORD STANLEY PHILLIPS
who died on May 13, 1944.

Military Service:

Service Number: J/28259
Age: 25
Force: Air Force
Unit: Royal Canadian Air Force
Division: 426 Squadron

Remembering my uncle Clifford – who I was named after.

Uncle Clifford was shot down over Belgium in Halifax LW 682 on May 13, 1944. The Halifax had crashed into a bog and sank at the time, although bodies of several of the crew, including my uncle had been recovered. In about 1985, the wreckage was ‘rediscovered’, and eventually excavated and the remains of the rest of the crew were recovered. They were buried beside their crewmates on November 10, 1997. My father was able to attend the ceremony. Read all about it in the many links above.

Remembrance day kind of ‘reminded’ me that I had not updated the blog for quite some time, even though there is not much to report on. I have been marking time in increasingly cold Alberta, waiting till I can finally head south at the start of December.
Glad to read that many others in the RV blogging world, such as the Bayfield Bunch are just hours away from departure, and many others are already down south, soaking up the sun and warmth.
At least we are experiencing a brief chinook, which has spiked our temps well above freezing for a day or so at least.

Hailey, of course is the star of the show again, as she is the only photogenic one of us!

On a short visit to Banff, she was trying to hunt coyotes.

On a trip to the Edmonton area, we stopped at the Genesee power plant, where she did her best imitation of a ‘pole cat’.
On the same trip, I managed to break the gas pumps at a local fuel station. These new ‘smart’ pumps actually grab onto your ‘chip’ credit card while you enter your pin #. Apparently, entering the wrong pin twice (!) is enough to freeze the computer! Sorry!

While checking the neighbours house after a fresh snowfall, I found these tracks.

A few days later, I spotted the elusive track-maker.

I had seen this stray cat only once back in the summer, but then a couple of days later had seen a red fox with a large mouthful of something that colour, I had thought the worst. Now, I think it was likely that the fox was carrying one of it’s young to a new den site. After a brief staring match, the stray departed at high speed.
Meanwhile, down by the river, this mink was enjoying a swim while ice started to form along the river bank.

The fifth wheel and truck camper wait patiently …


I knew I must be getting bored when, after the paint had dried and the bowling ball was polished, I found myself watching poker – on TV! Then I took up art!

With luck, I hope to be on the road – in about three weeks. Can’t wait!

Counting down the days …

2011-10-17T20:00:00.001-07:00

I guess I am counting down the days till my eventual departure for warmer climes. But since I have not determined a departure date, the count is somewhat arbitrary.

I think the Bayfield Bunch are pretty much in the same boat, but champing at the bit. Good to see Al back after a few days break. John and Brenda have it down to about 4 days till they load their horses and head south. Wandering Willy is keeping a low blog profile this year (so far), but I think he is about due to head out as well. Rick and Paulette are loading the new 5’er and getting ready to hit the road.

In the meantime, I have been enjoying the sunny warm fall days and colourful scenery.

It has been freezing now every night, so both the 5th wheel and the truck camper have been winterized – for the time being.

It’s too nice to stay at home, so I have been out driving – usually into the bush on forestry and oil & gas roads.

After a fairly good hike in the bush on foot, where do I see the wildlife, but when I get back into my diesel truck!

Of course there is always ‘wildlife’ in my truck.

Hailey is quite intrigued by ‘AZ’ who is a new star in The Happy Campers blog. She thinks he is a handsome boy.

And (drum roll), check out my debut on the http://nationalrvparks.com website, where I did a short interview on boondocking!

North of ‘49 again.

2011-10-14T22:21:00.000-07:00

Back at home, the heavy equipment was busy spreading fresh gravel on the access road.

Even the ‘not so heavy’ equipment was busy at the same time, spreading gravel on my driveway!

Fall has certainly arrived, making some very nice views with all the changed colours in the trees.

On a trip back from visiting in the Banff and Lake Louise area, I decided to take the Forestry ‘trunk’ road to take advantage of the quiet road and the fall scenery. I was watching out for John & Brenda, but they must have been holed up at Dogpound north. (Check out the bear photos on their blog!)

