A Party in Forks

Map of this blog's locations click this link to open the map

It is only 75 miles to Forks from Sequim and is generally a nice drive once you get past Port Angeles. Admittedly the curvy road would have been better suited to a sports car, but there was construction along the way so that slowed us down. The views along Lake Crescent were probably pretty nice, but the road required my full attention. I was able to go back and watch some of the dashcam video to see what I missed!

We had been told that the Forks Elks lodge was likely the only one in the country where you stood a decent chance of seeing actual elk in the field where we would be camped. We were looking forward to that possibility. When we pulled into the lot, there weren't any other rigs there. Being a Monday afternoon, that might not be too odd but we expected at least one other person. They have six power pedestals with a water spigot next to each. Backing up to the pedestal from either side gives them 12 RV spots. There is one 30 and one 50 amp outlet on each so the first one arriving has the ability to claim their choice. We scoped out the sites and picked the one that was closest to being level although none of them were great, they are all manageable.

As we were setting up, a worker was taking out some trash and came over to chat. He asked how long we would be staying and we told him six nights. His comment was that we would be here for their annual summer camping party the upcoming weekend. He expected members to be coming in the next couple of days to claim their spots for the festivities. Hope we didn't piss somebody off by taking the "best" spot. The word must have gotten out that spots were going quick because later that afternoon a couple other people came in but just left their rigs after getting situated. We headed into the bar after dinner to meet some locals and have a couple beers. The bartender Darryl was quite the host. He left his spot at the card game and came over to chat with us. We learned a lot about the lodge and the Forks area in general. He even took us on a tour of the whole facility - a first in our dozen or so Elks stays. We stepped outside before going to bed that first night hoping that the local elk herd might have joined us but they were a no show.

Our first full day was spent back in Olympic National Park but this time to something very different than Hurricane Ridge. This is the wet side of the park. Just a short drive south of Forks is the Hoh Rainforest entrance. We were astounded by how busy this place was. There were cars parked along both sides of the road about half a mile before the parking lot and visitor center. We lucked into a parking spot in the lot as we pulled through.

This place gets 12 to 14 feet of rain each year. Fortunately it was dry the day we stopped but the evidence of that fact is clear even on dry days. We did a couple of short hikes out of that location. The Hall of Mosses trail is only 0.8 miles long but was quite incredible for two reasons. The trees here are big, really big, spruce and fir. And they are all covered with moss. The vibe while walking along this trail was obvious. I found myself stopping, looking up and being in awe of these giants. There was even one portion where there were quite a few maple trees also covered in moss.

Maple Tree Covered With Moss

The Hoh River and a Hazy View

The Spruce Nature trail is a 1.2 mile loop that takes you past the Hoh River. There were a couple of the big trees that have blown over leaving incredible roots towering vertically over your head. Other trees end up taking root on these fallen giants which makes the fallen one a "nurse" tree. It was interesting to see evidence of ones that must have fallen hundreds of years ago. There would be a perfectly straight line of trees with raised root structure that once surrounded the nurse tree, but now that it has long since rotted away, the remaining trees have roots resembling stilts.

Huge Blow Over with Trees Growing from Above

Backside of Same Tree - Note Well Established Tree and Roots

Line of Trees from Nurse Tree Likely a Century Ago

During the investigation stage of what to do while in Forks, Chris had discovered a tour offered by the visitor center in town. The whole area in this part of Washington state is a big timber business. Each Wednesday, there is a tour out of the visitor center. Chris had reserved a spot although as it turned out there was only one other couple on the tour. I suspect they can accommodate 10 or 12. All visitors are asked to sign into the log book to help them justify the existence of the visitor center and the tour. When the second couple signed in, they saw a previous entry with a home of Green Cove Springs Florida. Turns out they too are from there. Or maybe the more proper way to say it is that they also use St Brendan's Isle mail service and are full time RVers like us. What a small world!

Timber Museum Sign

A retired lumberjack volunteers as the bus driver and guide for the tour. We hop on the bus with the other couple, are given hard hats and we are off. First stop is a cedar shake plant. The place is pretty low tech and a bit run down, but they produce a large amount of cedar shake, shingles and even shims. There are many pallets of product sitting out in the area adjacent to the building. There are also a huge number of storage bins with the chunks of cedar that are the input to the plant. Most of the raw materials don't come from harvested trees but rather from the large stumps of previously harvested areas. The old larger trees were cut many feet above ground when the timber was harvested so now they cut the stumps, splitting off chunks along the way.

