Photos ....

National Geographic's National Parks 2012 edition recommends 6 national parks in the Pacific Northwest region - Lassen (CA), Crater Lake (OR), N Cascades, Olympic and Mount Rainier (WA) and Redwoods (CA) - all are unique in their own ways and definitely worth visiting.  We had six days to cover those six parks - about 3000 miles of driving; so of course we did.  As it turned out, even in the first week of July, there was too much snow on some trails (discussed below), so not all parts of the parks were yet open!

Day 1 (Mon July 2, 2012) - we left the Bay Area at 6:30 AM - before the Monday morning rush hour traffic, to Red Bluff on I-5 and then Hwy 36 East to Lassen National Park's south entrance.  We had high expectations about the volcanic action in this park, but it was nothing compared to Yellowstone or Kilauea.

Considering that we were going to visit so many national parks, the $80 America the Beautiful annual pass was the way to go.  It is always a good idea to stop by the Visitor Center first, get detailed park maps, recommendations on sights to see, and also watch the 18 minute video about the park.  I invariably find something new that I would otherwise have missed.

At Lassen, most everything you want to see is on the main park road (CA 89)  The only far away place was the Cinder Cone - a 6.5 mile hike to the base and then a steep climb to the top.

First up, Sulfur Works is one small area by the road where you see a bubbling pond with steam coming out, smelling like rotten eggs (Hydrogen Sulfide.)  We hiked the trail behind Sulfur Works, which would have led us to the Diamond Lake higher up.  Further up the road, a crowded parking lot at Bumpass Hell is a favorite spot.  Since you are in the caldera of an ancient volcano, you have views of peaks all around you.  There is also a large round rock at the edge of a cliff by the parking lot.  We tried pushing it over - but no luck!  Bumpass Hell is a 3 mile, 2 hour trail where you could see the volcanic action - mud pots, fumaroles and boiling springs -- but it had a lot of snow. The recorded message said that the trail was closed.  At the visitor center, they warned us about the snow.  In reality, though, there were plenty of people, of all ages, going on the trail.

Next up was the Lassen Peak (2000 ft, 2-3 hour hike) - the parking lot is at 8500 ft elevation, and Lassen Peak at 10500 ft.  It was a fairly easy climb.  There were some snow patches along the way, but passable.  Had we carried water with us, we definitely would have made it to the top.  Chalk it up as a TO DO for next time!  We were going to have plenty of other peaks to climb in the next few days.

Near the north entrance of the park, you drive by the Chaos Craggs and Chaos Jumbles - old volcanic collapse caused these rocks to crush and flow down as an avalanche.

Most interesting was the Subway cave on Hwy 89 (just after Hwy 44 East splits off to the right), outside the Lassen Park, but still within Lassen Forest.  Cave Campground is on the left, and the cave on the right.  Take your flashlights to navigate through this completely dark lava tube.  You enter from one end and come out at the other end farther away.  A meandering trail brings you back to the parking lot.  It is amazing that so many people knew about such places, and happen to have their flashlights too.  They were all prepared, just as we were.  Thanks to AAA!  You can see Mount Shasta from here, as well as on your drive further up north.

Taking the shortest route (Hwy 89 N and then scenic Forest Road 15 N, which runs parallel to I-5 on the east side of Mount Shasta, to meet US 97 N, which we took for hundreds of miles thereon.) to the Crater Lake.

We reached Crater Lake around 6 PM, and sunset wasn't until 8:30 PM or so.  Hoping to see dramatic sunset, we drove directly to the east part of the Rim Drive, which was only partially open, from Llao Rock up to Skell Head (Northeast part of Rim Drive.)  The highest point in the park, Mount Scott, the Cloudcap Overlook, Pinnacles road, as well as waterfalls were still inaccessible.  Views from Skell Head were spectacular.  The sky was clear above us, but enough clouds/fog on the horizon made the sunset a non-event.  Cleetwood trail, which offers the ONLY legal access to water at Crater Lake and boat rides.  It is a 700 ft drop to the water, and of course, the climb on the way back.  It was too late for us to hike then, so we postponed the decision for the next day.

