Well, last time I posted my blog, we were leaving Canada by ferry from Vancouver Island to Port Angeles, just outside Olympic Nat. Park on the northwest side of Washington State. The following set of pictures will give you an impression of various aspects of Olympic NP. The highest mountain is appropriately named Mount Olympus. It’s a snowy peak at 2432m. The best viewpoint is from a well-known area called Hurricane Ridge. You drive up to about 1500m above sea level, for a great view of the Olympic mountain range. Fortunately, the weather was splendid while we were there. The NP also has a section along the Pacific which is spectacular in other ways as you will see below. Moreover, that’s where we were “swept away.” I’ll get to that part further down…..
After camping and hiking in three different areas of Olympic NP, we took a ferry to the San Juan Islands (Anacortes) in order to catch yet another ferry to take us to “Friday Harbor” which is on the main island of this archipelago and is called San Juan Island. The reason for wanting to visit that particular island is that Phil’s daughter Sarah (Phil is the friend who is staying at my house and looking after it while I am away), is doing a summer internship at a wildlife rehabilitation center by Friday Harbor. I met Sarah four, five years ago, when she was still in highschool in California; she is now a sophomore at the UC-Davis and in a science program. Initially, she had the idea of wanting to go to veterinary school after college, but she is rethinking that now. She is definitely going to pursue an education in the sciences, however.
After visiting with Sarah for a day, we took the ferry back to Anacortes and drove to the mainland of Washington State, to the town of Bellingham where a Dutch World Bank colleague settled after his retirement. More on that below……
A view of Mount Olympus from Hurricane Ridge; actually three peaks side-by-side
From Hurricane Ridge, we hiked the Klahhane Ridge Trail; below several photos of this hike and views from the trail….
Here we are at the highest point of the trail after climbing some 400m vertically, including various ups and downs.
The following photos show you a different area of the NP, along the Pacific; it’s called Rialto Beach. When we got there, it was just about high tide and Spring tide at that, so extra high. The surf by Rialto Beach is huge and powerful. The beach disappears completely under the waves. At the high end of the beach, there is more driftwood than I had ever seen before. Not only is there so much, it’s also very big. Huge old trees that - because of storms and erosion - have fallen into the sea from islands close by, have ended up on this NP beach. We scrambled over all this wood to get father up the beach, all the time observing those magnificent waves. (It’s actually dangerous for surfers because of all the wood that is sloshing around in the sea. If you collide with one of these pieces , it could easily kill you.)
Now we come to our first - and I hope the only - real “accident” during this trip:
The first picture shows Betsie next to one of these 200+ years old tree trunks on the beach.
The next thing you know, she has to run away so as not to get her boots and feet wet. Too late, however. The water was quicker than she could run.
Following that, something happened to me, which, for reasons I am about to explain, we could not capture on film…..
Betsie had given me her camera before she positioned herself by that big tree for the photo. After she got her feet wet - a moment which I had caught on film - I wanted to show the shot to her, so she walked towards me while I was also standing next to that same tree trunk. Next, a much bigger wave came swirling around that trunk and swamped not only Betsie’s feet again but also swamped mine. Not only that, the water rushing by the that tree trunk which was about knee high, knocked me over! I was being “swept away,” well not quite, but I lost my footing. So here I was lying in the surf with one camera around my neck (Betsie’s), one in my hand, my Flip video camera in one pocket and my binoculars in the other. Well, this was a bad situation, as you can imagine. Betsie, who never curses, exclaimed: nom de juu (an expression which dates from the time that Holland was under Napoleon’s rule; it’s derived from: nom de dieu (in god’s name).
Betsie helped me get up as quickly as she could, but disaster had struck: her beautiful Sony SLR (many of the nice shots you have seen on this blog were made with that camera) was wet and didnot work anymore. My Flip video camera, same thing. My Canon point and shoot camera, I had held in my hand as I was falling; I had managed to keep it above the water and although it was a wet on the outside, it seemed to work normally. And my binoculars which are waterproof (but never tested before) seemed to have come through the ordeal unharmed as well……
In sum, we were minus two cameras.
Below you see me getting out of my wet clothes, after this unwanted bath. (Picture taken with the only working camera.)