Shake Inventory Awaiting Pickup

Inside the building are a handful of workers. It is a two story operation. The cedar chunks are taken upstairs to the saws. Only one was in use at the time so I could check out the stopped one closely and stay far away from the operating one. A roughly 3 foot diameter circular saw blade is spinning vertically much like a table saw. As a woodworker, I have a profound respect for saw blades and when I was working with my equipment, I was always assessed the safety level of the cut I needed to make. If it didn't feel safe, I would stop and come up with a different means of holding the wood that kept me out of harm's way. As I watched the guy running this equipment, I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't be willing to do that job!

Saw Not in Use - BIG Blade

Keep Fingers Away from Spinning Blade!

The Nine Fingered Operator

The rather old machine accepts a block of cedar that is 20 inches tall. Since each block was split, the other two dimensions are quite variable but are roughly 12 to 16 inches on a side. Cedar is a light wood, so the blocks are not heavy but the operator needs to evaluate each one to determine how to orient the block to get the best yield. At which point he lowers the hydraulic clamp to hold the wood to a powered sled. Now he is doing all this while standing just inches from a huge blade spinning at some god forsaken speed with no real safety guards in place. At one point he stops working and takes off his glove to show a hand missing the pinky finger. He has worked here for over 40 years and only had that one slip last year. I suppose that is a pretty good safety streak.

The sled with the block in place is now driven back and forth through the saw. With each pass, the block is tipped a few degrees left or right of normal in order to form the taper required for shingles. As each cut piece comes off the saw, he grabs it and trims the edges on another saw before he drops the product down a shoot to guys waiting to take the pieces and place them in packaging.

Worker Packages Shakes Down Below

From here, we get in the bus and drive for 20 minutes or so south of town and eventually turn up a gravel logging road. The bumpy ride brings us to an area of forest that had just been cut and the equipment was working at pulling the trees up the hill for final processing before being trucked out. The crew consisted of about eight guys. In each of the three pieces of machinery was an operator and there were 5 guys down the hill where the felled trees were. The owner of the firm got out of one machine and came over to talk to us. Between this guy and our tour guide, there wasn't much about the harvesting process that we couldn't get an answer to. There were two predominant species from this woodlot: hemlock and douglas fir.

Our Tour Group Checking Out the Harvest

This section was on a steep hill below the logging road. An overhead cable skidder was being used to pull the trees up the hill. A main cable was run between the machine and a large standing tree on the far side of the lot. A big powerful winching head can be lowered along the main cable until over the crew below. Then the cable from the winch is lowered and the guys attach it to 4 to 6 trees on the cut end. The winch lifts the heavy end of the trees well off the ground then the winch head is pulled back up the main cable bring the bunch to the top of the hill.

Bunch of Logs Being Pulled Up

The next machine grabs each tree and removes the limbs and bark and then cuts them to a preset length for transport. The last machine is used to segregate the logs by species and puts them in truckload size piles. We easily spent 90 minutes there watching them work and asking lots of questions. The only thing that would have made it even better would have been if the owner had offered to let me try out one of the machines but alas that wasn't in the tour price. On the long drive back to Forks, we had a nice chat with the other full timing couple. This is a very nice tour to do if you ever find yourself in town.

Looks Like Fun!

After lunch we headed south again to the coast to Ruby Beach. This becomes our first stop on the Pacific Ocean. The place was very busy even though the fog was so thick the views were not that wonderful. We walked up and down the beach a bit taking in the scenery and watching the waves crashing on the numerous sea stacks located along the beach here. It wasn't the best day to be at the beach but we still enjoyed the visit.

Overlooking the Log Jam at Ruby Beach

Exploring Sea Stacks

Smaller Sea Stacks as Waves Come In

The next day we headed north and west to Cape Flattery - the most northwestern point in the continental United States. The place is where the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean intersect. It was another foggy/smoky day so the views were not going to be great, but we have learned to deal with the cards we are dealt. The area here is part of the Makah Indian reservation. In theory, non-native visitors need to get a pass to be able to park are do most of the sightseeing in the area. We stop at the visitor center and pay our $10 to get our annual pass.

Carved Wood Statues at Makah Visitor Center

Totem Used as Sign Post

Back at the trailhead to the cape, we managed to find a parking spot but the place was quite busy. The walk out to the peak is not too long - about 1.5 miles round trip. Much of it is a wooden boardwalk that was a bit damp from all the fog and moisture, but surprisingly not very slippery. In theory, we have been here on a trip right after graduating from college in 1985. I say in theory because none of the walk or the views looked familiar to us. I still need to go back through my scanned film to see if I have pictures from back then and compare them to present day.