Crater Lake - looking North from Rim Village

The nearest place to stay outside Crater Lake was 28 miles northeast on US 97 in Chemult (The Crater Lake Lodge, right at the edge of the Lake, was booked solid for the next few weeks.)  Chemult is the only AMTRAK train stop between Klamath Falls and Eugene, Oregon.  It has one train stopping at the station daily in each direction.  Chemult also had a 24 hour gas station and a Subway - perfect!


We stayed at Crater Lake Inn - a very basic accommodation, with comfortable beds, nice shower, a small microwave and a fridge.

Day 2 (Tue July 3, 2012) -  Sunrise was way too early, but the sky was clear in Chemult.  The station platform was a perfect spot to watch the sunrise. As we drove back to Crater Lake, we saw some fog rolling in (as you see over the Llao Rock in the left picture.)  But it was only patchy fog, thank goodness, and it burned quickly.  The scenery was just amazing - most of all the vivid colors of the water - from any angle you watch.  We stopped near the Hillman Peak and took pictures, and then Watchman Peak, Discovery Point as we drove south to Rim Village, and kept on taking pictures.  Trail to the top of Watchman Peak was also snowed in.  We parked near the Rim Village Visitor Center and walked to the Sinnott Memorial Overlook - the prime viewing spot.  We happen to catch one of the Ranger Talks about the lake, its history and the future.  Bottom line, the lake has enough water to last every man, woman and child in the world for two years, at one gallon per day.  Crater Lake has the purest and clearest water, and cleanest air anywhere.  The only source of water for the lake is the 500 inches of snow it gets annually. There are no rivers flowing in or out of the lake, nor is there a hole at the bottom.  The mystery then is why the water level remains constant at this current level?  The theory is that there is a porous rock just above this water level and any excess water drains out, BUT they haven't been able to trace the missing 17 billion gallons of water to any water sources OUTSIDE the crater.  Where is all that water going?  May be it can be pumped out for our use instead???

From Sinnott, we walked to the Crater Lake Lodge and continued on to Garfield Peak.  Although the very top part of the trail was closed due to snow, we were high enough to have clear 360 views of the lake and the surroundings.

IF the remaining part of Rim Drive was going to be open in the next couple of days, we were prepared to return to Crater Lake on our return trip.  With all the fancy snow blowing equipment, they can clear only 1/4 mile of road each day.  We may just want to come back some other time for Mount Scott, Cloudcap Outlook, Pinnacles Outlook and couple of waterfalls - all on the Southeast part of the Rim Drive.

We still had several hours of driving ahead of us, so we returned back to Chemult, had lunch and continued north on US 97 to Ellensburg, WA.  The hotel had an indoor pool and Jacuzzi, and breakfast next morning.

Garfield Peak from Rim Village

It was full moon today - we saw the moon rise directly in front of our hotel room window as we reached our room around 8:30 PM.  We therefore assumed that the window was facing straight east, but next morning, the sun came up almost 90 degrees to the left.  Freaky, we thought.  Later, we realized that the Sun was nearly at the northmost point (Summer Solstice), and the moon could be anywhere in the sky, so it is not unusual for them to be 90 degrees apart.


Day 3 (Wed July 4, 2012) - Today was going to be a short(er) day.  The drive of about 8 hours and sightseeing of 3 hours.  We continued on US 97 N, and made our way to Winthorp via Lake Chelan.  Fourth of July events were going on in towns along the way, and at Lake Chelan, people were BBQing at the picnic areas or were on the water.  Driving through the N Cascades National Park West on Hwy 20 (the other road through the park is Hwy 2, which passes on the South side of the park.), we reached Washington Pass Overlook (the highest point on this road, 5477 ft.)  The gate to the overlook was closed, so we parked just outside, and walked to the overlook.  A nice level trail takes you to an unobstructed view of mountains around, valley below and the highway we drove up on.  The trail then loops up several steps for even better views, and brings you back to the starting point.

Right in front of you is the Liberty Bell Mountain.  Solid granite face (cut off like the Half Dome in Yosemite) is shaped very much like the Liberty Bell from this angle.  30 miles west is Diablo Lake Overlook.  Sitting in the valley, with many snow peaks around, this is a perfect picnic spot.  There are campgrounds nearby and boating is available.  Both Diablo Lake and Ross Lake are Turquoise, not Blue, in color.  Two main features of North Cascades are its 300 or so glaciers, and numerous waterfalls.  They are everywhere.  This park also supplies water and electricity to the Seattle area. Exiting the park at the west end, at Sedro Woolley, we got on I-5 South and drove to our friends' house in Redmond, WA.

