Coyote Chris
Site Supporter
(Note: The following is just something I do so I can remember trips and make improvements when I go again. I do not pretend to be literate, to spell or to not change tense....)
Link to all pics
http://s1217.photobucket.com/user/CoyoteChris303/library/One Lap of WA 2014?sort=3&page=1
Did you know Honda named bikes after aircraft? This was no accident. Mr. Honda was a pilot, after all....and WA is an aviation nation....it was time to see it again....but not the great air museums...it was time to see the sea....
One lap of WA 2014
So there I was, banging my head into the computer screen, watching the 10 day forecast for the Washington coast, instead of finishing painting the house and packing my NT for my annual pilgrimage to the Reno National Air Races?
Sunny and warm for five days. This doesn?t happen?rain forests don?t have forecasts like this?.. My friend John couldn?t make our annual trip to ?somewhere in August? as his wife was in Europe and he had to stay home and mind the dogs?.I had resigned to skip the August trip but this weather was too good to pass up?.I wouldn?t just run to Mt. St. Helens and home. I would do the peninsula, Olympic National Park, ride the Ferry from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island, and ride the north Cascades Hwy to the Carlton complex fire zone , hit the Grand Coulee dam visitor center, and home. 1132 miles in four days. Maybe a side trip to the San Juan Islands or do the ride up to Hurricane ridge. And if I was extra special lucky, a campsite on the ocean. Well, it beat house painting and summer was dying.
I loaded the C10, leaving the NT for Reno, and headed out on Monday. Spokane to Yakima and up SR 410 toward Mt. Rainier NP. How many times had I made this trip? How many times had I camped next the American River in the deep old growth forest and been lulled to sleep by its sound, or woken in the fall night by elk passing through the campground? I chose Lodge pole NF campground (see pic) and I woke to 45 degrees and sunny, or what would have been sunny if the sun could have made itself shine over the tall peaks all around.
It was time to test my new motorcycle coat liner. ?Undershirt, Cold Weather, 100% Polypropylene, DLA 100-90-C-0595, 8415-01-227-9551, Windgap knitwear, Inc. size X-large.? For 45 years I don?t think I have taken a tour without some piece of military surplus gear along. I have the matching bottoms but I felt they wouldn?t be needed today as the C-10 has a 1000 cc leg heater and I put on some light rain pants instead. I rode up to Chinook pass and Mt. Rainier NP, getting the fabulous view of Mt. Rainier (see pic) that everyone stops for , and headed down to Packwood and some breakfast. I found a small caf? (Cruisers Pizza) that served the biggest Omelet I have ever seen in my life?.kind of sad as I could only eat less than a quarter of it, so I took a pic of what remained of the carcass and headed down to Randle to pic up Forest Road 25 south to the Mt. St Helens east access road to Windy Ridge.
The 18 miles of FR 25 can best be described by someone else who doesn?t hate it so much. It is two lane with no safety strips through the deep old growth forest where little light comes through (see pic). It is mostly curves. Pavement conditions go from perfect asphalt to frost heaves to cracks and fissures and pot holes. And you cant see the damage in the shadows. After what seems like forever, I turn west on to 99 and head up the mountain to Windy Ridge. 99 is in much better shape, thankfully. You take your pics and watch the helicopters fly into the crater and they seem like toys. The ride up from the West side is in better shape, with more interpretive centers and you get to watch a movie at the center on top of Johnston Ridge.
