Touring the Northwest Report and Photo Essay

On the Oregon Coast.

Thank you for reading this Touring the Northwest report. It’s been divine!

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Impressions from a couple of weeks of traveling on the Pacific coast highways, CA 1 and US 101. California 1 is petrifying in places. It’s often a narrow, twisty road with some sheer drops of nearly 1000 feet to rocks and the Pacific below. Semi-trucks and too-large RVs use it, as do motorists in a big hurry and (completely fearless) bicyclists, usually with panniers filled with camping gear. The cyclists may have my respect for what they are accomplishing physically, but with all that vehicle traffic I think they are out of their minds.

At the beach, Oregon Dunes. Fog!

US 101 in Oregon is a little tamer. The views from both roads are equally fantastic, though. Both roads also have pull-offs for slower vehicles, to let the speeders by. I made much use of them!

On US 101 in Oregon. I’ve forgotten the name of this famous lighthouse.

Fog was our travel companion on both roads, as the pictures show. We saw a single sunset while there.

Susan clowns around while we wait for sunset.

Gulls at Humbug Mountain State Park. They’re enjoying the sun, too.

Getting close!

And down it goes!

Enjoying a foggy beach day, Oregon coast.

A view from a US 101 turnout, Oregon.

I write this from near Mt. St. Helens. We tried without success to find a good back way to the mountain- every avenue turned into a dead end and turn-around. We did get to see the mountain, but she had her head in the clouds…

Our best view of Mt. St. Helens.

Ironically, we could see Mt. Rainier in the distance!

The next day we went to the closest point one can currently drive to Mt. St. Helens. There is another, closer lookout, but the road was taken out by a landslide. The mountaintop was still in clouds, but we could see Mt. Rainier! Which was our next stop, anyway.

They call Washington the Evergreen State.

We stopped in a small town on the way the Mt. Rainier. This seems to be the telephone system.

Our first day at Rainier was very foggy and wet. We visited waterfalls. The next day the fog cleared, the sun came out, and we had glorious views of the peak. We took a few hikes around Paradise, which is aptly named. I imagine it’s less paradisiacal in winter, though.

Another photographer at Narada Falls.

The top portion of the falls.

A view of the glacially-carved Nisqually River valley. The river comes off the Nisqually Glacier.

Christine Falls.

Susan in Paradise.

Mt. Rainier, with the fog lifting.

We got this!

And this! An alpine meadow…

…full of amazing wildflowers.

After two days at Rainier, we went back the coast- Westport, Washington, specifically. We’re here enjoying the beach and a down-to-earth fishing town, with fresh Dungeness crabs on tonight’s menu.

The Marina at Westport. There are a few fishing vessels.

Me and Susan. I’ve lost some weight.

Tried (without success) to get a sunset- got this in the dunes there.

Did get something of a moonrise, though.

From here it’s up to the Olympic peninsula for several days, a place I’ve always wanted to visit. Stay tuned!

That’s the Touring the Northwest report. Thanks for reading!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go paddling! Go for a bike ride! Stay active!

John Kumiski
www.johnkumiski.com
www.spottedtail.com
www.spottedtail.com/blog

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