Day 4 (Thu July 5, 2012) - This was going to be the longest day, but it was the most memorable.  I had estimated that if we left at 6:30 AM, we could return by 11 PM.  In reality, it took us an hour longer.  We drove more than 500 miles, and did not rush through any of the sightseeing.  The weather was perfect, and we managed to see most places we had planned.  We were not able to visit Cape Alava or Cape Flattery (westmost point in the lower 48's) or to take the ferry to cross the Sound.

We did leave at 6:30 AM as planned, before the traffic got heavy.  Taking carpool lanes most of the way on I-405 S and I-5 S to Olympia, and then west to Aberdeen.  From here, US 101 encompasses the Olympic National Park on three sides - West, North and East, back to Olympia.  We did this complete loop today.  Lake Quinault was the first stop of the day.  Here a short loop hike in the rain forest, and Big Tree (one of the many Big Trees we saw on this trip.)  This was the largest Spruce Tree.  There is a similar, 2 mile hike on the north side of Lake Quinault, that we skipped.  We also passed the Big Cedar Tree further up.

After Lake Quinault, Hwy 101 turns West, all the way to the Pacific Ocean.  There are series of beaches (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) that you can visit.  Beach 1 is sandy, and they get rockier as you go further north.  The tide was just coming in, and ocean water was fairly warm - you could swim, if you wanted to.  Crabshells and flat round rocks are plentiful on Beach 1.  You can skip rocks here all day long.  Very nice.  Further up, on Beach 4, you see driftwood, tidepools, much larger rocks - some with holes in the wall.  Kids were having a great time jumping through these holes.  There are few other beaches further north - Ruby Beach and La Push - that have other interesting things, if you have the time.

After the town of Forks, 101 N becomes 101 E.  Just by the Crescent Lake, a 1.75 mile trail through lowland forest takes you to the 90 ft Marymere waterfall.  We were just warming up for the main hike at the Hurricane Ridge.  US 101 runs on the south shore of Lake Crescent, and then on to Port Angeles, the main entry point to the Park, as well as a ferry terminal for boat rides to Canada.  After enduring several red lights, you finally get on the Heart O' The Hills road and the entrance to Olympic National Park.  It was almost 5 PM, and a lot of cars were leaving the park already.  There was still plenty of sunshine for us, as well as clear skies.

Of course, at any given point in time and place, you will find some "crazy souls," as I call them, who have the same idea as yours.  In all the remotest places we have been to, there is always someone else there, I guess because "it was there!"

Any case, after 5 miles of Heart O' The Hills, you get on the Hurricane Ridge Drive - about 17 miles to the Visitor Center.  The name reflects hurricane force winds sometimes experienced on this ridge road.  Today, it was absolutely the opposite - sunny, clear and calm.  Very pleasurable drive, actually.  By the time we reached the Visitor Center, it was about to be closed.  Just past the Visitor Center, a narrow road continues on for a couple more miles, and ends in a small parking lot.  Of course, there were plenty of cars here, and more came in after us.  The 3 mile, 700 ft climb Hurricane Ridge trail (below) starts off level, and then climbs up via switchbacks.  There was a large patch of snow/ice you had to cross half way through, and then the rest of the trail was clear.  Just past the snow, we saw deer and marmots everywhere.  Because of snow, there weren't as many wildflowers.  But you could see the entire mountain range, including the tallest Mount Olympus.  To the north, you could see the Juan de Fuca strait and Canada beyond.  A 22 mile ferry from Port Angeles takes you to Victoria Island, Canada.

View from Hurricane Ridge Trail

Olympic Mountain Range from Hurricane Ridge Trail

After the hike, we returned to the Visitor Center for a quick break (missed the 18 minute video!), and then back down to Port Angeles.  US 101 East then continues to Discovery Bay, and turns South.  A few miles past Quilcene, a left turn out takes you to Mount Walker.  A 2700 ft, 4 mile rough road (or a hike of about the same distance) takes you to the top.  It was just about the sunset time, and we really wanted to see both the sunset, as well as Seattle city lights from here.  There are two vista points - North and South.  We went to the South vista point first.  We were the only ones there.  From here, you see the Quicelene Bay, Hood Canal and Puget Sound, with all the greenery in between.  Beyond, you could see Seattle and in a haze, Mount Rainier.  No sooner than we parked our car, a station wagon sped behind us, and a woman came running to the vista point.  (She said that she saw our car turning at the exit and decided to take a chance of watching the sunset from the top.)