Walkway to the Cape

The fog wasn't so bad as to completely block the views but it wasn't possible to see out to the ocean or any other features that might have been there. There are a several different viewing points with each one offering a unique view. There are quite a number of caves that have been carved out deep underneath the land here. The strong wave action likely prevents exploration by kayak. Surprisingly there is a geocache located at the start of the trail. It had been our experience that geocaches aren't present on reservation land so it wasn't clear why this one is here. It is safe to say this will be our westernmost find until we head to Alaska.

Overlooking Some Sea Caves

View at Cape Flattery

Just a Bit Foggy

As we drove south around the area, we headed for a geocache at a small beach pull out at Bahobohosh Point. There was a new building under construction but some of the posts for the roof were elaborately carved and painted. We had noticed a carved wood statue on the way in so we went back to check it out. Not sure what it represents but the thing is just a bit creepy!

Carved Pole

Hmmmm?!?

Kind of Creepy

Since we were in the general area, we headed south to the Shi Shi Beach trail. We had read that it was a nice hike and thought we would give it a try. The trail starts inland and then parallels the coast slowly working its way towards the ocean. The full round trip hike is 6.7 miles. We originally were expecting to turn around well before the end but once we could hear the waves and were able to see the water, we found ourselves drawn to the end. Just before reaching the beach, there is a steep set of switchbacks that even have ropes to help getting down and up. It did take a bit of convincing to talk Chris into going down to the beach but after hiking 99% of the trail, it seemed like we just had to do this last bit. It was tough going but fortunately being dry helped immensely.

Once on the beach, we took off the hiking boots and headed into the water. It was a pretty brief walk since the water temperature was quite cold. We spent twenty minutes wandering around before drying off our feet and heading back up the switchbacks. It turned out the climb up was much easier than coming down. By the time we got back to the trailhead, we were beat and looked forward to heading back to camp.

Foggy View at Shi Shi Beach

Waves Crashing

View Overlooking Sekiu on Way Back to Forks

We pulled back into the Elks Lodge around dinner time. Parked in front of the lodge was a pickup truck we recognized. It was Dick and Wardene's - the couple we worked with over a month ago at the Habitat for Humanity build in Mount Vernon. But they aren't Elk members so why would they be here? We track them down inside the lodge. Turns out they met somebody at a campground near Port Angeles who suggested they should come to Forks and become Elk members and partake in the party going on this coming weekend. It was good to catch up with them and they even came back the next day with their Airstream and camped a few spots away.

We had been told another place we needed to see while in the area was Rialto Beach and the Hole in the Wall. This is located in the small town of La Push right on the Pacific Ocean just west of Forks. Like we have been experiencing recently, we had another somewhat foggy day. Maybe most days in these parts are foggy? We have learned to not wait for perfect weather since it doesn't happen. Regardless of the weather, to fully enjoy this beach hike, one must wait for low tide.

Rialto Beach

Big Sea Stacks Along the Way

The walk along the beach from the parking lot is under 2 miles north to the Hole in the Wall. What is the Hole in the Wall? It is a rock arch that juts into the water. During low tide, it is possible to walk through the hole and continue up the beach. There is a trail that goes up and over the hill which should be accessible even during high tide. So if you happen to time your trip poorly and get stuck north of the hole, you should still be able to get around without getting wet.

The "Hole in the Wall"

The Hole was interesting but isn't the best thing to see while there. The tide pools that are all around this area on both sides of the Hole contain lots of sea creatures to investigate. With a keen eye and being careful where you step, you should be able to see sea creatures like starfish, sea anemones, crabs, and urchins to name a few. We found ourselves spending a lot of time searching for more things to see. We even found a sea anemone that appeared to have captured a good sized crab and was enjoying the meal.

Solo Starfish

A Handful of Starfish

Sea Urchin

Sea Anemones

Sea Anemone with Crab

Starfish About to Be Washed Further Up Beach

Back at the Forks Elk Lodge, the party was going strong. There were over twenty rigs and tents setup all over the grounds around the building. There were a few of us that were just traveling through while the rest are local members. They had several games going on. The triathlon consisted of indoor shuffleboard, darts and billiards. There were a couple different horseshoe contests. They even had a lot of activities for children to keep them occupied. The lodge's bar was closed all weekend so members could bring their own drinks. There was a pig roast one evening with everybody bringing a dish to pass. Let's just say, this lodge knows how to put on a good party. If we end up in the Olympic Peninsula again, we will need to consider being here for the second weekend of August.