I spotted a herd of horses out in an isolated meadow. I can’t say for sure that they were wild horses, but I could not make out any brands using my binoculars, and it seemed like a stallion was in charge of the group …

Meanwhile, back at home, Hailey was practicing her tree climbing technique – just in case she has to watch for Pancho Villa coming across the Mexican border when we’re down south again this winter.

She went almost to the top, but her only miscalculation came very close to the ground – when I was there to rescue her! After a photo, of course

Meanwhile, the fifth wheel has been roused from it’s summer slumber, and serious preparations have begun for an eventual departure. Today, it is visiting the RV hospital to get it’s wheel bearings re-packed.

Whatever happens next – you’ll be the first to know. Eventually!

As I said on Twitter, “I used to be indecisive. Now, I’m not so sure …”

North Cascades, and beyond.

2011-10-12T21:38:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the visitor from the Birmingham area of the U.K.! Hope you are enjoying reading all the previous posts!

I managed to get through the edge of Seattle on the 405, with only a brief stop at the gigantic Fry’s Electronics store, where I picked up a couple of new 1 and 2 TB hard drives for the home desktop. As soon as possible,

I-5 was left behind in an easterly direction towards North Cascades NP on 530 through Arlington and Darrington. From there it was north on 530 towards Rockport. A Skagit county park along the Sauk river provided a quiet spot to spend the night.

In the morning, highway 20 led through Marblemount, and into North Cascades NP. The weather was somewhat drab as we stopped at the park visitor center for maps and information. The route follows the edge of Gorge Lake, Diablo Lake, then Ruby arm of Ross Lake, which stretches all the way to the Canadian border. It was hard to get a good view of the Gorge dam, but I hiked the viewpoint trail, and took some photos looking straight down from the highway bridge over a side channel.

A view of Thunder arm of Diablo lake.

After exiting the National park, we ended up in Omak, where a few supplies were replenished, before heading out to look for a quiet spot of the night. A few miles north and a few back west, Fish Lake and Sinlahekin Wildlife Recreation area provided that spot, which we shared with a number of fishermen and elk hunters.

The next day, we could have been back in Canada right away by heading north from Tonasket into Osoyoos, BC, or north from Republic to Grand Forks. But I have driven those roads quite a bit in the past, and not wanting to take on the higher Canadian fuel prices, I opted to delay my return for another day at least. Therefore we ended that day on the shores of Roosevelt Lake (not the one in Tonto National forest, AZ!)

Recent posts seem to have been very long and infrequent, so I think we’ll end this post with an interesting observation, and try for another post very soon, with an update from around home.

I’ll have to tread lightly here, as I don’t want to start a controversy. I think I can speak for most Canadians when I say that we like our one and two dollar coins, the ‘Loonie’ and the ‘Toonie’. We used to have one and even two dollar paper bills, but the new coins are far easier to use and carry. For example, it is far easier to put one two dollar coin into a vending machine, or coin washing machine or coin car wash, rather than juggling 8 quarters. Similarly, it is a pain to have a wallet bursting at the seams with paper money – only to discover that it is all 1’s

So, I was very surprised at an Oregon car wash last year when I put a $5. bill into a machine to get change. I had expected to have a huge pocketful of 20 quarters, but out came 5 –$1 coins! I was not sure that they were not ‘tokens’ at first, but took one to a store later and confirmed that they were legal tender. OK, so the US has $1 coins – why don’t they start to USE them?

Last month, I came across this article in a Washington newspaper. Got to admit, I just can’t believe it!

No nasty comments please, it’s only my opinion- from someone who has been there and done it!

Next month – the metric system primer.

Just kidding!

Mount Rainier NP

2011-10-05T17:48:00.001-07:00

I think I left you all stranded after my visit to Mt. St Helens! I had gotten behind in posting (what’s new?), and did up several posts at once, for delayed publishing. So I thought I was good for a while. But here I am, well behind again.

