Great weather continues into Washington

Watched The Shining on Friday night.  Movie still gives me the creeps, but cool to see the timberline lodge from mount hood and the opening scene drive which is road to the sun in Glacier Park.  Headed there in a couple weeks.  A downside to campgrounds.. waking up to diesel engines and yelling kids rather than birds and sounds of nature.

Departed the state park on Saturday around noon.  Found a highly recommended seafood market on yelp and was located just a few miles away in Astoria.  Seafood selection wasn’t great, but decided to try a couple of their clam chowders in bread bowls.   Very delicious!  Nice picnic table overlooking the marina, Columbia river and the 101 bridge.

River chopped up with some breezy conditions

Continued our drive after lunch following the 101 through various towns.  Downloaded some maps of Olympic forest and park the night prior, so picked out an area around Lake Quinalt to check for dispersed camping.  Drove the south shore road, but didn’t see much.  The forest service maps are produced differently here than other states, which makes it more difficult to find roads with camping possibilities.  Didn’t feel like paying $20 for a primitive site.  Walked up a gravel road near town, luckily found a possibility near a trailhead with no signs against camping or overnight parking.  Enjoyed a nice quiet evening after a bike ride to check out the quinalt lodge, lake and town cemetery.

Ladies time to drive

Beautiful lake, but closed to all fishing and boating except indian tribe members

Sunday morning started foggy then cleared off into another beautiful day.  Weather here so far has been completely opposite of what we expected.  Planned to drive along the beach then up to Hoh rain forest.  Scenery not as nice as Oregon.

Enjoyed a nice guided tour of the hall of mosses at Hoh.  While waiting for the tour to start, we had lunch in the trailer and a cat nap.  Enjoyed the conversation between a park ranger and guy who received a ticket for parking his SUV in an RV slot.  He took the opportunity to throw his wife under the bus while she wasn’t around, “ya, I was driving around a couple times looking for a spot, then my wife said just park in that open RV spot, it won’t be a problem since other cars are there too.  I thought it was a bad idea, but she said it would be OK.”

Kalaloch Beach

Cold Water!!

Big trees in Hoh rain forest

Cindy took over the ranger-guided tour duties

Anyone able to count the rings?

Quite mossy, over 140 inches of rain annually

Looked up a couple camping possibilities further north.  Stopped in Forks, WA for a few groceries.  Passed on the numerous Twilight tours and merchandise.  Continued up to Bear Creek state camping area.  Specified as free in our guidebook, but Washington implemented day/annual passes for their state-run recreation areas a couple years ago.  So ends up being $10 per day or $30 for annual pass.  Figure most states will change to this format in coming years with budget cuts.  Decided to pass on that option and check out a free spot near beaver lake.  Ended up being just a wayside road pull-off, but enough for a 1 night stopover.  Found it to be too close to the road for good sleep, as the semi trucks started cruising by around 4am!