We then went to the North vista point.  Strait of Juan de Fuca and Canada, as well as Mount Baker were clearly visible from here.  We couldn't see the sunset because the Olympic Mountains blocked the view.  Would be awesome to watch sunrise from here, if you could get here early enough.

Hurricane Ridge Trail

Snowy path on Hurricane Ridge Trail

We had two alternatives here - to go back up North 15 miles and take 104 East.  From here, we could try for the Bainbridge Ferry to Seattle, which would save us 50 miles of driving, but could take longer in terms of waiting for the ferry.  Or, we could drive down on 16 via Tacoma Narrows bridge (the infamous bridge that collapsed soon after it was opened, and now rebuilt.)  Instead, we decided to continue South on Hwy 101 by the shores of Hood Canal and eventually returning to Olympia to take I-5 North.

The last hour of driving wasn't much fun.  It was too late, and there was too much traffic on the road.  The only excitement was on the opposite side (I-5 South.)  Due to July 4 week, cops were out in full force and in action for DUI.  At one point, we saw 15-20 police cruisers speeding South one behind the other, obviously in hot pursuit of someone.  We joked about how that was a permit for everyone going North to speed up (until the cops returned, of course.)  Most roads near Seattle, including I-5, have speed limit of 60, and we found most people obeying it.

In the end, we reached our friend's house at 11:58 PM.  The original plan for the next day was to drive to Crescent City, CA, just North of the Redwood Forest.  Since there was no sightseeing planned, we could afford to leave late next morning.  Definitely the most productive sightseeing day!

Day 5 (Fri July 6, 2012) - We woke up leisurely in the morning, giving our friends their space and time to get ready for work.  Since it was on our way, we decided to visit Mount Rainier provided it was clearly visible from I-405 before taking the exit.  We left at 9:30 AM - way too late for me, but at least the rush hour traffic was over.  It was hazy, but Rainier was clearly visible and cloudless.  Taking Hwys 18, 167 and then 161, we reached Puyallup.  Several stop lights later, the road finally moved at a decent (55 mph) speed.  Taking a detour around Hwy 7, we finally got on Hwy 706, the Southwest (Nisqually) entrance to the park.

This was a nostalgic moment for me.  Last time we were here (Christmas 1992), it was late in the evening around 7:30 PM.  The park entrance was closed due to snow.  The inn just outside was fully decorated in Christmas lights.  The sky was cloudy, and to my dismay, there was no view of Rainier from here.  We still had a couple more hours of drive to reach our friend's house in Seattle, so we turned around and left.  But those five minutes were still etched in my memory.  It took nearly 20 years to return here.

We had a limited amount of time today, so we drove directly to Jackson Visitor Center.  We wanted to take the hike up to Nisqually Glacier, if possible.  Along the way, we stopped a couple of times to take pictures.  Although the sky was clear elsewhere, there was a halo of a cloud at the peak of Mount Rainier.  I'm sure this is how the idea of a halo above the saints and gods came about.

The parking lot around visitor center was filling up quickly, but we found a parking space in the lower lot.  Trailhead for the ONLY trail open, was right there.  First, though, we visited the Visitor Center and watched the 18 minute video about the park.  I noticed that outside, the flag was flown half mast.  Apparently, snow has been melting quickly as the temperatures were warming up.  Hiking on such snow can be treacherous.  Earlier this week, some trekker fell in a crevasse when the snow shifted, and the ranger who went to rescue him, lost his life.  The park had therefore closed all trails, except for the Nisqually Vista Trail. Even that trail had too much snow the entire way (1.2 miles), so we skipped that one as well.  By this time, a lot more clouds were gathering around the Rainier Peak.  We drove on East to Stevens canyon Entrance, taking pictures along the way.  The last five miles of the road was being repaired, so it took much longer on those rough patches and one way traffic controls.