I come back to Randle and head west on 12 toward the ocean. At Hoquiam, I pick up 101 and head north. Had I not wished to stay on the ocean that night, I would have camped on Lake Quinault, in one of the three old growth campgrounds which is where John and I stayed when we took this route in 2012. But I wanted to try camping by the sea. I knew that at Queets, 101 hugs the ocean and there are two National park service administered campgrounds, close together. 10 miles from the first one, as I approach the ocean, the fog rolls in. For someone who does not live by an ocean, it is curious how the weather can go from a warm sunny day to a cold damp one so quickly, but that is what happened. The first campground is called ?South Beach?, 50 ?sites?. It is ugly. (see pic) It is so ugly I just took a pic of it from google maps satellite view and put it on my Photobucket site for this trip. It is basically a parking lot full of RVs. There were five picnic tables left by the time I arrived?but of course they were the most undesirable sites?no more than gravel pads sandwiched in between RVs. Perhaps I would have toughed it out had the sites been nice and waited for the cold fog to move on, but I went to the second camp ground, Kalaloch (see pic) . This campground, also shown in my pics, is beautiful, with plenty of spaces in the trees with some privacy. But of course it is full. I must find a way to come back when I can get a site. The good news is that there is a sophisticated reservation system so that is the way to go. Next time.
The fallback plan was to ride the 18 mile drive into the Hoh rain forest and camp there, so that is what I did. It is getting late in the day now, so there aren?t many site available but I get one only a camper would want. There is one bathroom house for each of three loops of camp sites. Mine has a throne in the men?s room that is out of order. The next one is 300 yards away. I use the ladies room instead. I meet a guy who is camped alone across from me. He loves to talk about himself. He is my age, physically fit, and if he is to be believed, he is quite the guy. He is the anti-Chris in many ways. He gave up the wonderful world of work after doing a short stint for NOAA after college driving a 300 ft. ship about around Alaska and decided to live like the rich folk do?.not paying taxes, getting the real tax payers to fund their life style by forming a corporation and having it pay for their needs. His corp. buys residential and commercial real estate and rents it out, so he says. Well, it?s certainly doable but you have to have a lot of confidence in yourself to juggle all the loose ends?..he backpacks and kayaks and climbs mountains all over the world when he isn?t doing real estate. I remember the property guru Leona Helmsley saying, ?Only the little people pay taxes? right when she was caught for tax evasion. He drives a new Subaru Forester which his corporation loans him for free, so we talk about that.
The next morning dawns clear again and the 18 miles of rain forest go faster when I am fresh. I see an elk by the side of the road and carefully pass him but he is little interested in me (see pic). I dodge 2 baby elk, or what look like elk, and head to breakfast in Forks, the town where the ?Twilight? series was filmed. No vampires that I can see but a good caf? with a great meal of ?just right? size.
I decide to skip the Olympic National Park visitor center and Hurricane ridge because on my way to Port Angeles I have half a notion to take the ferry to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands and watch the boats. But I need to check the ferry schedule at Port Townsend to see if it is doable. I have taken this ferry ride before years ago when I went to a dog show with Barb on the left coast and it was a good way to spend a day. But as I waited in line for the ferry to Whidbey Island and studied the schedule, it was just cutting things too close and I could only have 30 minutes at Friday Harbor unless I wanted to get back to the mainland late or spend the night there. I decided to push my way to Deception Pass and off the Island and up US 20 to the Cascades Scenic highway. And stay at Goodell campground. There are about three bridges that scare the crap out of me on this trip that I remember. The Deception Pass bridge really isn?t that bad if the wind isn?t blowing and you don?t look down and you repeat the Lord?s Prayer over and over. (see google ?images? for Deception Pass) I include a pic in my collection of a semi blown on its side at a 45 degree angle by a 70 mph gust, resting on the guard rail. It really is a great place to see from the cockpit of an A6 Intruder (see pic).
There are more popular camp grounds than Goodell near Diablo Lake but this one usually has less noisy neighbors in the old growth forest. (see camp 3 pic). I spend a quiet evening not talking with anyone for a change and reading ?The Spirit of St. Louis? as the sun sets get earlier and earlier.
