Goodbye Washington State, Hello Oregon Coast

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With the chill in the air and the change of colors, we realize we should start to head south or at least to lower elevation. Our plan, if you want to call it that, is to head over to the Oregon coast and start to slowly head south. Our pace will be dictated by both weather and whether. The former is obvious. The later refers to whether we are enjoying the place we are at. The hope is, being this late in the season, we will be able to stay in state parks along the coast without making reservations. Many of them have walk in only sites. Meaning they cannot be reserved. The plan is to come in mid-week and pick out a spot for a week in case there are still people out camping on weekends. I guess we will see if that works or not.

The first state park we scoped out takes reservations so we booked for a week's stay but since it is more than our arbitrary 200 mile limit, we look for an intermediate place to stay. We thought there might be some worthwhile places to see in the Tacoma area and we find an Elks Lodge not too far away. So we head about 50 miles to Puyallup. We come in on what is supposed to be the last beautiful fall day in the mid 80's. We are greeted by the host and have lots of sites open. He suggests one of them and we get setup. While we are registering, we ask him the proper pronunciation for this town. He needs to repeat it a couple times before we catch on. Say "pew al up" but run together very quickly. Even after a few days here, it never came naturally.

Since we arrived fairly early in the day and we knew the rainy cold weather was expected the next day, we decided to eat a quick lunch and head into Tacoma. The one place we really wanted to see was the Chihuly Bridge of Glass. We had noticed it while driving past a couple months ago but hadn't camped nearby to be able to investigate it. Being "art" it doesn't really need to have a "purpose" but the pedestrian footbridge was built in 2002 and spans Interstate 705. On the west side is University of Washington Tacoma. To the east is the Museum of Glass and the Thea Foss Waterway.

There are three main displays on the bridge. Two of them are quite remarkable. The first is the Venetian Wall which is basically an eighty foot long curio case with over 100 pieces of glass art, each piece having its own compartment. It was quite striking during the day but is probably even more so at night when lit.

Venetian Wall

Venetian Wall

On the other side of the bridge is the Seaform Pavilion which is another curio case but this one suspended overhead with a couple thousand pieces of colorful glass artwork inside the compartments. It was interesting to see the sunlight coming through the glass but a little disorienting walking around with your head staring at this directly above you. We were doing a geocache which required us to answer all sorts of questions about the artwork and the bridge so we found ourselves heading back and forth over the bridge multiple times before solving the puzzle.

Seaform Pavillion

We headed over to UW Tacoma and checked out the campus. It is a pretty small campus but is in downtown Tacoma. We also go into Union Station. A former rail station, it now houses a US District Courthouse. The main rotunda is open to the public but does require a quick security check even if you don't plan on entering the courthouse section. There are several more very large pieces of glass artwork on display. Apparently the space can be rented for events and it looked like they were starting to setup for one later that evening.

UW Tacoma Campus

Union Station

Back Window of Union Station

More Glass Art in Union Station

Closeup of Glass

Hanging from Center of Rotunda

Back across the bridge are several other outdoor glass displays at the Tacoma Museum of Glass and then we do a short walk along the waterfront which has lots of boats from small ones to large yachts. Some even have "for sale" signs. We decide to stick to land - our campgrounds are likely a lot less expensive than these marinas.

Bridge Reflections

Marina Along Thea Foss Waterway

As predicted, the rest of our stay there is rainy at times and barely gets out of the 60's. But it wasn't a total washout. We find breaks in the weather that are long enough to get some other sightseeing in. We head over to Clark's Creek Park and the Puyallup Fish Hatchery. The hike we do here was a lot steeper than we were anticipating and the earlier rain had made the trails a bit slick.

At the Puyallup Fish Hatchery

Salmon Holding Tank

Our last day had a long enough break in the rain to get a decent bike ride in. We drove to the McMillin Trailhead along the Foothills Trail. It was a popular destination. I think many others wanted to get out and enjoy the dry time on a dreary Saturday. We headed north and ended up at a very large pumpkin farm. They have all sorts of family related activities to attract large crowds to buy pumpkins, apples and all the October and Halloween stuff. Based on the number of fields they have set up for parking, they must get several hundred carloads of eager consumers. 

Rows of Pumpkins

The trail was closed north of here for some utility work so we headed back. We did find a much smaller farm store before we got to the parking area and while Chris went to pick out some fruits and vegetables, I got to talk to Butch and Sundance - the two goats. These two were the cleanest goats I have ever seen. I suspect that with the visitors coming here, the owners want the goats to be presentable and were given a bath. We drop our purchase off at the car, but with the weather still being acceptable, we continue on the trail to the town of Orting catching a little bit of a junior varsity football game before realizing the clouds were thickening up and we should head back. It wasn't a long ride, about 12 miles but pleasant nonetheless. We got back to the rig just before the skies opened up.