The following morning, we took a very nice walk at low tide on a beach by La Push which is actually a native (indian) fishing community.
Close to shore, you see so-called “stacks.” These are the remains of much larger rocks that have eroded into these “stacks” after being pounded by the sea for a million years.
Long “sea weed”
A young gymnast working out on the beach
And a large amount of driftwood, also on this beach
Next, we camped at a different area of Olympic NP, Sol Duc; we did two hikes there: the first one to Sol Duc Falls, walking through another primeval forest with enormous Douglas Fir trees (some are 90m tall)
The following day, we hiked to this lovely lake: Mink Lake. It involved a bit of climbing but nothing we could not handle after so many months of hiking this type trails…
On our way out of Olympic NP, the road skirts this beautiful lake: Lake Crescent.
In the early evening, we took the ferry to Whitbey Island thus leaving the Olympic Peninsula. We overnighted on the parking lot of a Safeway supermarket in Anacortes at the northern end of the island. (A note about parking one’s RV by a Safeway or Walmart store for the night: this is allowed and has become common practice for RV travelers who just need a spot for the night and will continue their journey the next morning. Usually travelers will pick up some groceries at these stores before moving on. That’s why Walmart, etc. favor this policy.)
Whitbey island is part of a group called the San Juan Islands which are located between Vancouver Island (Canada) and Washington State. The San Juans are US territory.
The next morning before breakfast, we were already in line to catch an early ferry to Friday Harbor, the main town on the largest of the SJ Islands which is actually called SJ Island.
As I explained in my intro, we had arranged to visit Phil’s daughter Sarah who is spending her summer there working for the wildlife rehab center. Below, we are having a coffee with Sarah at her favorite coffeeshop in Friday Harbor.
Obviously, Sarah was our tour guide during a walk through the town; we also visited the English Camp. (The historical plaque explains the history.)
As well as an oyster and clam farm where we got a reference for a good restaurant that features these oysters and clams on their menu
So we had lunch at Downriggers restaurant and enjoyed fresh oysters.
We ended our island visit at Sarah’s place of work: the Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehad Center. It’s normally off-limits for visitors but Sarah got permission to show us around. They take care mostly of baby animals who have become orphans because the mothers have been killed. When we were there, the had baby harbor seals, foxes and raccoons.
Sarah and the other summer interns live here
After returning by ferry to Anacortes and camping for the night at a State Park on the mainland, we drove north to the city of Bellingham (about 80 miles north of Seattle). The reason for going to Bellingham was to visit a former World Bank colleague and fellow Dutchman, Peter van der Veen and his American wife Mary. Peter and Mary - after a long international career first with FAO and later with the Bank, which included living in Iraq, Syria, Libia, Egypt and Italy - settled in Washington State after Peter’s retirement. They had many interesting stories to tell about their experiences in the countries they had lived in.
After not seeing each other for many years, Peter and I had met again in Sept. 08, during a reunion of retired Dutch worldbankers in Holland. At that time, I had told him of our plans to take a 6-month trip through the US and Canada in 2009 and he had kindly invited us to stop by when we would be in his area. And so it happened on Aug. 29-30, 2009
Peter and Mary gave us a tour of the area around Bellingham. We stopped by a native college (Lummi indians) where they had this interesting display of two indians paddling a canoe to transport a missionary
And they took us out for a nice dinner at a local Thai restaurant.
We loved their house (including sleeping in a real bed after many weeks in the camper). Here a view of their cozy living room; you also see daughter Marjolein, who lives a couple of hours away and teaches economics. She had come by for a visit. We were impressed that both Mary and her daughter could speak Dutch.
Mary showing us the largest tomato (from her neighbors garden, I think)
We departed again on Sunday afternoon, a little sad that we didn’t have more time together and listen to all the stories of Peter and Mary’s most interesting lives.
We headed for North Cascades Nat. Park which is on located in the far north of Washington State, on the border with Canada. It’s called the American Alps because of the snow-covered peaks and the skiing that’s going on in winter. We will be staying there for the next couple of days. Stay tuned for our next blog update.…..
All the best,
Henk and Betsie
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