Our Rig

Our Rig
Camping

Monday, July 31, 2017

Hoh Rain Forest WA

Hon Rain Forest in Washington State is a beautiful place for families to explore through easy short walks what "Rain Forest" is all about.

There is a Ranger "talk" and guided walks on "Moses Trail" and is recommended for those that cannot take long hikes.

Personally we have seen bigger and more impressive Rain Forest in Quinault WA but we sure enjoyed this one too.

P1030273P1030274P1030276P1030279P1030281P1030282P1030285P1030287P1030290P1030294P1030297P1030298

Click on any picture to enlarge.

While walking the trail looking at this "Fairy Tale" forest every one could see and imagine different animals shaped by the Mose,every angle changes the shapes, once it seems to be an elephant and once a tiger or a rabbit, all this made me tired......was it a dream???

P1030291

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Forks WA

Forks WA is a small town with one grocery store ,Ace ,few restaurants and John's Beachcombing Museum ,but it is a great starting point to the most beautiful beaches that are loaded with huge drifted wood and fantastic sunsets.

John is collecting stuff from the beach for the last 40 years, it helps to keep the beach clean and we can learn some history from the items.

P1030235P1030238

There are many stories and myths among the sailors but this one caught my eye and I don’t care if it is true or not…

P1030236P1030237

La Push beach and Rialto beach attract many because of the drift wood, the rocks in the waters and the sunsets.

I have never seen so many huge drift trees laying on the beach and creating a endless sculptures on the sand.

At 7PM we took chairs , coats, hot coffee in a thermos and hit the beach to see at day light the draft "forest" and later the sunset so let the pictures "talk"….

P1030221P1030224P1030231P1030232-001P1030245P1030246P1030251P1030256P1030257P1030263

When the tide it out it is possible to walk along the beach for many miles , but when the tide is in the water will cover every piece of the beach and it will impossible to walk on it at all, so check the tide times before heading for a long hike.

P1030216

Tomorrow we planned to hike in Hoh Rain Forest , a new day a new adventure....

till we meet again.

Saturday, July 29, 2017

Quinault WA

After the "RESORT" in Copalis beach (see my previous post) I was skeptical about Rain Forest Resort Village and RV Park but moved there anyway as there were no other options.

The C.G is near Lake Quinault, has 31 leveled sites with water and electric hook ups, no sewer and no dump central station, the bathrooms are old and had to be replaced long ago to meet the standards of this beautiful C.G, it has a pay showers and two toilets only , it is not enough especially when there is no dump central station.

P1030131P1030133P1030197P1030198

Quinault is on the Southern side of the Olympic N.P and has many hikes from easy to most difficult , along creeks, waterfalls and high peaks.

We got settled in the C.G at noon and wasted no time before taking off to the World's Largest Sitka Spruce tree that was actually inside the C.G ...

P1030128P1030129P1030130

A short half a mile Rain Forest Natural trail .

With the moth, large trees, huge ferns and the silence it looked like entering a fairy tail world.

P1030115P1030116P1030121

P1030123

At the end of this wonderful day we hiked 2 miles towards the Cascade Falls before enjoying the evening in the C.G on the lake, all this in one day’s work…

P1030109P1030112P1030113P1030135P1030136

The second day was a combination of hiking and touting around the Quinault Valley , this 31 miles can be done in a car for an hour and a half but it took us 9 hours with all the stops and the hikes.

We took off by driving the South Shore towards Merriman Falls that can be easily missed even though they are close to the road , there are no signs indicating the falls, just a pullover along the road and estimating the millage from the starting point help us find the falls.

P1030140P1030142

After enjoying the falls we hiked the Fletcher Canyon Trail in Colonel Bob's Wilderness, this 4 Mile round trip hike is considered difficult because it is a forest trail and some parts of the trail is not maintained and second it is up hill on the way in, but still very beautiful.

P1030146P1030148P1030149P1030154P1030155

P1030158

t was noon and we deserved a snack so we crossed the bridge towards North Fork and found a small C.G where we enjoyed our picnic after getting out of the woods to an open view point of the mountains and the snowed tops.

P1030162P1030166

There is no better way to get the food digested than a 2.2 mile round trip Irely Lake, a shallow beautiful lake with perfect reflections but with limited place to sit and relax with no trails around the lake.

P1030170P1030179

Just one more stop on the way "home" on The North Shore Road near the Ranger Station, a half mile Maple Glade Natural Trail, great easy trail to end the day, all along we meet very few people on the trails a fact that always surprises me, the silence is so "lowed " that it allows people to meditate...

P1030118P1030120P1030180

On the 3rd and last day before we move further North towards Forks, we took it easy and hiked 2 mile to Gatton Creek Falls, a very nice short hike starting at the C.G along a narrow path to find at the end a beautiful spot with Cascades under the bridge.

P1030192P1030193P1030194P1030195

A word of advice, fill your gas tank BEFORE coming this way, crazy prices in the town's only gas station and get ready to be "separated" from the outside world regarding cell phone signals ,internet and tv, some will like it and some will not but be ready.

To end this long post I attach here some pictures of outstanding shelf mushrooms I have never seem before.

P1030126P1030151P1030152P1030168P1030175P1030184P1030185

The small village just 3 Miles down the road has a special atmosphere and can offer visitors : 90 years old lodge, museum, beach, general store together with a coffee shop with free internet and Ranger Station all in a walking distance.

P1030203P1030204P1030205

Till we meet again…enjoy the day it will never come back.