Full House

Horseshoe Toss

Nice Form

Those people familiar the "Twilight" books or movies already know that this area is the setting for the series. Chris has read the books, so she knows the backstory better than I do but she is far from a huge fan. But apparently there are a large number of tourists that come here specifically to see some of the locations. One of the geocaches we did while here takes you to various places in town that are part of the storyline. Some of the private residences obviously don't appreciate all the attention. Many have barricades up and No Trespassing signs all along their property. The town is definitely taking advantage of the notoriety with all sorts of souvenirs for sale and pamphlets detailing the locations so tourists may find them easier.  It was sunny in Forks for our visit and that is why we didn't see any vampires.

One last thing to see was recommended by some of the fellow campers. We had seen the sign for the "Big Cedar" tree while driving Highway 101 south of Forks but hadn't made the trip to see it. Now that we know it is worth a look, we head back. The sign on the highway is your typical DOT official sign. However once you turn off the highway onto the gravel forest road, at each turn the signs look more like those put up to advertise a garage sale. One "sign" was a rock no bigger than a square foot that had an arrow and the word "tree" to identify the direction to take at a split in the road. If you miss one of these, who knows where you will end up?

By taking it slow, we managed to get to the tree. A couple other cars were parked nearby, so we knew we were in the right spot. So what was our impression of the tree? Well it is definitely big. The sign says it is 178 feet tall and has a diameter of 19.4 feet. It didn't really look to be alive. The green growth that is way up the tree could easily be other trees growing in this one. We had gotten the backstory to why this tree is here from lodge members. Apparently when this area was being harvested decades ago, one of the loggers named Duncan came upon the tree and recognized that this tree was special and should be saved. All the neighboring trees were removed while this one stayed so it could be measured and documented. The sign names this the Duncan Cedar but doesn't tell the story which was too bad because the people checking out the tree were interested in the story when we mentioned it to them.

World's Largest Red Cedar

Chris Poses for Scale

Fortunately, this lodge does have a dump station. Even better, nobody had parked in such a way as to prevent us from getting in and out without a problem. There was a big horseshoe match taking place as we pulled out. A short blast of the air horn got their attention so we could wave to our new friends before heading south.

A Week in Sequim Washington

Map of this blog's locations click this link to open the map

We had a nice stay in Port Townsend and really enjoyed the town but we had other things to see and do so it was time to move on. The road from the Elks Lodge to the dump station at Fort Townsend State Park isn't long but is sort of narrow. Fortunately nobody was coming out as we drove in. For others going here, our 38 foot rig just fit into the dump. A forty footer might fit but anything bigger probably should pass on this dump station. There are payment envelopes and it costs $7 to dump. It's less than 30 miles to the Elks Lodge in Sequim so saying it is an easy drive is sort of an understatement. In fact our neighbors we met in Port Townsend left the same morning for Sequim and didn't bother to hook up their car.

I guess I should clear up the proper pronunciation of Sequim. The easiest way to think about how it should be pronounced is to remove the "e". Just say squim and it will be right. Not far outside of town were a couple of elk crossing signs. It not unusual to see signs like this but these were just a bit different. There were yellow lights on the sign and it said elk crossing when flashing. We were impressed that the elk here are trained to press the button to get a flashing light! When we got to the lodge, we asked about it and the elk here aren't that smart. There are a couple large herds of elk and some of the lead members have a radio transmitter collars which is detected by an antenna near the signs and when they are within 1/4 mile, the lights flash warning people to be on the lookout. 

After paying and getting setup at camp, we walked into town to check out some of the favorite geocaches that were hidden in downtown Sequim. The lodge is only about a mile north of the main downtown area. We did find several of the creative hides and saw why they had been awarded a lot of favorite points. One behind a car repair facility was 15 feet up a lamp post and you needed to lower it similar to how a flag is raised and lowered. As we were signing in, a voice from the repair shop hollers "What are you guys doing out there?"  At first we were a little startled until "Marv" comes over to chat and tells us he is the cache owner. He was very talkative and we must have been there 15 minutes or so. Since he is the shop owner as well, I guess he is permitted to be away from work for prolonged times. But he did get called back to take care of some paperwork so we said our goodbyes and headed on and then back to camp. 