Butch and Sundance

Hope We Don't Need This Info

With our three nights in Puyallup coming to an end, we are ready to say goodbye to camping in Washington state. We have spent a total of 75 nights at a dozen different locations. I suspect we will be back at some future time since there are places we didn't get to see in the eastern side of the state. Plus we skipped the Columbia River Gorge area simply because it was on fire this season. It will be interesting to see how it has recovered when we come back.

Now we head back to Oregon having already camped 32 nights there. But this time we will be concentrating on the Pacific coast. There loads of state parks all along the coast and we hope to hit a handful of them over the upcoming weeks this October. Our first stop is at Fort Stevens State Park in the northwest tip of Oregon. We probably would have stayed at Cape Disappointment State Park just across the Columbia River in southwestern Washington, but we couldn't get a spot there for a week.  In hindsight, I suspect this worked out to be a good thing. Our campsite was nice with full hookup, 50 amp. There are miles of paved bicycle trails and close to 100 geocaches within the park boundaries. Definitely our kind of place and staying here a week should allow us time to explore.

Our first day trip doesn't take us far - just over to the fort for which Fort Stevens State Park is named. We have experienced quite a number of forts in our travels, so it will be interesting to see how this one compares. We grabbed one of the self guided walking tour brochures from the visitor center and set out to learn and explore. The fort was built during the Civil War but became a target during WWII. It became the only military installation that was fired upon in the continental US during the war. Seventeen shells from a Japanese submarine were fired, but there were no injuries and practically no damage.

 

View from Fort Stevens

Some of the bunkers are accessible to visitors while others are closed and in pretty unsafe conditions. None of the original guns are still present but there are several replicas of them located around the base. We were somewhat surprised to discover that there are a fair number of the geocaches hidden in the park that are actually on the fort grounds. Fort Stevens is a neat place but it doesn't really match what we experienced at Fort Worden in Port Townsend Washington this summer.

Battery James P Pratt

Retracting Gun

Ready, Aim, Fire

Columbia River from Bunker View Port

We went out to the beach for sunset after exploring the fort. It was a cool evening but there were still plenty of people out with the same idea. The beach we went to is where the sailing ship Peter Iredale ran aground in 1906. There is still some of the wreck stranded on the beach and since the tide was low, we could get up close. Vehicles are permitted on the beach so we must pay attention to them as we walk. I suspect it is only a matter of time before somebody crashes into the remains of the ship.

Remains of Peter Iredale

Birds Looking for Food

Ripples in Sand at Sunset

With so many miles of trails and loads of geocaches in the park, we set out to explore other parts of Fort Stevens on bike. We head up the trails that get us to the Clatsop Spit which juts out into the Columbia River just over two miles. The trails don't go out there but the road is in good condition and isn't a problem with how little vehicle traffic there is. There are 3 parking areas along the way that provide access to the beach along the Pacific Ocean. Based on the size of the lots, this place must be quite busy during the summer months. A fourth parking area is at the very end where the spit comes back on itself forming a small bay on the Columbia River. We enjoy our lunch while sitting on the beach while listening to the nearly constant barks of the sea lions swimming in the river.

Old Bridge at Fort Stevens State Park

Along Bike Path

On our third full day, we head back to Washington on US 101 across the Columbia River. The Astoria-Megler bridge is pretty impressive being just over 4 miles in length. A portion of it, close to the Oregon side, is nearly 200 feet above the river allowing large ship access below. The main destination for this day trip is Cape Disappointment State Park. Just because we couldn't get a camping spot there doesn't mean we can't come and visit it. Our first stop is the North Head Lighthouse. The parking is about a quarter mile from the lighthouse and the sign at the start of the trail implied it would be surrounded by scaffolding while it is being restored. Fortunately the upper portion of it was complete and looked nice with its fresh coat of paint. There was still some concrete work going on around the base but it didn't interfere with the views. From the same parking location, we do another short walk to Bell's View. There is an old bunker there that was used as a weather observation post in years past.

Waves on Way to North Head Lighthouse

Nearly Restored North Head Lighthouse

A short drive to the middle of the park gets us to the McKenzie Head Trail. This was the site of a camp of Captain Clark - of Lewis and Clark fame - back in the early 1800's. There is a really neat plaque here that amazingly hasn't been vandalized. Up the short but steep trail gets us to another old bunker. This one is open and in pretty good shape even though there is a huge tree that is growing right on top of it.

William Clark Plaque

Bunker with Large Tree on Top

A little bit further south gets us to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center which is next to yet another old battery. This had been Fort Canby and was the counterpart to Fort Stevens just across the river. The neat thing about this one was not only is it accessible to visitors but they have lighting inside so you can actually see some of the interior features. We didn't bother with the interpretive center but we did take the trail to the second lighthouse in the park - Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. This one is a bit longer and steeper walk that the other lighthouse at just over a mile each way. This lighthouse has an outbuilding that is actively used by the US Coast Guard to watch the shipping lane on the Columbia River.

