We entered Washington on the 7th, after crossing the Bridge of the Gods, we passed through the town of Stevenson and turned onto a forest road that led us into the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. It was a lovely day, with gorgeous weather and a few views of Mt. Adams.
We drove and drove through the forest, just enjoying ourselves and the scenery. I didn't take any photos, again just enjoying it myself.
We hit rt 12 in Randie and headed northeast towards Mt. Rainier National Park.
We caught glimpses of a stunning mountain...
We headed north off of Rt. 123 to Sunrise Point, which is where the visitors center is located.
It was gorgeous up there, there were meadows of wildflowers, that seemed to be in full bloom, with the glacier as their backdrop.
After finishing up at the park, we headed north on 410 and found a campground that was amongst old forest and big redwoods.
It was a special day and all of us were in good spirits.
After walking back from paying for our site, Pete told me he had run into an interesting gentleman that was from north of Seattle. A retired dentist, drinking gin, listening to classical piano next to his 1974 Coleman tent. Pete cooked, and we had a fabulous steak dinner with a light pasta and asparagus, and after cleaning up, we headed on a walk with the dogs and stopped for a visit with the dentist. As usual, we all shared stories until it was quite a bit past when the street lights come on. We started back in the pitch black, turned around after about 20 feet and asked the dentist for a flash light. How could we have stupidly walk near dusk without our headlamps?
The next morning looked gloomy, but that is what I was told Washington may be like. It would perk up and be sunny before lunch time. I stayed in the camper and made delicious buckwheat blueberry pancakes while Pete walked down to return the light to the dentist.
After breakfast, we packed up and collapsed the camper to leave. As we were walking back from throwing away garbage we stopped and talked with a very friendly family from just east of Seattle. They had much information about the state to share. Everyone we had met so far in this state had welcomed us with such a friendly demeanor.
We drove west on 410 and stopped midday in the town of Sumner to have a wood fired pizza and some micro-brewed beers at Farrelli's Pizza.
Our destination for the night was Gig Harbor, across the sound from Seattle. Pete's friends had purchased the house and were not yet moved in, they were nice enough to offer us their driveway, showers, and laundry. It was quiet, on the water, and had a fantastic view of Rainier. We sat just relaxing on a porch swing while the laundry was going.
We ventured into Seattle the next day, feeling refreshed from our showers, clean laundry, and bedding. It always feels great to do a good cleaning of everything, especially when you're living out of such a small area.
Pete's nephew lives in Seattle, so we planned on spending the day with him. He lives a short walk away from the market. After walking a bit through that and having lunch at an Irish pub, then dinner at another Irish pub (no particular reason, a few beers in us by then!) we headed back to his place and crashed on his couch for the night.
We had no definite plan for the following day, so we just decided wing it. Winging it took us up Rt. 5, out of the city, then east on Rt. 530 to 20. North Cascades National Park? Yea, why not!?
After visiting the visitors center and getting my "geek stamp", we found out that the camp host for the campground had up and walked out and there may in fact be a few open spots on this Saturday night. We scurried over to the grounds in high hopes and found a few open. As we were driving, I caught a glimpse of a familiar little brown dog on a picnic table behind a new airstream.
"A border terrier! Stop!" I commanded to Pete.
We probably looked like crazies running quietly into their site with Dewar (our border terrier) bouncing in my arms. You just don't see this breed of dog everyday though! We chatted gleefully until another truck was driving the loop and approaching our truck, we promised to come back to visit after we set up camp.
Holding true to our word, we went down to visit the Brits. They were both from England and had been over in the Seattle area for about 8 years. They had two lovely little borders and were very nice to talk to. They told us there was to be a seminar on bears in the amphitheater that night and we told them we'd meet them.
After dinner, we started to head to the amphitheater. We got held up by a slightly intoxicated couple from Oklahoma. They were basically doing our route for the summer, just in reverse.
"Welp, looks like there's a storm a rollin' in. We'd a better get a move on here missy." The man turned to his wife, "Nice to of met y'all."
They went on their way back to their tent and we marched on towards the amphitheater.
A few lines of lightning streaked the sky. We looked at one another and Pete said, "I'd better go back and close the camper windows."
I agreed and said I'd meet him at the seminar.
"Oh! Grab the headlamps!" I called after him. Geesh! Almost forgot those AGAIN! To our defense, we are usually in bed by sundown when we camp. Usually.
I got to the amphitheater and sat down with the dogs. Ten minutes later, Pete sat down next to me. One minute later, we felt rain drops. We had about a 5 minute walk back to our site, so we decided to walk back. Not much sooner had we bunked down then we heard herds of people running back to their sites as it let loose.
It rained pretty hard that night. We awoke to a grey, wet morning, but we were ready to set out and see the North Cascades!
After packing up, and saying goodbye to the Brits, we headed out.
The fog hung heavy and low over the mountains.
Much moss grows on everything.
As we were driving along, the sun started to shine through.
We drove up and out of the park. We entered the Okanogan National Forest and Pete noticed the river we were following as climbing was real muddy looking.
"That's not normal." he pointed out.
Every time the river came back into view, he'd say it again.
After driving over Rainy Pass, the road gate was closed, a few cars were parked and people were standing around. We asked a few guys standing there what was up, and they just shrugged.
"Should we just turn around?" I asked Pete.
"No way! Do you know our only other choice to head east on is Rt. 2? That's a lot of back tracking. We'll wait here for a bit and try to find out what is wrong and when this will open."
Right after that was said, two motorcyclist buzzed around the corner on the other side of the closed gate. Everyone ran over and helped them lift the gate so they could walk their bikes under.
Pete and I were the last to walk over, Pete asked what was wrong.
"Mudslides, two, maybe three huge ones. No one's working on them. It'll take them at least a week to clear."
Shit. We would have to back track.
We got back into the truck and headed down, stopping along the way to flag down a forest service truck with front end loader in tow.
The man explained to us that the heavy rains had caused the slides and it would definitely take them the rest of the day, maybe even the next.
With our decision to not wait out the clean up final, we headed down.
Here's a few cool pictures that came out of the backtrack through the national park. We had missed this turnoff on the way up and now the sun was out for the party.
A few pictures of the muddy water mixed in with the mountain water.
Our backtracking took us all of the way out Rt. 20 and back down on 5 just north of Seattle to pick up 2. When we reached Monroe, there was so much stopped, backed up traffic heading west that it felt eerily out of place for us to be heading east. We stopped into a gas station, worried that there may be more mudslides or fires. Why were we the only vehicle heading east?
On the way into the station, a lady from Leavensworth eased our minds when she told us this was completely normal. Every Sunday, all of the city dwellers that come out to play in the mountains for the weekend, are heading back into town. Phew.
We continued heading east. I will tell you though, I would never have the patience these people do. This traffic was backed up, bumper to bumper, on mountain roads for miles and miles. Town after town, Subarus with car top boxes, Toyotas with kayaks, trucks pulling campers, you name it, all dead stopped. From Monroe all the way to Goldbar.
On the way up, it was misty and when we reached Stevens Pass, the sun was out again. It was a nice drive.
Made it to Leavensworth for a good German meal.
We got in around dusk to a national forest campground off of Icicle Road, just west of Leavensworth.
The following day, we drove the eastern part of Washington.
There sure is a lot of wheat in Washington!
