Sunday, November 6, 2016

Crater Lake


The last stop on our trip was to Crate lake N.P. They closed 3/4 of the road around the lake to cars and just let bikes on it. We road the 27 miles around the lake on a beautiful day.



A panoramic of Crater Lake


Sunrise on edge of the lake with Wizard Island in the background - a great end to the trip.


Oregon Coast

Part three of our west coast trip was the Oregon coast - our first day was a rainy one. This is Jolie on the beach at Newport

Our first day was a foggy hike on Cummins Ridge Trail - we saw these colorful Foxgloves along the trail.

On a walk to the top of Cape Perpetua, we saw this guy making his way across the trail ..... verrrrrrrry slowly

The view to the south from Cape Perpetua at sunrise

Sea anemone in a tide pool at Cape Perpetua

Jolie at one of the features along Cape Perpetua Coast

Jolie isn't laughing at me, just before I snapped this picture a sneaker wave had splashed our backs

After two weeks the first day that was warm enough to take our shoes off - China beach along the Boardman State Scenic Corridor. We had the beach all to ourselves.


Heceta Head lighthouse- a recently refurbished lighthouse

Heceta Head Lighthouse beach at sunset - the lighthouse is visible in upper right of picture

Sunset at Harris Beach state park - the light on the horizon is a fishing boat.


Another sunset at Harris Beach state park


A sunrise and rainbow at Harris Beach state park

A really big tree in Redwoods state/national park


Whidbey Island

After our Rainier backpack we drove up to Whidbey Island north of Seattle to visit Scott and Janice. This is a view of their sail boat from the deck of their house

A view Holly and Harbor in the town of Coupeville

View of beach at Ebey National Preserve - a great loop hike that goes along the bluff and then drops down to the beach

Jolie at Double Bluff Beach

On double bluff beach we saw this creature in a tide pool - we still don't know what it was, maybe an octopus? Anyone know?

Also on double bluff beach, we saw this anemone, but had never seen one sticking to a rock like this.

For three days there wasn't a breath of wind on Whidbey Island, fortunately on the last afternoon the wind picked up and we got to take a sail on the sailboat - a first for both of us.  Thanks Scott and Janice.

Mt Rainier backpack

Jolie and I spend the month of September in Oregon and Washington. The first part of our trip was a seven day backpack in Mt Rainer N.P. This is our first view of the mountain.

We started the trip at Sunrise - the first day of the trip was foggy and chilly, but the weather the rest of the trip was great. This is our first view of one of the glaciers (Winthrop) - yes that is a glacier it just has a lot of dirt and rocks on it.

Our kitchen near Mystic Lake, and Jolie keeping our utensils clean while she prepares our meal

At Mystic Lake we woke up before dawn to get up to the lake for sunrise shots - this turned out to be one of the best shots of the trip

Waterfall and moss along the Carbon Glacier valley

Our best view of the mountain was Eagles Cliff viewpoint on the west side of the park - we set up for sunset and had a great time watching the mountain change color as the sun disappeared

Spray falls is a spectacular waterfall

View of Mt Rainier with a lenticular cloud from Spray Park

Fall leaf colors made a great foreground for another shot of Rainier.

Jolie enjoying the sunshine over Winthrop Ck

Another view of Rainier from Mystic Lake

This was our last view of Rainier as we headed out on the last day

Ready for a shower, beer and pizza after 7 days of being too cold for bathing and freeze dried meals.

Glacier trip

In August Jolie and I went to Glacier N.P. for a few hikes. This is Lincoln Lake with Beaver Chief Falls

On the second day we hiked along west side of Lake McDonald - a bit windy that day (notice white caps), but the lake was beautiful color