48stateroadtrip.com

Wanted to post some more photos from the drive around Mt. Rainier. I think it’s the kind of place that should seem otherworldly if you’re not from here. Maybe someone can let me know.

For instance, I’m pretty sure this view never happens in California. This is heading toward the mountain, driving between Auburn and Enumclaw.

This is the road heading west toward the Paradise Lodge inside the park. Tree tunnels don’t happen much in Orange Countay (sic).

Box Canyon, a canyon with water in it.

View of Mt. Rainier from the side of the road, across Reflection Lake. With wildflowers.

How bees do business.

Narada Falls — I enjoy the photo for its complete lack of perspective.

Nisqually River tributary wannabes.

My attempt at a Chadley photo.

It’s a pretty cool drive. At some point I’ll make a list of my favorite stretches of road on the trip and this one’s got a good shot of being on there. Fierce competition.

bkd

Mt. Rainier is fantastic and wonderful. So are views of it. Hiking steep switchbacks through a prison of douglas firs is less fantastic. It’s hard to tell how it balances out. Ah well.

The hike has fantastic views of Mt. Rainier and, eventually, views of Mt. Adams, Crystal Lake, and what might be Glacier Peak. It’s hard work staying motivated up the dumb switchbacks, though. And then once you get above the treeline and can see stuff, it’s really just the same view of the same stuff the whole way. It’s a nice view, just: you know.

Sneaking up behind a sitting dog, putting a rope around its neck, and pulling is NOT allowed on this trail. Which pretty much killed the day for me right there.

A rockslide! Well, better tank up.

Think forest fires are good for the forest? Tell it to *these* trees. Obama should do something about this — we need forest fires where no trees are actually burned.

A wall of trees.

Mt. Rainier with the European-American River in foreground.

Wildflowers along the trail.

The final assault.

From the top, looking down.

View of Mt. Adams from the peak.

A final look at Mt. Rainier — I like the parallell between the river and the trail, although it would’ve looked better with better light on the grass. Oh. Well.

Right, so: I dunno. The views were great — probably better than anything above illustrates. It’s also never a bad thing to stand on top of a mountain peak (at least, not in my book). Plus, since the trailhead isn’t that close to the “usual” park parts, the only people on the trail are those who mean to be there, and there aren’t very many of those types of people.

So it has those things going for it. I think there are some better hikes at Rainier, though — the Burroughs Mountain Trail, for instance, is 7-8 miles long (IIRC) and offers a lot more in the way of changes of scenery. Of course, since it starts from the Sunrise Lodge, it’s a lot more crowded. But anyway. This isn’t the last time I’ll ever be at Rainier (probably), so I’m guessing at the end of the day it will have been worth it to have checked this trail out at some point (was that the question?).

bkd

By Monday my stomach was mostly done gurgling, so I headed back out toward Mt. Rainier. I’ve driven (or more frequently been driven) out that way many, many times in my life, a lot of them on the way to go skiing at Crystal Mountain when I was a kid. Always wanted to spend some quality time with the White River that flows along the highway and thus took the opportunity.

It’s prose like that that keeps you coming back to the site. Admit it.

Meh:

It’s more dishwater-brown than white, but you can kind of see what they were getting at. The sand on the beach to the left there is made of glacier silt and very, very soft.

The river collects trees like a person might collect, I dunno, antique rifles?

The Dalles Campground includes this 700-year-old douglas fir tree.

The view out the back of my living quarters as the sun goes down. It’s kind of cool falling asleep to the sound of a river just outside your truck window.

Some day I’m going to put together a review of campgrounds I’ve visited. The Dalles campground will probably fare well. It cost $18 for this “premium campsite” (premium because it backed up to the river), which was $2 more than the other campsites. But the vault toilet was well-tended and smelled all right, it wasn’t too big a campground to start with, weren’t many neighbors, and the bugs didn’t seem to like being there.

bkd

The most challenging thing I did all day Sunday was go to church with my parents. Which I guess could be considered challenging, depending on the point-of-view. Hmm.

Here’s another photo from my parents’ deck. They have a nice view.

Browns Point lighthouse manages through another close-call.

Back on the road on Day 23.

bkd

Since I was sick anyway and all that, figured it was a good time to get some chores done around the truck. Mostly laundry (I should probably get my oil changed some time also I guess).

At least when it’s drying at my parents’ house, my sleeping bag gets a view.

As it turns out, Day 22 got spent at my parents’ house also and it was Day 23 (er, Monday) before I headed back out. Which wasn’t entirely off-plan. This is the stage of the trip where I was planning on spending time with my parents anyway — just that it happened a little sooner and differently than expected. Also, I got the family reunion next week. And all that.

As for now, I’m in a place with minimal connectivity, so hold tight and I’ll update when connections improve. Or don’t hold tight. However you want to deal with it is cool with me.

bkd

2:00 PM (Day 19) – Finished hike to Tunnel Falls.

2:30 PM – Drove to Hood River, ate at Quiznos.

3:15 PM – Headed across the river and found campsite in Washington.

7:00 PM – Had beef ramen for dinner.

7:30 PM – Got really sleepy, headed to the back of the truck, fell asleep.