Morning is warm for some reason but then I remember I am still at low altitude compared with Rainy Pass where I am headed. I put on the turtle neck just in case but don?t need it. My hands are ungloved so I can stop and easily take pics. The C10?s fairing allows very little wind to hit the hands. (see pics of Park). It is a nice ride on a good road with hardly anyone traveling this early. I stop in Winthrop, a quaint little tourist town, where there is a great place for breakfast and when I come out, there is an older Canadian couple admiring my bike. The lady has an ancient little beagle like dog in a chest carrier. The poor thing is very tired and at 17 years old, she doesn?t look very well. I caress the dog?s head very gently. The lady and her man are both riders. He rides a Triumph and she rides a BMW F700 but it is unclear to me if they are on their bikes on this trip, with the dog and all. They are staying in town and not in bike clothes. They are very nice people but it is time to head for Coulee Dam and home.
A short ride from Twisp I run into the Carlton Complex fire zone. At a quarter of a million acres, it is the largest WA fire in recorded history and you just want to weep at the sight. I look in awe at all the homes the fire fighters managed to save in the middle of a once burning Hell. The three fires are now 100 percent contained and only a bit of mopping up is required till they can be monitored till the rains come. Eastern WA is kind of like the plains of Africa. We have a wet season and a dry season, but the lions are smaller. The rains will start in September if we are lucky.
A mudslide has taken out a lane of Hwy 20 so I follow a pilot car for a quarter mile to get around the slide area. The underside of the roadbed just liquefied and went down hill. It will be awhile before it is right again.
For some reason, I have never stopped at the Grand Coulee dam visitor?s center but it is growing warm and I kill a half hour in the air conditioning, looking at the exhibits before pressing on. The day is low 80s now and it is too hot for my riding coat as the C10 barely allows any air past its fairing. I stand up first on the pegs to see how warm the coat would be with its vents open and no fairing and with the wind blowing through the coat, I could easily have ridden with it on but the full fairing and the heat from the 1000 cc engine make the heavy coat too much so I remove it. After another hour of wheat country I am home again.
Notes: Spend more time on the Peninsula. And at Port Townsend and Port Angeles. Find a place on the ocean to stay. Don?t take FR 25 again for a long while. Maybe take the ferry to Vancouver or the San Juans. Move the Bluetooth headset speaker/mics closer to my ears. Load more tunes onto the cell phone. Order small inverter to charge the battery operated air bed pump.
Link to all pics
http://s1217.photobucket.com/user/CoyoteChris303/library/One Lap of WA 2014?sort=3&page=1
Did you know Honda named bikes after aircraft? This was no accident. Mr. Honda was a pilot, after all....and WA is an aviation nation....it was time to see it again....but not the great air museums...it was time to see the sea....
One lap of WA 2014
So there I was, banging my head into the computer screen, watching the 10 day forecast for the Washington coast, instead of finishing painting the house and packing my NT for my annual pilgrimage to the Reno National Air Races?
Sunny and warm for five days. This doesn?t happen?rain forests don?t have forecasts like this?.. My friend John couldn?t make our annual trip to ?somewhere in August? as his wife was in Europe and he had to stay home and mind the dogs?.I had resigned to skip the August trip but this weather was too good to pass up?.I wouldn?t just run to Mt. St. Helens and home. I would do the peninsula, Olympic National Park, ride the Ferry from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island, and ride the north Cascades Hwy to the Carlton complex fire zone , hit the Grand Coulee dam visitor center, and home. 1132 miles in four days. Maybe a side trip to the San Juan Islands or do the ride up to Hurricane ridge. And if I was extra special lucky, a campsite on the ocean. Well, it beat house painting and summer was dying.
I loaded the C10, leaving the NT for Reno, and headed out on Monday. Spokane to Yakima and up SR 410 toward Mt. Rainier NP. How many times had I made this trip? How many times had I camped next the American River in the deep old growth forest and been lulled to sleep by its sound, or woken in the fall night by elk passing through the campground? I chose Lodge pole NF campground (see pic) and I woke to 45 degrees and sunny, or what would have been sunny if the sun could have made itself shine over the tall peaks all around.