So, after spending a few very enjoyable days in the Mt St Helens area, it was time to move on. It was time to check out Mt Rainier National Park. We headed north on National Forest Road 25. It was mostly treed along the way, but the bumps and hills and ridges made me think I was on permafrost in the Yukon or Alaska. In Randle, at the junction of SR 12, I found good wi-fi at the library, and likely caught up on blog posts up to that time. I was sure that GasBuddy.com had promised me relatively cheap fuel in Ohanapecosh, near the south east entrance to Mt Rainier. When I got there however, I discovered that it was only a National Parks visitor centre, with no store of any sort. In the visitor centre, I also learned that my planned route through Stevens Canyon was a no-go, as it was closed for some major repairs and reconstruction.

Therefore, I reluctantly retraced my steps back to Packwood where I filled a propane bottle and added enough fuel to get me to a cheaper fuelling location. Heading west along Skate Creek Rd was through National Forest, it was getting late in the day, so I thought there would be no problem finding a camp spot along the river paralleling the road. Well, there were plenty of spots, many occupied, but each of the ones I checked had a disturbing amount of garbage, junk, and abandoned camping gear – not very inviting place to spend the night. I guess the area is just too close to the big metropolitan areas of Seattle, Tacoma, etc? Eventually, I found a spacious spot well up on a logging road above the valley bottom.

In the morning, it was time to re-enter Mt Rainier park; this time through an entry gate, unlike the entrance on the other side of the park. I’m always amused when they ask to see ID at the gate – to make sure you are the owner of the annual park pass!

From here it is a relatively short drive up to visitor centers at Longmire and Paradise. While chatting to some rangers at Paradise, I learned that it had been a busy morning already with two separate fatalities in the area. Reminded me of work back in Banff.

The brand new visitor centre had a unique map laid into the floor (!), which showed the affected areas, should Mt Rainier decide to erupt again. I paid attention, after becoming somewhat of an armchair expert on volcanoes, mud and debris flows and lahars at Mt St Helens.

It was turning into a very nice day, so I checked out the hiking trail map, and headed up the John Muir steps towards the many trails beckoning above.

I was told that the flowers were roughly a month late this year, due to a late snow melt. Indeed, there was lots of snow even down low that had not yet melted.

With binoculars, I could make out the outline of Camp Muir on the shoulder of the mountain, but without the good lens of the Bayfield Bunch, I could not get a decent photo to post.

Once higher on the mountain, I could look back south and make out Mt St Helens in the distance, as well as Mt Hood further to the east, as well as a panoramic view of Rainier itself.

There came a time when I realized that I was not exactly wearing appropriate mountaineering footwear, but I persevered across snow patches, and up the rock steps.

On the descent of the loop trail, much of the trail was snow covered, so I decided to try glissading – in Crocs!

It actually worked out fairly well, and it was refreshing to rinse the snow off my feet in several of the creek crossings .

The flowers were in full bloom, and begging to be photographed on the way down.

Once back at Paradise, I poked my head into the lodge of the same name, then decided to head out on the Stevens Canyon road, to see what I could before encountering the closure.

Hailey had been locked up so far, so I took her for a short hike at Box Canyon, where she enjoyed walking on the rail while looking down into the canyon. It wasn’t till exiting the trail that I saw the ‘no pets’ sign!

Soon it was time to retrace our steps, and head back down the road. Cougar Rock campground had a sign at the entrance warning of the dangers of flooding, mud flows, and rock fall. I also noticed an ‘air raid’ type siren near the entrance! Hmm?

In spite of the obvious risk to life, limb, truck, and cat, we decided to risk spending the night there, before setting off to run the traffic gauntlet in Seattle in the morning.

I think it was then that I discovered a new, free feature of Google Maps on the iPhone. It overlays your route with a colour code to indicate the relative speed of traffic in the area! Cool! I hope you are taking notes, Wandering Willy!

I know it looks like all these devices are blocking my view out the window, but they don’t. In fact, back in Alberta I saw the sign that said ‘Distracted Driving Law now in effect’. I was so impressed, that I whipped out my camera and took a photo of it …

Next: North Cascades National Park (when I get around to it!)