12:00 AM (Day 20) – Woke up, felt awful, put clothes on, crawled out of truck, took flashlight, wandered to campground’s pit toilet, threw up, spat, went back to truck, fell asleep.

3:30 AM – Woke up, felt awful, had never taken clothes back off so just crawled out of truck, took flashlight, didn’t make it to pit toilet, threw up in the bushes next to the campsite, spat.

3:45 AM – Packed up the truck, bailed on all then-current plans, headed for the shortest route to my parents’ house.

6:15 AM – Parked at the Battle Ground, Wash. rest stop, headed to back of truck, slept.

7:40 AM – Woke up, felt awful, still had clothes on, crawled out of truck, did not take flashlight, made it to the (flush!) toilet at the rest stop, didn’t throw up.

7:45 AM – Left flush toilet, found garbage can just outside restroom, threw up, spat.

Well, and then I just drove to my parents’ house in Tacoma and slept all day.

Evidence of throwing up:

Vomit on shoes. It occurred to me to take a photo of the bush I threw up on while I was throwing up, but I really wasn’t feeling well, so I kind of didn’t (take the photo, I mean).

Sick Notes:

• This *might* have been the first time I threw up since I was living in Dresden and drank all the uranium-laced Kool-Aid.
• It’s good to note that I had not forgotten how to throw up.
• After leaving the campsite, my initial thought was to go buy some Gatorade, and to choose a flavor that might taste all right coming back up (I went with fruit punch, which, I have to say, didn’t taste that bad coming back up).
• I may never eat at Quiznos again. May also never eat ramen again.
• I fell sort of bad for whoever ended up at my campsite last night.

I’ve since washed the shoes.

bkd

Most importantly: this was a 12-mile hike (6 in, 6 out). The bottom four miles or so seemed like being on a conveyor belt and observing a nice river and several waterfalls through glass. Like at Sea World with the penguins. It was strange. Felt disconnected from stuff — like I could see the river and/or waterfall out there, but I wasn’t near enough to like touch it or anything. Plus the trail was pretty flat.

This trail was interesting in that it was mostly dynamited out of the side of the hill. You’re walking on a ledge for the most part. They had some cables up to hold on to, but it’s a pretty wide ledge.

The last couple miles on the way up (and the first couple on the way down) are pretty exciting, though. I hiked the trail up to Twister Falls, which comes right after Tunnel Falls. Tunnel Falls is the coolest waterfall I’ve seen in Oregon. Yes, including Multnomah. It’s just cool. The majority of the hike might have been merely pleasant, but the payoff was huge. IMHO. Always IMHO.

See, they just, like, blasted the trail out of the side of the hill.

Upper Punchbowl Falls: look, but don’t touch! Actually, I think it’s possible to get into that pool, there, but it requires some effort (the path at the lower-right of the photo does not go down to the pool) and wouldn’t it have made sense to blast the trail such that it, like, goes right by the waterfall? No?

Another little waterfall keeping its distance.

The tunnel (and trail) that goes behind Tunnel Falls.

Exit tunnel right.

The view from behind the waterfall.

Bottom half of Tunnel Falls, with the trail cutting through it.

The top half of tunnel falls. Actually, both “half” photos are more like three-quarters. Key point: I couldn’t get the whole waterfall in frame.

Twister Falls, just above Tunnel Falls.

Yes, Tunnel Falls. Again. But!: landscape orientation. Well worth it.

Oh well. If you ever want to see more photos of waterfalls — especially this one particular waterfall — I have them available. (I mean, I *do* have them available, but — you know.)

bkd

Just for the record, I only entered Washington for the sake of getting back to Oregon (this time). Fastest way to get from Astoria to Portland is to cross over and get on the 5, which paralells the river from Longview down to PDX — and I was in a hurry to get to PDX before REI closed. Made it!

This is the Longview Bridge.

And the REI was nice. The employees there actually knew things, which truly sets the store apart from, say, the Santa Ana branch. Got my shoes exchanged and I now own a mostly car-based GPS after determining that the personal GPS devices aren’t ready to take the place of maps.

bkd

The Tillamook Air Museum wasn’t foggy. Instead, it was a small, local air museum. The most interesting thing about it was that it was housed in an old WW2-era blimp hangar. Also noteworthy were the numerous signs explaining to people that, in fact, the Spruce Goose is not housed there — it’s in McMinnville. I knew that ahead of time.

One photo:

The hangar door with an A-7 looking on.

Basically, it was like the Chino Air Museum minus 30% of the aircraft but housed in a much-cooler facility. And hopefully I figure out something to photograph at air museums before I get to Dayton.

And then Fort Clatsop, which has nothing to do with the Tillamook Air Museum, is where Lewis and Clark’s expedition holed up for the winter of 1805-06. Very tiny, unphotogenic fort btw (thus: not fort photos), but still it was a pretty cool historical place to be and made me think I ought to read something about Lewis and Clark some day. And, similarly, right now I should probably read something about the Revolutionary War so I can feel all informed when I stop in Trenton on my way down to Philly in a month or two.

The place where Lewis and Clark landed their canoes — they probably just tied on to one of those regularly spaced, vertical posts in the water there.

Ende.

bkd