We spent a full day and headed over to Port Angeles and then into Olympic National Park. The area here on the north side of the park is Hurricane Ridge. We never did figure out the reason for the name. It doesn't seem likely this area is prone to hurricanes. The visitor center was pretty busy with hundreds of people, but even so, there was a good sized deer laying right next to the building just below the deck. Every now and then, it would look up at all the people looking down at it but it seemed to be rather accustomed to the attention. We took in some of the nice views of the Olympic Mountains including Mount Olympus which isn't as impressive as Mount Rainier but the overall Olympic Mountains are.

Overlooking Olympic Mountains and Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center

Deer Next to Visitor Center

After eating some lunch, we decided to try out the Klahhane Ridge trail. As the name implies, it follows a ridge much of the way. It's nearly a 4 mile one way trail and we weren't up for that long of a hike. But we did get in about a 5 mile total hike. Along the way we were constantly looking for wildlife - elk, eagles and marmots. At one point, far down the ridge in a bit of a clearing, I am convinced there is an elk browsing the field. I even think I see the thing move. Another hiker passes by and happens to have a monocular. Upon closer examination, I think I had instead spotted a rock! Guess I have a rather active imagination. 

Marmot on the Run

Lots of Wildflowers

The low clouds that seemed to be present over a portion of the park was starting to cover more and more of it. The distance views were not as nice but we continued a bit further. A couple on the return trip told us there is a mother mountain goat and her baby just ahead. We stopped to get a good look. They didn't seem to be bothered with our presence. The mountain goats are not native here and were introduced nearly 100 years ago. Since then their numbers have increased dramatically and they are now quite a nuisance and are impacting many of the native plants. Chris still thinks they are cute. By the time we got back from the hike, the views had completely disappeared. Turns out the culprit was not clouds or fog, but smoke from the British Columbia forest fires hundreds of miles away. Fortunately it didn't smell like smoke, but it still impacted the views. 

Some Smoke Moving In

Mama and Her Kid

Generally I thought of the Olympic Peninsula as a wet area but it turns out that Sequim is a fairly arid place and even has some native species of cacti on the area. Being in the "rain shadow" of the Olympic Mountains, Sequim receives only 16 inches of rain per year. Less than 100 miles away near Forks Washington, the Hoh Rainforest gets about 13 FEET of rain per year. In early May Sequim has an Irrigation Festival to celebrate the irrigation system that has been in place for well over 100 years. One Festival that we just missed was the Lavender Festival in late July. We did still take an afternoon to drive around to several of the many lavender farms in the area. Some were still in bloom while others had already been harvested. 

At the Lavender Farm

Our favorite one was Purple Haze Farm. They have quite the grounds (and a geocache on the premises). Most of the flowers were still in bloom. They had some sort of gizmo that makes lavender essential oils. It was impressive but just a bit too aromatic for my liking. They also had a fenced in area with lots of chickens and a pair of peacocks. They were fun to watch. Being a warm day, we figured we would get some ice cream from their little shop. Unfortunately the only flavor was - wait for it - lavender. We passed. 

Jimmy Greets Us at Purple Haze

Peacock and Chickens

Fields of Flowers at Purple Haze

And More Flowers

The Olympic Discovery Trail runs very close to the Elks Lodge. This is a continuation of the bike trail we did out of Port Townsend. We ended up doing about a 13 mile ride. We didn't want to do too long of ride since we had a big day planned for the next day. Some of the trail in town was along the roads but often separated from the road by one of the small canals forming parts of the irrigation system. Beyond the outskirts of town, the trail is well maintained and a nice ride. 

Neat Old Bridge Along Olympic Discovery Trail

The next day we get up early and head into Port Angeles with the bikes to catch the ferry over to Victoria British Columbia. We find an all day parking lot near the terminal and get our tickets. Round trip, walk on with bikes cost $100. Not super cheap but well worth it. Our 8:15 AM departure was delayed a bit but not too much. The 90 minute ride should have provided great views of the mountains to the south, but the smoke was still hovering over the whole region. The water seemed reasonably calm, but at times as we walked around the huge ferry, we felt as if we had consumed just a few too many beers - staggering this way and that. The line getting through customs when we arrived was very long and we were nearly at the end of it. But the border crossing went okay and we come out of the terminal ready to explore. 

