OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK AND THE TWILIGHT SAGA

We’re still posting in flashback and it seems we will be for a while! This post is from Olympic National Park and Our journey through the sights of The Twilight Saga, don’t let that put you off though! We are now just leaving Las Vegas having traveled down through California stopping at San Francisco, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia and Death Valley National Parks along the way. Stay turned for more!

We drive from Seattle to Port Angeles and first stop is a hotel, we are shattered and need to sleep. The next day sees some sunshine but quickly it turns very grey and grim. A very helpful stop at the Olympic National Park Visitor Centre sees us setting off with a plan of attack. This is a highly anticipated stop on our journey.

The park is the highest in the Pacific North West and it is home to such a diverse range of nature, from glacial carved mountain peeks to the temperate Rain Forests, the coastal beaches, 11 major rivers, waterfalls, lakes and a variety of flora and fauna found no where else in the world. It is also home to the Quileute Tribe who have lived here for thousands of years. As with every national park it is unique but few are this diverse. Sadly we have been warned that bad weather is coming tonight so we want to try to see as much as possible before it sets in.

Our first stop is up to Hurricane Ridge. We know we can’t get right to the top but we climb to as high elevation as possible to take in a view that is obscured by low clouds but still awesome. Our trip back down sees us take a back road through the rain forest taking in the amazing variety of trees covered in their rich green mosses. This has taken a good part of the day but we push on to the next trail promising grand waterfalls. It is becoming clear that if we are to reach our camping destination we are going to have to miss some things and also the weather is setting in, decision time, and we head back to the previous nights accommodation in Port Angeles.

The next day we awake to a wild wind but push on to see more of the park. It is no time at all before we are in a full on storm. We are taking it easy on the road, as there is a lot of debris scattered about when a very tall tree falls in front of us blocking the road. Some locals traveling in the opposite direction jump out of their car to start clearing the road and we join them, throwing and dragging branches to the side of the road and getting pretty dirty in the process. We’re almost done clearing when, CRACK, another tree falls behind us, what an adventure and a little scary. We wind our way a few more kilometres and stop to ask for some local advice, carry on or head back. We are told this is normal for this time of year, this being the first of many storms to come and the man is angry he has forgotten his chain saw. That said he felt we were better to push on through and head to the coast, probably being best to avoid the forest.

Well that kind of changed the day’s plans but all things happen for a reason. We are not getting the experience we expected in Olympic but we are certainly experiencing something different. We head to the coast to La Push, the northernmost point of Washington’s Pacific Coast beaches. First beach lies to the south of the Quileute River outlet and is normally a sandy crescent beach with sea stacks enhancing your view to nothing. Well, today is so wild that even the locals are down on the shore to watch nature at it’s best. They say the power is out in town and there is nothing else to do. The ocean is a churning, charging grey that has totally covered the beach to crash into the tree logs that form a break in the channel to smash against the sea walls. Spectacular. The sea birds are even taking refuge in sheltered spots.

We continue our adventures moving around to the north side of the river outlet to Rialto beach and brave a stroll along this amazing wild coast. We are to discover that whole tree logs are constantly moved by the sea and washed into the shore, adding to the beauty of this wild coast. Swimming on a hot day is not advised though; imagine a thirty-metre tree in the surf, more dangerous than a shark I think.

We have come to this part of the world not just for the nature, but also for the Twilight Saga experience. Now I know some of you will not be fans of the trials and tribulations of Bella, Edward, Jacob and their fellow Vampires and Werewolves but we are, so bare with us. La Push is a famous scene in the first movie and we are experiencing it in a similar state, wild and crazy. Though most of the movie was filmed in Canada, this is the area that they all live in the books, because it rains a lot of the time, perfect. We now head into Forks, you guessed it, Twilight guide in hand. The area has totally embraced the movie, must drive the locals mad but also brings in the tourists. Not many around today though. The power is also out here so everything is closed. We make our way around the highlights and finally find Bella’s house and guess what, there is an apple tree fallen in the storm right outside delivering beautiful red apples to the road, this is a sign don’t you think Twilight fans, haha. Look for the famous photo.

Having ‘done’ our Twilight thing, we turn back into travellers and head on down a spectacular coastal drive with views over the wild ocean and the many sea stacks dotted along this shore. Our daylight time is coming to an end so we push on to Kalaloch campground. This is an experience in itself being situated right on the coast with only tree logs by the tonne between us and the Pacific. There is enough daylight left to explore the beach and we marvel at the size of these trees that have travelled by sea to their final resting places. I wonder if they do harm to the shoreline or if they are a natural buffer from the sea. We find a most extraordinary coastal tree that is hanging on to the cliff by it’s roots each side of a small ravine, complete with a small waterfall making its way to the ocean. How can this tree be alive with the majority of it’s root system just hanging in mid air. Nature always delivers something amazing. It is a spectacular sunset over a grey ocean that brings our day to an end and delivers a wonderful night sky full of stars. Love this camping life.

