To (Bumpass) Hell and back.

Checked out of the hotel in Redding and having decided my car was really dirty took it into the nearby car wash. I had noticed how clean most cars were and my nice bright red one stood out with all the dirt from the road on it; and it made my hands dirty when I closed the trunk! Anyway 10 minutes later I had a really shiny red car again (towel dried) and was on my way to Lassen Volcanic National Park. As the name suggests this showcases the volcanic geology and geography of the area. There is also lots of wildlife in the park. The squirrels seem to like playing chicken running across the road in front of the car; or maybe they have spoken to the chicken and know there is a good reason to cross the road?

Squirrel in a tree!

One particular trail leads into the fumaroles and hot springs known as Bumpass Hell. This was named after the unfortunate Mr. Kendall Bumpass who lost a leg after falling through the thin surface crust and into a boiling pool.

Bumpass Hell 

Today there are wooden walkways which provide a safe route into the basin. It is about a mile and a half hike to get there but the smells and sounds let you know you are getting close. This part of the park is about the highest area, over 8000 feet, and the air is noticeably thinner. There was a lot of low cloud on the way out keeping the temperature and visibility low.  The sights and smells (sulphur dioxide)  was impressive with sink holes pushing out steam at quite a rate and sounding like a nearby motorway.

Bumpass Hell Walkways

On the way back the clouds had cleared and there were spectacular views of the volcanic caldera formed 1000s of years ago when the main volcano blew its top. The most recent significant eruption in the park was in 1914, so not that long ago!
The drive back down was impressive with good views of the surrounding mountains and valleys.
To get to my accommodation for the night I had to drive “All the way to Reno” as R.E.M. would say. This was about 180 miles and another change in scenery from high mountains to semi arid, wide open spaces with isolated farms and very little else. The highway went straight across the wide open spaces and was a complete contrast to the winding roller coasters from yesterday. The sun was shining brightly and the flat plains and distant mountains of Nevada made quite a sight.

Nevada scenery

As I approached Reno there was a sudden hold up in traffic (as I suspect there is into every city at about 6 P.M. on a Sunday evening) but I was soon moving on the main route through the city and into the Comfort Inn, Reno.

What a difference a mountain makes.

Today I was going to see one of the main items on my to do list - The Redwood trees in the Redwood National park.

Had a good breakfast of porridge (called oatmeal here) with brown sugar and sultanas followed by an English muffin, orange juice and coffee. This was served in the Flying Gull restaurant where I had eaten last night – some of the same waitresses were working again.

About ten minutes along the road I had to stop at a checkpoint. This was the state line into California where I was asked how much fruit and vegetables I was carrying (not even a banana today), given a map of California and was on my way again. Filled up at a pre-pay petrol station (once the attendant had told it was pre-pay!)

On the road and heading along the coast, there was lots of similar scenery but you cannot be bored with such interesting topography. This would be a great place for a school geography trip! The visitor centre I had picked out was inaccessible as the access road was closed so I went on to the smaller Elk camping site visitor centre and took a short hike from there.

Redwoods

It is only when you walk among these trees that you really get a good sense of their size; photographs don’t do them justice. It is hard to estimate how tall they are but they just seem to go on forever. The forest (like the Hoh Rain forest) is very old so there a lots of fallen trees. One in particular did not seem a truly massive tree compared to those standing but I could barely reach the top of the fallen trunk when on tip toe. See picture below .

Taller than me

The trail I took lead back to the visitor centre after about 40 minutes so I took a final look around then headed off as there was still some 170 miles to go. Carried on down Highway 101, as I had been doing since Wednesday, but then had to turn inland onto Highway 299. This cuts right through, or rather over, the Cascade mountains and is a remote, winding, roller coaster of a road. It rises to 3000 feet at its highest. At about 3 P.M. the rain actually stopped for a while and the scenery was dramatically different as I was now in the valley of the Trinity river.

Trinity River

The final descent out of the mountains was even more fun as the bends and dips just kept coming at me. Then it was just a few more miles into my stop for the night at Redding. The Shasta mountains were dramatically in view in the distance (it was nice to have a distant view) and the temperature was really warm as I got out of the car. A very different climate to the one I had left at the coast.

Tomorrow, Nevada (briefly).

Does it always rain in Oregon?

Ever since I left Washington state and entered Oregon it seems to have been raining. I left the hotel in Florence ( my room didn’t have a great view other than trees) and made the short drive down to the old town. This is about the only original part of town that survived a massive fire in 1936. The area is dominated by craft and gift shops as well as plenty of places to eat. This is also where the fishing boats and private boats moor up. 