Mt St Helens–part II

2011-09-24T14:43:00.000-07:00

After a visit to Ape Cave and Lava Canyon in the south-west side of the mountain, we headed up the east side and came in on the road to Windy Ridge, which is as close as you can drive to the site of the eruption.

About 11 miles as the crow flies from the mountain there is a viewpoint where some of the most famous photos were taken of the initial blast on May 18, 1980.

Even at this distance the blast cloud approached at 300mph and soon engulfed the photographer, but they were able to drive away in spite of the ash cloud.

A bit closer is the actual outer edge of the blast zone where the trees were all killed by the extreme heat of the blast and debris.

Closer still is the area where all the trees were blasted flat from the force, and killed from the heat.

Near the present day viewpoint is the area where all trees were basically uprooted and blasted away by the forces. Spirit lake took the brunt of the blast and became roughly twice the size in surface area, and half the depth due to mud, ash, and debris. Even today the surface is a floating mat of logs and wood, but the water is clear and the fish appear to be thriving once again.

The weather was very warm, the hiking was excellent and varied, and the scenery first class. After a number of days basically confined to the trees,it was nice to get out where you could see what was around you, rather than just solid trees hundreds of feet tall. And amazing to think that was how this area looked prior to May 18, 1980! Quite the change. Much of the volcano is closed to hiking, or by permit only, and is being used as a living laboratory to monitor nature healing it’s scars. So when I found the only ‘legal’ trail to access the shores of Spirit Lake I took it.

It looked like good swimming .

Little Meta lake fared a bit better after the blast. Because it was still frozen, and a lot of the vegetation was under snow cover when the hot ash descended, some of the aquatic and other small life forms were able to survive under the snow.

Here is a photo from the web of the same area, sometime after the blast.

This is also amazing because Meta Lake is completely hidden behind a large ridge that would shield it from even worse devastation.

In varying degrees and various stages, life is once again returning to all areas around Mt St Helens. Until the next eruption, when it will start all over again.

Fall Road Trip

2011-09-22T13:23:00.000-07:00

After an amazing amount of work in a short time, Hailey and I were due for some R&R! After watering her one cat-nip plant we blasted off in a hurry for central Oregon. A couple a friends were getting together there and it was a good chance to see them both at once. The weather was exceptional in the area and we spent time floating about on rivers and lakes in the area.

It was a fast trip down with no stops, but the return trip was to be a different story. A long time was spent poring over maps, and I broke down and bought the ‘backroads’ atlas for Washington state, to go with my ever growing collection.

In the Sisters area of Oregon, there was a lot of smoke from several large forest fires in the region. The Shadow Lake fire had been burning for about a week and was very visible from a number of highway viewpoints in the area.

This little guy seemed to be keeping his eye on the fire as well.

Gasbuddy helped us locate some less expensive diesel as well passed into Oregon on a 20’s era toll ($0.75) bridge from Hood River.

I headed for the south-western access to the Mt St Helens area and found a moderately quiet roadside spot overlooking the Swift reservoir.

Someone had hung a tiny little purse in the weeds in front of the viewpoint. It matched the colour of the stems and blossoms exactly, and I only noticed it after being there for some time. It was only about an inch across, there was nothing in it, and I have no idea why it was there?

I hiked a half mile underground in a lava tube at Ape Cave from a previous volcano at Mt St Helens. My small flash does not do it justice, but it is generally good walking, and in places is about the size of an average railroad tunnel. In the narrowest spot in this area it is only about 8-10’ wide and about 7’ high, and is a very breezy 47F because of the restriction.

At the end of the road is Lava Canyon with a short hiking trail leading through the path of one of the mudflows from the 1980 eruption.

There is also a neat suspension bridge that you can see down through.

On the way back down from Lava Canyon, the Trail of Two Forests displays some holes in the rock on the ground where lava surrounded standing trees, which eventually burned or rotted away, leaving these round holes!

There is even a ladder down into one, where you can crawl out the exit quite a ways away, through what must have been a fallen log when the lava struck. Note: this was not the 1980 eruption, but more back about the beginning of time in this active volcanic zone that has seen many eruptions over the eons.

Next: Windy Ridge at Mt St Helens