Remaining Battery at Fort Canby

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse from a Distance

View from Cape Disappointment

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

On our way back, we went down a steep trail that leads to a small cove. The area is protected enough from the river so the waves are very gentle back here even though they were crashing not too far away. Kind of a peaceful spot if not for all the people like us that come down to see it up close.

Cove with Lone Tree on Island

Our last stop in the park is for the Benson Beach trail. It is nearly a half mile walk along an old Jeep trail before we get to the beach on the Pacific. To the north, we can see the North Head Lighthouse. Even though it's about 1.5 miles up the beach, it was a nice afternoon so we headed to it. We pass the campgrounds and there are a few spots that are right along the beach. I suppose that's why this one gets booked well in advance.

North Head Lighthouse from Beach

Having seen the major highlights of this park, we head just a little north to the town of Long Beach. We don't have lots to see here but we use geocaching to point us to a webcam cache and a virtual cache that brings us to the largest frying pan in the world. Maybe there is more to see but we are a bit tired and still have the drive back over to Fort Stevens.

Chris Gets Fried

The next day is another nice one so we head south about 25 miles to Cannon Beach. It's a cute seaside town with one major draw - Haystack Rock. This is a sea stack that can be reached by land during low tide. At 235 feet tall, it is a prominent feature. It was about 1.5 miles along the beach from where we had parked in town. There are closer spots to park if a beach walk isn't your thing.

Cannon Beach

Haystack Rock

Waves Crashing

We used a well conceived geocache to give us a bit of a tour of town. We needed to walk along the shops on the Main Street and search for items shown in 8 different photos. Most of the photos were of items less than a foot in size, so you really needed to keep your eyes peeled to be able to spot them. At each spot, you then needed to determine what GPS coordinate you were at to get a digit that was required to determine where the final cache container was hidden. It was a lot of fun and we came to find out that the same cache owner had done quite a few caches using photos but in each case, the requirements were different making all of them quite interesting.

After finding a great spot for a seafood lunch, we headed just north of town to Ecola State Park. On the north end of the park is a really nice hike although there is a fair amount of elevation gained so it might not be for everyone. We started up the Clatsop Loop trail and used a series of ten geocaches to lead the way. By the time we got to the top of the climb, we were greeted with a great view of the Pacific Ocean and the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse that is just over a mile offshore. It was built in the early 1880's and was used until 1959. Apparently is is now privately owned but it's not clear what condition the place is in. Let's just say getting to it might prove problematic.

Tillamook Rock Lighthouse

Lighthouse from a Distance

The return trip was down the Tillamook Head Trail. This is a much more scenic hike with frequent openings allowing great views of the ocean below. Given we hadn't really put much thought into the planning of this hike, we ended up finding this one quite enjoyable and not too strenuous.

Overlooking Beach at Ecola State Park

We had planned on stopping at the town of Seaside as we headed back to Fort Stevens, but had spent so much time with our various hikes and adventures near Cannon Beach, we were forced to come back the next day. By then, the weather wasn't great but at least it was still dry. There is a promenade that goes north and south of town along the beach. A couple more geocaches using pictures as the theme kept us entertained as we did quite a bit of walking and sightseeing. We suspect that most of the homes along this area are rentals. One was for sale and they were only asking $2.4 million, but I suspect I could talk them down to 2M.

On our last full day here, the rain was attempting to dampen our adventures. We headed into Astoria and checked out the Astoria Column. Located on Coxcomb Hill overlooking the Columbia River, this tower was built in 1926, is 125 feet tall and has 164 steps to get to the observation platform. The column is free if you walk up to it, but the hike from below climbs a few hundred feet. We decided to drive up and pay the $5 to park. The spiral staircase has several landings that permit the flow of traffic up and down to not interfere too much. Being inside the tower made the climb manageable for Chris and her fear of heights. There is enough room on the platform for a dozen people to move about and get in the views. We had serious clouds but it didn't start raining until after we had completed the descent.

Astoria Column

US 101 Bridge from Washington to Oregon

Long Way Down

Nice View on Cloudy Day

From here, we headed into town to see if the rain would allow us to explore the river walk. The path has a trolley car that goes up and down the tracks right along the walk. We decided to walk and if it started to rain too hard, we would hop on the trolley to get back to the car. As it was, we managed to stay mainly dry. Along the way we discovered a whole herd of sea lions. Okay, maybe they are a colony not a herd. I don't think we ever saw more than three of them hiding out under the docks that some of the businesses are built on. But you could definitely hear them barking up a storm. Their location under the buildings led to a great echoing of the sounds. It sounded like there were dozens but maybe it was just a "heard" of them!

Astoria Trolley

Sea Lion

Rail Tracks Into Water

US 101 Bridge into Oregon

There was probably a lot more to see and do in Astoria but the rain was coming down and we had some things to finish back at the rig before we head out the next day. This will get penciled in as a place to stop on our next tour through the area.