Fishing Boat at Florence

Florence’s other claim to fame is that it was the site where, in 1970,  the state highway division decided to get rid of a beached sperm whale by blowing it up, but it seems they used too much explosive as the explosion threw guts and chunks of dead whale over 800 ft away.

When looking up places in America you have to be careful to get the right place as there are many palces with the same name. It is worth checking you have typed the correct place into the GPS before heading off in to the unknown. This is illustrated by a sign in Florence old town that gives distances to other places called Florence in the USA. They don't seem to worry about the one in Italy!

Florences in USA

After a short trip around the shops I got back onto Highway 101 and headed down the coast. There was plenty of dramatic scenery, albeit limited by the fog and mists. After a couple of hours I took a detour to the Cape Arago State Park which overlooks the ocean and has a large colony of seals on the small islands just off shore. I braved the rain and made the short walk to the viewing area where the seals could be seen and heard.

On the way back to the Highway the GPS took me along the 7 Devils road, a great rolling, twisting road with very little traffic on it. The rest of the journey to Brookings was a mixture of roads through forest or along the coast, all very dramatic.

Dramatic Coastline Scenery. 

The rock formations along the beaches are quite surreal at times, especially those that have pines trees growing on unfeasibly small spaces.

Once at Brookings checked into the motel (Brookings Inn Resort) then went for a meal next door in the Flying Gull restaurant. Having skipped lunch I went for their seafood platter which should keep me full for a while!
Tomorrow should see me enter California and the Redwood National Park.

Well the forecast was right.

The weather channel predicted rain in the morning a brightening later in the day with more rain in the evening – and that is pretty much what happened. The sea lions/seals were in good voice in the harbour but I couldn't get close for a decent photograph.

It was raining when I left Astoria and visibility was so poor it really wasn’t worth hanging about. Once on the road refuelled the car with the help of Phil (great name for a pump attendant! Phil/fill?) then headed down Highway 101 and got my first views of the Pacific Ocean. Rain eased at times but it was falling most of the time. Stopped off at Tillamook Air Museum after a couple of hours (yes another aeroplane museum) which is housed in a WWII airship hanger,so it was all under cover.

These hangers were built in response to the bombing of Pearl Harbour and the need to protect ships supplying Britain. There were 19 hangers in total dotted along the east and west coasts. The huge structures were made from wood, which was readily available from the Washington and Oregon forests, and avoided using metals that were needed for war time equipment and weapons. One of the bigger exhibits is one of the guppys built to ship the Saturn 5 rocket engines across the USA. The plane here carried the first space craft to leave the Solar System,  Pioneer 10, to Florida for it's launch.

Guppy that carried Pioneer 10.

A lot of the planes are privately owned and still fly on a regular basis. Planes include a Stearman trainer, Spanish built Messerschmitt ME109 (which used a RR Merlin engine!), Catalina, Corsair and many others. There was also a F14 Tomcat but this is not airworthy.  Had lunch here and then back on the road. The scenery was giving brief glimpses of what the coast has to offer but the weather remained lousy.

Had another stop at Yaquina Head light house but the wind here was pretty ferocious and any toupees would have been in serious trouble.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse.

A final quick stop at the impressive Devil’s churn, a narrow inlet gradually being made wider by the force of the Pacific waves, then on into Florence, Oregon.

Devil's Churn

The rain had eased off by now but a tiring journey of fog, heavy rain, sunshine and drizzle.

Heading South.

Time to leave Seattle and head south. A misty start to the day and the forecast is for some sun but showers later in the day. Left the hotel just after nine and headed for NorthWest Trek

“Northwest Trek Wildlife Park is a treasure for wildlife enthusiasts.
This 725-acre park has a little bit of everything: lakes, trails, meadows and plenty of animals. Northwest Trek is home to more than 200 North American animals.”


I am not a great fan of zoos or wildlife parks but his was a great chance to see some of the wild animals of the area so I thought I would give it a go. The drive down went through Seattle on Interstate 5 past the Space Needle, the skyscrapers and SeaTac International airport. There were reasonable views of Mount Rainier through the hazy sunshine and clouds.

Once at Northwest Trek, the next available tram ride (which gives a conducted tour of the big herbivores in the park) was 50 minutes away so I had a chance to go around the walking tour which looks in on enclosures with bears, cats and dogs, BIG cats and dogs.

