Wandering West Day 19 - This is Oregon!

NORTH BEND, OR - At this point I'm getting ready to go home but I have always wanted to see the Oregon coast and Crater Lake. Meandering through Oregon before the big drive back east, today I drove from Portland, OR to North Bend, OR.

About 225 Miles.

To a photographer, rocky coastlines are "da bomb" as they say. And Oregon didn't disappoint, delivering your standard beautiful pacific coastline.

Sea Lions

In Oregon you can't pump your own gas. It took me two stops before I figured it out. At the second gas station I wasn't quite sure so I figured I'd test the system. The pumps are just like any other self serve pump and there are no signs telling you to wait for an attendant. So I pull up and begin the process, swiping my card and putting the nozzle in the car. Then the attendant runs up to me and shouts, "What are you doing? This is Oregon! The customer cannot touch the pump. Otherwise the customer gets a fine and the station gets a fine." Well, exxxxcuuuussse me...

Wandering West Day 18 - Those Monstrous Beasts

PORTLAND, OR - Today I drove from Federal Way, WA to Portland, OR. I stopped at Mt Rainier National Park and, due to time, close enough to Mt St. Helens to get a good picture. Mt St. Helens wasn't spouting off, otherwise I may have been tempted to get closer.

About 250 Miles.

Both Mt Rainier and Mt St Helens are monstrous beasts. That is, that really stand out in their surrounds. Since they are both volcanic, they are much higher than the surrounding mountains and dominate the landscape. In the Rockies you often need a reference to know which mountain you are looking at is highest. For the record, Mt Rainer is 14,410 feet and Mt St Helens is 8364 feet (9675 ft before the eruption). I would love to visit both again with more time. Mt Rainier has lots of hiking, though climbing to the top is a more serious endeavor. The high camps are still over 4000 ft from the summit. Also, interesting to note, Mt Rainier is the most heavily glaciated peak in the contiguous United States

Mt Rainier

Mt St Helens

Wandering West Day 17 - Why Would You Want to Do That?

(No you didn't miss anything, spent Day 16 crashing from all the travelling)


FEDERAL WAY, WA – Today I forced myself to go into the city once rush hour had passed. It was recommended that I check out the waterfront and the Pike Street Market among other things. Notice I said “forced”. I don't like cities that much though I have been known to enjoy Washington, DC, San Diego or San Francisco on occasion. But my experience here in Seattle can best be described by the following stream of consciousness i.e., rambling:



Traffic, traffic, guess the exit, wander through one way streets, pedestrians, look for parking, parking, parking meters not working, parking meter working, graffiti, panhandlers, litter, litter, grafitti, panhandlers, tourists, wandering, wandering, glimpses of the space needle. shops, crowds, crowds, noise, car fumes, litter, interesting people, street people, traffic, traffic, etc, etc. GET ME OUT OF HERE!


After the unspeakable beauty of national parks, I'm not getting anything out of this city thing. No, I didn't go to the top of the Space Needle even though I was near by. I switched to Plan B, which was developed back in the car as I locked myself securely away from the poison of the city.


And I remembered what was said to me in Glacier. I met some hikers from the Seattle area and asked them what I should check out. They highly recommended Mt Rainier among other things. When I asked what sites I should check out in the city when I visited Seattle, they replied, “Why would you want to do that?”

Seattle from Alki Beach

Wandering West Day 15 - Unexpected Majesty

FEDERAL WAY, WA – Today I drove from Spokane, WA to Federal Way, WA (20 minutes south of Seattle). I had planned to stop at the Grand Coulee Dam on the way, a detour off the interstate. That detour led me through what is called the “Scablands” of Washington.

325 miles

God of the Gadgets

I love my gadgets, iPod, GPS, cell phone, PDA, digital camera. But they all need power or they are useless. So I dubbed Grand Coulee Dam their god. Grand Coulee Dam has the third largest hydroelectric power capacity in the world. The other two dams are in South America and it will be fourth once the Three Gorges dam is completed in China. It was first when it was built.

Grand Coulee Dam

Scablands

Don't you just love that word? The geological history of Easter Washington state is remarkable and hard to summarize here. Just imagine lakes, floods, rivers and waterfalls on a scale that dwarfs anything that exists today. In a nutshell, there were lakes that covered much of Montana damed up by glaciers. When those glacial dams burst, the water rushed through the columbia river basin, from Montana, through eastern Washington state, and out through Oregon. This happened many times. The geological formations created are gigantic. The story of how this geological story was uncovered (by J. Harlen Bretz) is also interesting but I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader.
Scabland Geology
J. Harlen Bretz
Channeled Scablands
Missoula Floods
On the way back to the interstate from Grand Coulee, I passed Dry Falls State Park. I almost didn't stop and you can't quite see it from the road, but aren't you glad I did:

Dry Falls