Victoria Harbor

Chris had planned out a bit of a loop that would take us to some of the sights within biking distance of the ferry terminal. We used geocaches as our tour guide and navigation aide. A lot of the loop was along the southern shore of Victoria on Dallas Road. We stopped at a breakwater and locked the bikes up to walk out 1/2 mile into the Strait of Georgia. It was a nice day so there were a lot of boaters out and quite a few float planes. 

View Along Breakwater

We headed as far east as Ross Bay Cemetery to do a pretty elaborate geocache that took us to 15 different grave sites scattered about the fairly large cemetery. This cache held special interest to us because it is an intercache. By using your smart phone with a data connection, you basically have a website direct you from place to place and at each location you must correctly answer a question that is answered, in this case, by reading the headstones. The intercache concept was created by a cacher back from our area of western New York and has spread to all sorts of locations. This was our first intercache outside the USA. 

From here we headed north to Government House. It is the official home of the Lieutenant Governor of BC but the public is allowed to walk the 30 plus acres of beautiful gardens surrounding the place. Getting here was a bit of a challenge because it sits atop a pretty steep hill. I needed to walk the bike up the last portion of the road to get to the entrance. We spent 45 minutes exploring and resting after the climb to get here. 

Beautiful Gardens at Government House

These Appear to Be Dipped in Red Paint

Striking Flowers

Nearby is Craigdarroch Castle. We stopped to check the place out from the outside but passed on the $14 tour which is apparently very popular based on the large crowds. From here we headed back west. There is a pretty elaborate cycling lane along the route we took with traffic lights at intersections specifically for cyclists. It took a bit of getting used to but so many others were out on their bikes that we just followed the crowds and did fine. This got us back to the harbor area late in the afternoon. We needed to catch the last ferry back to Port Angeles at about 7 PM. This gave us time to explore but we discovered that the wait at each restaurant we tried to eat at was just too long for us to be able to make dinner part of our plans. The energy bars we had along became our meal until we got on the ferry. 

Craigdarroch Castle

The harbor area was just flooded with people. We ended up just walking our bikes around while taking in the sights. There were a few street performers out including something we had never seen before - a woman in a gown playing a large harp. As far as I could tell, she was pretty good and did attract attention. There was an equally large crowd getting onto the ferry. While we waited, I watched the vehicles pulling out of the ferry. All manner of vehicles were represented. Motorcycles, cars, small RVs, a few big fifth wheel trailers, a motorhome or two and surprisingly a full sized semi with long trailer. He just barely managed to squeeze it out of the side door of the ferry. It was an impressive feat so much so that the half dozen motorcyclists waiting to board applauded as he drove by them. Let's just say I was glad we had only brought the bicycles. 

Crowded Marina

Harp Player

Parliament Building

Another View of Parliament

It was a long but fun day in Victoria. There is a lot to see and do. Maybe we should have considered doing an overnight stay so we could have a couple days to explore. Or had we brought the Jeep, we could have explored further reaches of the island. Now we know what it is like and came plan for a second visit during some future trip to the area. We found some edible fish and chips in the small cafe on the ferry and then relaxed until we got back. What should have been a nice sunset from the ferry was completely smoked out. We arrived in the dark, loaded the bikes on the rack and drove the 20 miles back to Sequim. It was about a 20 mile combination of riding and walking so the next day was a lazy one to recuperate. 

Cargo Ship on Return Ferry Ride

There was one last thing we had wanted to do while in the area but we kept pushing it off hoping the smoke would clear. What did become clear was the smoke was here to stay at least for a few more days. So we drove over to Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge just west of town. It was quite foggy (or was it smoke?) and we even considered turning back before we even pulled into the parking lot. the National Parks Pass gets you into this place otherwise it is $3. There is camping nearby and lots of beach area, but for the adventurous folk, you can head out to the New Dungeness Light House near the end of the Dungeness Spit.  It's not a casual walk. At just over 5 miles each way along a sometimes sandy, sometimes rocky beach, the hike can be tiring especially when you hit those areas where your foot keeps slipping in the sand. It is best to do this at or near low tide so as to have as much beach to walk on.

Our Foggy View at the Start of the Walk

The lighthouse is in very nice shape as is the keeper's house. We were a bit surprised to see green grass and they were even running several sprinklers while we were there. The first floor of the lighthouse has all sorts of displays about the history of the place and some of the shipwrecks that had occurred in the vicinity. The keeper gave us permission to head up to the top without him coming along. I suspect that given the remote location, he doesn't get too many hooligans coming out this way. Chris is never fond of steep spiral staircases and this one was no different. The last ten feet is more like a spiral ladder that was slightly challenging. The present light is not all that impressive compared to the ones on display downstairs. It looked like a cheap plastic thing that wouldn't shine very far.