Wolf

There were wolves, coyotes, lynx, cougar, bobcats as well as black and grizzly bears.  There are smaller enclosures with skunk, beaver, river otter, racoon and wolverine. The animals are very well cared for but seeing the cougars pacing round their enclosure waiting to be fed was a little sad to see.

Grizzly, snoozing

Badger (apparently!)

On the tram there were great views of bison, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, deer and elk. The tour lasted about an hour after which I had another look around the walking tour until it started to rain so had some lunch and set off on the road.

Big Horn sheep, female.

The rain fell and fell. It was mostly light but with occasional heavier bursts. One noticeable difference with the lorries (or rather trucks) in America is that they do not have spray suppressors on the wheels as we do in Europe consequently on the Interstate (motorway) and highway (trunk road) visibility is not great(!) when passing or being overtaken. Couple that with the fact that vehicles can overtake on both sides and it leads to exciting travelling in heavy rain. Fortunately, all went well and the last hour or so of the journey was on quieter roads so spray was less of a problem. The visibility away from the roads was still poor so what I expect was spectacular scenery was completely out of sight. If the weather continues like this the journey down the Oregon coast might be less than spectacular. The forecast is for bright spells and showers so it should be okay some of the time – fingers crossed!

So where am I tonight? Well a place called Astoria, Oregon on the mouth of the Columbia river. Unfortunately, it was pouring with rain and getting dark (at 6P.M.) when I arrived so I can’t comment further today other than to say it sounds like I’ll be serenaded to sleep by sea lions or seals as I can hear them calling not far from my window - you don’t get that in Seattle!

Boeing Tour

A foggy start to the day but as the Wells Fargo clerk told me, as I cashed a Travellers Cheque after breakfast, the fog is usually a good sign for better weather later. As planned, I drove up to the town of Everett (about 25 mins) to go on the Boeing plant tour. (http://www.futureofflight.org/) There was about 40 minutes to wait for the next tour so had time to look around the exhibits in the visitor centre. This had displays on the history of jet airliners and the principles of flight. To be fair to Boeing they gave plenty of space to the Airbus airliners and the developments they had made as well as featuring the Boeing line up.
The tour itself goes through the assembly lines for the 747, 777 and 787 planes. All going on in one building – the largest building in the world, by volume. As a result of the great access to the assembly lines there are no cameras, cell phones or electrical devices allowed on the tour. The guide gave lots of information about the plant and planes. He was proud of Boeing and finished with a recommendation to check which aircraft our future flight bookings use; “if it ain’t Boeing, I ain’t going”.
The development is quite striking as the assembly time for the new 787 will be three days, once fully up to speed, compared to over 5 weeks for a 747. This is mainly due to collaboration with partner companies that make parts of the 787 and fly them in on specially made cargo planes.
Had lunch at the visitor centre then on for a walk at Spencer Island Park, a nature reserve a little further North of Everett. Not much about during the afternoon apart from a couple of osprey’s and an eagle!
And the Wells Fargo clerk was right, the weather had picked up the afternoon was really warm and sunny.

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Fishy Business

Took advantage of the complementary breakfast, a DIY continental one with choice of cereals, toast, waffles, fruit and pastries – a welcome change from the usual offer of multiple egg omelettes or meals from the griddle!
I had done some homework on how to get to the downtown area of Seattle but confirmed my plans with the helpful clerk on the hotel front desk. Got the bus (358 Express) to Pike Place, which took about half an hour for a flat fee of $2.
Wandered around the Pike Place market and saw the great displays of fresh fish, fruit  and cut flowers for sale. Most of the other shops were selling craft items such as jewellery, cosmetics.
Took a quick break for coffee and then went to the Seattle Aquarium. A good display of the marine creatures from the North West Pacific. Everything from octopus to sea otter. Incidentally, most of the larger animals were either rescued and couldn’t be returned to the wild or were bred in captivity. Had lunch at the aquarium, fittingly, I had clam chowder which was served in a hollowed out loaf of bread.
Then onto to the Seattle centre, via Monorail, to go up the 605 foot Space Needle.

Space Needle

This, along with the monorail and other buildings, was put up for the World’s Fair in 1962. The weather was now perfect with warm sunny conditions. The outside observation deck was a pleasant place to be, if you didn’t mind the big drop off the edge. Thankfully, it was not too hairy up there and the views were fantastic.

Downtown Seattle

Once back at ground level I had a quick spin around the museum of Science fiction, which was next door, then took the bus back to the hotel. Loaded up with some snacks at K-Mart and then used the in-house washing facility to clear the back log of dirty laundry!