The morning weather is a lot more gentle and we are visited by some lovely birds, 3 very inquisitive Stellar’s Jays and a very large gull. The Jays pop around the car and give us lots of photo opportunities as they are very human friendly and then a large gull decides to come and perch on a fence post not to be outdone for photo poses by the Jays’. We take another stroll on the beach finding interesting flotsam from the nights high tide. Something we had not seen before was the seaweed pulled from the ocean floor root attached. The root is a hard rubber like bulb and tentacle that is about 10 ft long, very interesting. Time to move along. We head to our last destination in Olympic, another rain forest part of the park and traverse a loop road around large Quinault lake and explore some gorgeous old forest growth and some of the parks lovely waterfalls feeding into the river. Time to make some ground till we end our day in Vancouver, WA.

Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album WASHINGTON.

A link to all our photos, here.

A STOP IN BAVARIAN LEAVENWORTH BEFORE SEATTLE

When we arise the next day we discover it really has been raining and our car is sitting in a new lake. Lucky we were all high and dry. We are in for a driving day through more gorgeous scenery as we move West out of Montana and in to Idaho. This is just a gorgeous area of forest with the Alpine conifers scaling the steep slopes showing off their gorgeous autumn colours. The Alpine Lurch has its glorious golden shedding coat on in all its glory.

Nature just turns on one spectacular vista after another. We pass some lovely little towns along the way. We stop to rummage a little through an antique shop and meet a most delightful man to swap stories with. He and his family are the proud owners of this ever-changing wonderful collection of furniture, memorabilia and bits and bobs. I am particularly drawn to an old restored child’s highchair/ rocking chair and also a very old gramophone. It is the type with the metal records with punched out holes. We hear it play and are so surprised by the quality of the sound, just lovely. We have to be practical and realize this is impossible to achieve, shipping to Australia is just so expensive it is not viable. It has still been a pleasure to chat with such an interesting man and we come out of the shop realizing it was a very long chat as darkness is descending. We drive on to the town of Couer d’Alene and find a place to stay.

Our next day begins with a slightly boring part of the country, very flat and uninteresting, through Lincoln County and Douglas County. We say boring but that is because we have been treated to so much amazing scenery lately that we are almost dismissive of anything that is not out of this world. We have moved into Washington State, and this is really an area of farming with small communities doted along the way.  We are soon heading into Chelan County from Wenatchee on the banks of the Columbus River.  We start to wind our way through some amazing hills.  This time they are not covered with the Alpine Pines, just grasses, but we are treated to some wonderful gorges as the road snakes its way around, up and down the hills.  We come through some small towns until we hit Leavenworth.

We had read a little about this town recently. Before we left Australia I had thought of Leavenworth only as a detention centre, but this is something a bit different.  The entire town is Bavarian styled, and I mean the entire town.  Every building is designed or modified to look like your typical chalet with all the bells and whistles, down to fairy lights and murals and so much more.  It is like America can even do Europe better than Europe.  Even Starbucks is in a chalet.  We stopped for a quick look at this picturesque town and ended up staying over.  It really is pretty and all the Christmas lights are in the trees, very enticing. Those who know us know how much we just love Christmas and all the decorations. Needless to say we have managed to add a couple of little treasures to the suitcase. We have also gained another hour with a time change, so that is 2 hours in a couple of days with the day light saving end, meaning it is getting dark really early too so did not want to be driving in the dark and missing anything.  It was lovely to stop early and enjoy a little rest time with a couple of rented movies and some popcorn.

Our next day we start late as the clouds are so low that we don’t want to miss the views, that’s our excuse anyway, didn’t help much that there was the opportunity to have a late breakfast and in a really nice hotel.  We did the right thing as literally from our front door we started to wind our way through some spectacular mountains, the Okanogan Wenatchee National Forrest along the eastern slopes of the Cascade Range. It is just gorgeous steep sided mountains with many waterfalls carving their way through the rocks heading into the rivers below to add to the cascades tumbling their way to the Pacific.  The white low cloud adds to the mystical appearance of the byway and once again the road winds its way up, down, around and over, every turn a wonderful view over an edge or up from the floor to the towering walls above.  We are lucky again to have made it to the Stevens pass and just about out of the natural area before the rain settles in for a while.

We are lucky again to see it stop for us to make a stop in Seattle.  This is a lovely city built on the steep sloping banks of the water.  We are imagining that the steep roads down toward the bay are a little like San Francisco, we shall see. It reminds us a little of Perth except that we only have two levels instead of about 8.

We decide that the Pike Place Market will be our best spot to stop and soak up a little of what Seattle is like. These markets were established in 1907 and are a busy hub of activity. We enjoy strolling through the markets taking in some original works of art from wood to pottery to leather to jewellery to wool to just about anything and then come to the veggie shops, fish stands and all sorts of culinary treats.  And don’t forget the gorgeous flower stands and the restaurants and eateries all there for the taking. It is not that busy and we chat to some of the vendors as we meander along. We also take in the harbour views from this area too.

One thing we are surprised to see is a lot of homeless disadvantaged people.  They are not actually begging but are obviously struggling and they are more than we have encountered anywhere in our travels.  We do a drive through of the city and love the buildings, especially the Space Needle, a structure built for the 1962 Worlds Fair that towers 605 feet into the air. The outside lift takes you up 520 feet to an observation deck that also has a revolving restaurant.  If you are a Grey’s Anatomy fan you will be very familiar with the UFO design.  Tick another thing off the list.  We push on to get to our destination, Port Angeles, to start our Twilight time and Olympic NP.

Photos are on our Facebook page in the album WASHINGTON.