New Dungeness Light Station

One of the Old Lights

The Present Day Light

The fog hadn't burned off much so the views were a little underwhelming. Chris actually managed to make her way back down the ladder portion and the stairs without too much whimpering. We checked out some more of the grounds and had a snack before heading back down the beach. We only saw four other visitors ahead of us but on the return trip, there were a dozen or more people heading out. Each wondered how much further it was. I hope they all got out before the tide rolled back in. It was hard to tell how much of the beach is covered but I suspect it would be a majority of it. The legs were a bit tired when we made it back to the car and it seemed like the fog was even worse at that point than it had been several hours earlier. 

Foggy View From Above

Be Careful!

View From Beach with Keeper's House on Right

Sequim is a nice area. The town is much larger than I had envisioned. I was expecting a sleepy little place with very little to offer but was pleasantly surprised. A weeklong visit seemed about the right amount of time to see much of the place but I could easily see us coming back again in the future. 

Our time in Sequim was coming to an end and it was time to continue west along Highway 101. But first a couple stops were needed. The Elks Lodge here doesn't have a dump station but there is a Chevron station on the east side of town that has a dump station. We had done the obligatory stop to check it out previously in the week and found it to be an easy in and out. They charged us $8 but nobody was waiting so I was able to flush the tank before heading down the street to another fuel station. Not sure if we had gotten fuel here, they might have dropped the price to $5 like we had heard from another camper. But the other station just two blocks away was priced 27 cents cheaper. Plus this station was a Kroger affiliate and we happened to have 20 cents per gallon accumulated. It needed just a bit less than 35 gallons to fill up so we managed to maximize that discount.

North to Port Townsend

Map of this blog's locations click this link to open the map

With our stay in Bremerton coming to a close, we will be heading north to Port Townsend to another Elks Lodge. Since neither of these lodges have a dump station, we need to find another option. The local fairground is just a few miles from where we are staying and they have a free dump station situated there. Fortunately we had explored the Kitsap County Fairgrounds a day before and after a bit of searching we found the fairly well hidden dump station. For future reference, it is maybe 300 feet south of the intersection of NW Fairgrounds Road and Tibardis Road at roughly N47° 37.883'  W122° 39.954'. We pulled in and nobody was around but before I was done, there was another rig waiting for us to finish. Other than being a very dusty place, it worked out well and the price was right.

It's less than a 50 mile drive from Bremerton to Port Townsend and it turned out to be a pretty easy travel day. The Elks Lodge has room for about 30 rigs. There were only 4 others there when we pulled in so we figured out the orientation of the sites and picked one that might be somewhat shaded in the afternoon. Someone from the lodge came out to tell us that the campground host was injured and we should just do the self registration envelope method.

Since we were here fairly early, we headed into downtown first stopping at the visitor's center. There happened to be a jazz festival going on so the volunteer was trying to convince us to check out some of the venues. The downtown area was very cute and fairly crowded. After finding a parking spot, we started to walk around town. We found a wooden boat workshop that lets people in to wander around unsupervised. The smell of fresh cut wood and all the hand and power tools in use made me a little bit homesick for my old woodworking shop. There were some new builds but the majority of the work was repairing old wooden boats that had damage or had seen better days.

New Boat Under Construction

Older Boat Needing Repair

A geocache brought us to the only remaining wooden bell tower in the USA. Along the way, we stumble upon a group of about 10 ukulele players putting on an impromptu concert by the fountain in town. Their name was appropriate- The Fountain of Ukes. Just up the hill from the fountain is the last remaining wooden bell tower in the USA built  in 1890. We also discovered an car shop (Bergstrom's Antique Classic Autos) that was likely in a converted fire station building. Besides having several old cars for sale, they had all manner of parts for older cars. I suspect that two of my brother-in-laws would have really enjoyed browsing around this place. We eventually decided to head back to camp with one important stop along the way. Mount Townsend Creamery is situated just outside the main downtown area. They offer cheese tastings and even have a 25% discount on certain times with the day we are there being one of them. We tried about 8 or so different cheeses and watched them making another batch through the glass windows into the cheese factory. We ended up picking two of the samples we really liked and then spotted another one that was not out for tasting but sounded good. Let's just say our "free" tasting was far from free but we came away with some really good cheeses. 