Once outside the park, we jumped on to Hwy 12 West, back on I-5 S, all the way to Grant's Pass.  Other than the slow down around Portland on I-205 S, everything went well.  It was 9 PM by the time we reached Grant's Pass.  (We had originally planned to drive 2 more hours all the way to Crescent City, CA.)  Finding a room for Friday night was tricky.  Thank goodness for cellphones, I had to make 7 phone calls, but found a room.  This hotel also had an (outdoor) pool and Jacuzzi, and breakfast next morning.  The temperature was 95 degrees here that day - for the past few days, our highest temperature was cool 74 degrees!

Day 6 (Sat July 7, 2012) - To get back home by 8 PM, we left early (7:30 AM), resisted the temptation to stop at Oregon Caves, and drove straight to Crescent City Park HQ.  We found out that whales were feeding at the mouth of Klamath River a few miles South.  After a quick drive through Jedediah Smith (the first white man to reach California's North Coast by land) State Park and Stout Grove Trail, we drove to Klamath River Outlook.  From Crescent City onwards, the coast was pretty foggy, though you could see the ocean.  At the Klamath River Outlook, we ran in to other tourists who had driven up North from Eureka, and promised that it would be sunny the rest of the way.  Any case, we didn't know where to look for the whales, and didn't see any from the Outlook parking lot.  There was a trail going down towards the ocean and eventually, to the beach near the mouth of Klamath river.  The half mile trail dropped down a few hundred feet to a wooden platform.  There were two couples chatting away.  One of them had gotten married at that platform 8 years earlier and were frequent visitors.  They knew exactly where to look and pointed me to the puffs as whales come up for air.  A few seconds later, you see their bodies.  They were pretty quiet and not doing any acrobatics.  I did see fluke once, and whale puffs and backs several times during the 10 minutes at the platform.  As I started climbing back up, though, whether because of the angle or the fog, I didn't see any anymore. There is something about going "whale watching" and actually, seeing them.

Next up was Big Tree (a 1500 year old tree, 304 ft tall, 23.7 ft diameter and 66 ft circumference)  For obvious reasons, it just wouldn't fit in one photograph.  Few miles South was Lady Bird Johnson Grove.  A small parking lot on the right hand side, connects to the Grove on the left via a pedestrian bridge.  This 1.5 mile trail has the samples of the usual suspects - hollowed out tree, burned trees, and of course, nice healthy trees.  The weather was still nice and cool, though the sun had started shining through.  Very nice!

We had seen Elk signs all over the place, but no Elk. Not even in a large meadow called Elk Meadow.  No surprise, I thought.  But then just ahead, there were a bunch of cars parked on both sides of the road - US 101.  So we did too.  There was a large herd of Elk - small, medium and large grazing, right by the side of the road.  It appeared that the Elk wanted to cross the road to the meadow on the other side, but couldn't because of all the cars, and people taking pictures.  Wonder what they must be thinking?

Any case, having seen enough mountains, tall trees, animals, snow, rivers, waterfalls, we were ready to come home.  On the way down, on US 101 S, you pass through Humboldt State Park and the Avenue of the Giants.  But we had seen enough.  We just drove straight through, and reached home around 9 PM.  The heat wave from the rest of the country had finally reached the Bay Area, and was waiting for us.

Sun peeking through Redwoods

Redwoods in Lady Bird Johnson Grove

Elk in Redwood National Park

Elk in Redwood National Park - off HWY 101

Altogether, we managed to find clear weather and mild temperatures (74 deg F Max) the entire week.  Even our two days in Seattle were cloudless, if you can believe that!  On average, we drove about 8 hours a day, and five or more hours of sightseeing.  Except for I-5 part of the way each way, we were on two lane roads - most of it on US 97 and US 101.  The rest was on city, county, forest roads - all nicely paved, and mostly deserted.  We were slowed only once - during Friday evening rush hour traffic on I-205 S in Portland.  Because we traveled mid week, the parks weren't that crowded either.  Friday afternoon at Mount Rainier was getting crowded as we left the park.  I am sure the soul who got our parking spot at Jackson Visitor Center was thankful!  Staying at hotels which include breakfast is such a time-saver.  As mentioned earlier, it was still too early for the snow to have melted and flowers to have bloomed in many parks, but what we were able to experience was every bit gratifying.

And now that we have the Annual Pass, I am sure there are few more National Parks awaiting our visit!

For other blogs, click: http://kanitkar.blogspot.com/2009/11/travel-adventures.html