It was time to test my new motorcycle coat liner. ?Undershirt, Cold Weather, 100% Polypropylene, DLA 100-90-C-0595, 8415-01-227-9551, Windgap knitwear, Inc. size X-large.? For 45 years I don?t think I have taken a tour without some piece of military surplus gear along. I have the matching bottoms but I felt they wouldn?t be needed today as the C-10 has a 1000 cc leg heater and I put on some light rain pants instead. I rode up to Chinook pass and Mt. Rainier NP, getting the fabulous view of Mt. Rainier (see pic) that everyone stops for , and headed down to Packwood and some breakfast. I found a small caf? (Cruisers Pizza) that served the biggest Omelet I have ever seen in my life?.kind of sad as I could only eat less than a quarter of it, so I took a pic of what remained of the carcass and headed down to Randle to pic up Forest Road 25 south to the Mt. St Helens east access road to Windy Ridge.
The 18 miles of FR 25 can best be described by someone else who doesn?t hate it so much. It is two lane with no safety strips through the deep old growth forest where little light comes through (see pic). It is mostly curves. Pavement conditions go from perfect asphalt to frost heaves to cracks and fissures and pot holes. And you cant see the damage in the shadows. After what seems like forever, I turn west on to 99 and head up the mountain to Windy Ridge. 99 is in much better shape, thankfully. You take your pics and watch the helicopters fly into the crater and they seem like toys. The ride up from the West side is in better shape, with more interpretive centers and you get to watch a movie at the center on top of Johnston Ridge.
I come back to Randle and head west on 12 toward the ocean. At Hoquiam, I pick up 101 and head north. Had I not wished to stay on the ocean that night, I would have camped on Lake Quinault, in one of the three old growth campgrounds which is where John and I stayed when we took this route in 2012. But I wanted to try camping by the sea. I knew that at Queets, 101 hugs the ocean and there are two National park service administered campgrounds, close together. 10 miles from the first one, as I approach the ocean, the fog rolls in. For someone who does not live by an ocean, it is curious how the weather can go from a warm sunny day to a cold damp one so quickly, but that is what happened. The first campground is called ?South Beach?, 50 ?sites?. It is ugly. (see pic) It is so ugly I just took a pic of it from google maps satellite view and put it on my Photobucket site for this trip. It is basically a parking lot full of RVs. There were five picnic tables left by the time I arrived?but of course they were the most undesirable sites?no more than gravel pads sandwiched in between RVs. Perhaps I would have toughed it out had the sites been nice and waited for the cold fog to move on, but I went to the second camp ground, Kalaloch (see pic) . This campground, also shown in my pics, is beautiful, with plenty of spaces in the trees with some privacy. But of course it is full. I must find a way to come back when I can get a site. The good news is that there is a sophisticated reservation system so that is the way to go. Next time.
The fallback plan was to ride the 18 mile drive into the Hoh rain forest and camp there, so that is what I did. It is getting late in the day now, so there aren?t many site available but I get one only a camper would want. There is one bathroom house for each of three loops of camp sites. Mine has a throne in the men?s room that is out of order. The next one is 300 yards away. I use the ladies room instead. I meet a guy who is camped alone across from me. He loves to talk about himself. He is my age, physically fit, and if he is to be believed, he is quite the guy. He is the anti-Chris in many ways. He gave up the wonderful world of work after doing a short stint for NOAA after college driving a 300 ft. ship about around Alaska and decided to live like the rich folk do?.not paying taxes, getting the real tax payers to fund their life style by forming a corporation and having it pay for their needs. His corp. buys residential and commercial real estate and rents it out, so he says. Well, it?s certainly doable but you have to have a lot of confidence in yourself to juggle all the loose ends?..he backpacks and kayaks and climbs mountains all over the world when he isn?t doing real estate. I remember the property guru Leona Helmsley saying, ?Only the little people pay taxes? right when she was caught for tax evasion. He drives a new Subaru Forester which his corporation loans him for free, so we talk about that.