Oldest Wooden Bell Tower in US

View of Town from Above

The Fountain of Ukes

Former Elks Building - 1889

Need Parts?

1954 Corvette 

The Elks Lodge was having fish and chips for dinner that first night so we headed there. We met another couple that had just pulled in next to us and had a nice time chatting with them over dinner. The following day we dusted off the bicycles and headed into town again with Fort Worden State Park as our destination. This is on the north side of town. There is a bicycle path that can be accessed about one mile north of the lodge. It worked out quite well since it can be reached without needing to get out onto the main state route. Once on the bike path, the paved trail changes to gravel but it is a very well maintained gravel trail. It didn't take long for us to realize that the trail into town is downhill which is nice but will become a penalty on our return trip. We stop for a few of the many geocaches along the trail. One was overlooking the paper mill in town. We now know what that strange smell is we caught if the wind was just right. It isn't a horrible smell but it definitely is not pleasant. 

Port Townsend Paper Corp

Once the bike path ends in town, there are several routes to take to get to the fort. The traffic on the residential streets wasn't bad but the one we picked took us up Morgan Hill. It isn't too high, maybe 250', but it is exceptionally steep. I suspect there would have been easier ways had we done a bit more investigation. After asking for directions, we finally found out where the noon time free jazz concert was to be held. Our timing was perfect, there was a tree on a little hill where we could lean our bikes, sit in the shade and enjoy an unobstructed view of the stage. 

Good Crowd at Concert

It turned out the performers were not really a group per se, but the students of some teacher from Seattle that had come to Port Townsend for a weeklong class and this was their culmination. They were entertaining and based on some of the solo performances, there were a couple that show great promise. After lunch we wandered to the beach and found the typical little snack shack that a state park might have. I expected to get a burger that was lukewarm, dried out and required copious amounts of ketchup to make it edible. I was shocked to find it to be one of the best burgers I have ever had!

Next we headed out to Point Wilson lighthouse. Like so many lighthouses, it has been automated so the residence is no longer in use. There were some nice views of distant snow capped mountains and the many boats out on the water. They definitely have a problem with all the sea gulls landing on the roof. What should be red shingles is almost completely white. From here we headed over to the location of the gun encampments. The structures are still in good shape although all of the big guns have long been removed. What really amazed us was that many of the underground rooms were open to the public. One of the geocaches we did while here required us to find small stickers with coordinates and several of them were in the pitch black rooms. Thank goodness for the flashlight mode on the GPS. Many of the barracks have now been converted into other uses - a few shops and a woodworking school were seen as we tooled by on our bikes. 

View from Point Wilson with Mt. Baker in Distance

Lighthouse at Point Wilson

One of the Armament Batteries

Rooms to Explore Beneath

After finishing up at the fort, we ran into our first obstacle. Another short but steep hill that even I needed to walk up. Had we been in shape like for our cross country bike ride, we might have been able to make it. The rest of the ride up the bike path was gradual enough to not be much of a problem but we ended the day with over 20 miles of biking.

Beautiful Country Courthouse on Ride Back

In an attempt to appease the tired legs, we headed to the farmer's market in town the next morning. They had lots of vendors and it was very crowded. In the afternoon we drove into Old Fort Townsend State Park which is maybe a mile or so from the Elks Lodge. In hindsight, maybe we should have driven to the first fort and biked to the closer one! There is a small campground here and a dump station. In fact, we stop there to determine of a rig our size would fit or not. We guess it will so we will plan on using this on our way out of town.

The fort that used to be here is all but gone. There is a path thru the woods with interpretive signs stating that this was where the barracks were, or the commissary or some other building. But there are no remnants remaining and the fact that the trees here are a couple feet in diameter makes it hard to convince yourself there was anything ever here. At one point along the trail we came upon a small wedding ceremony. Just as we came into view, the couple were pronounced man and wife and every clapped and hollered. Never have we been greeted so warmly on a hike before.

Nice View from Fort Townsend

The next day we were ready to try out more of the nice bike trail. This time we would head generally south and west along the Larry Scott trail. The trail was nice and wide, well maintained and not too hilly. There were some people out enjoying it but not so many as to be annoying during the ride or when we stopped to search for one of many geocaches. We turned back after 6 miles but the trail continues in one form or another for many miles, possibly all the way to the Pacific Ocean. 

One of Many Horse at Farms Next to Bike Trail

Beautiful Day for a Bike Ride