The next morning dawns clear again and the 18 miles of rain forest go faster when I am fresh. I see an elk by the side of the road and carefully pass him but he is little interested in me (see pic). I dodge 2 baby elk, or what look like elk, and head to breakfast in Forks, the town where the ?Twilight? series was filmed. No vampires that I can see but a good caf? with a great meal of ?just right? size.
I decide to skip the Olympic National Park visitor center and Hurricane ridge because on my way to Port Angeles I have half a notion to take the ferry to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands and watch the boats. But I need to check the ferry schedule at Port Townsend to see if it is doable. I have taken this ferry ride before years ago when I went to a dog show with Barb on the left coast and it was a good way to spend a day. But as I waited in line for the ferry to Whidbey Island and studied the schedule, it was just cutting things too close and I could only have 30 minutes at Friday Harbor unless I wanted to get back to the mainland late or spend the night there. I decided to push my way to Deception Pass and off the Island and up US 20 to the Cascades Scenic highway. And stay at Goodell campground. There are about three bridges that scare the crap out of me on this trip that I remember. The Deception Pass bridge really isn?t that bad if the wind isn?t blowing and you don?t look down and you repeat the Lord?s Prayer over and over. (see google ?images? for Deception Pass) I include a pic in my collection of a semi blown on its side at a 45 degree angle by a 70 mph gust, resting on the guard rail. It really is a great place to see from the cockpit of an A6 Intruder (see pic).
There are more popular camp grounds than Goodell near Diablo Lake but this one usually has less noisy neighbors in the old growth forest. (see camp 3 pic). I spend a quiet evening not talking with anyone for a change and reading ?The Spirit of St. Louis? as the sun sets get earlier and earlier.
Morning is warm for some reason but then I remember I am still at low altitude compared with Rainy Pass where I am headed. I put on the turtle neck just in case but don?t need it. My hands are ungloved so I can stop and easily take pics. The C10?s fairing allows very little wind to hit the hands. (see pics of Park). It is a nice ride on a good road with hardly anyone traveling this early. I stop in Winthrop, a quaint little tourist town, where there is a great place for breakfast and when I come out, there is an older Canadian couple admiring my bike. The lady has an ancient little beagle like dog in a chest carrier. The poor thing is very tired and at 17 years old, she doesn?t look very well. I caress the dog?s head very gently. The lady and her man are both riders. He rides a Triumph and she rides a BMW F700 but it is unclear to me if they are on their bikes on this trip, with the dog and all. They are staying in town and not in bike clothes. They are very nice people but it is time to head for Coulee Dam and home.
A short ride from Twisp I run into the Carlton Complex fire zone. At a quarter of a million acres, it is the largest WA fire in recorded history and you just want to weep at the sight. I look in awe at all the homes the fire fighters managed to save in the middle of a once burning Hell. The three fires are now 100 percent contained and only a bit of mopping up is required till they can be monitored till the rains come. Eastern WA is kind of like the plains of Africa. We have a wet season and a dry season, but the lions are smaller. The rains will start in September if we are lucky.
A mudslide has taken out a lane of Hwy 20 so I follow a pilot car for a quarter mile to get around the slide area. The underside of the roadbed just liquefied and went down hill. It will be awhile before it is right again.
For some reason, I have never stopped at the Grand Coulee dam visitor?s center but it is growing warm and I kill a half hour in the air conditioning, looking at the exhibits before pressing on. The day is low 80s now and it is too hot for my riding coat as the C10 barely allows any air past its fairing. I stand up first on the pegs to see how warm the coat would be with its vents open and no fairing and with the wind blowing through the coat, I could easily have ridden with it on but the full fairing and the heat from the 1000 cc engine make the heavy coat too much so I remove it. After another hour of wheat country I am home again.
Notes: Spend more time on the Peninsula. And at Port Townsend and Port Angeles. Find a place on the ocean to stay. Don?t take FR 25 again for a long while. Maybe take the ferry to Vancouver or the San Juans. Move the Bluetooth headset speaker/mics closer to my ears. Load more tunes onto the cell phone. Order small inverter to charge the battery operated air bed pump.
