Oregon – Crater Lake

Crater Lake can close in October due to snow, but fortunately no snow yet! So off we went. We passed Seattle, Portland and Mt Rainier on the way to our campsite at a state park southwest of the lake.

We couldn’t have picked a better day to visit Crater Lake National Park – clear skies, reasonable temperatures, and the crowds weren’t too bad. We can’t imagine what it’s like in the summer.

We stopped in the visitor center for the movie & stamp, drove Rim Drive, stopped at most overlooks, hiked a few trails and had lots of opportunities to use the cellphone’s panorama feature.

Thousands of years ago a 12,000-foot volcano dominated the landscape. When it erupted the top blew off and the mountain caved in to its magma chamber below causing a deep caldera. The caldera filled with rain and snow run off to form the deepest lake in North America. No streams flow in our out.

We hiked up The Watchman which is only a 1.6-mile round trip, 420-foot elevation gain hike, but at 8013 feet above sea level it made Barbara a bit winded.

We took a trail to volcanic spires called The Pinnacles.

And Bill took two two-mile hikes: one climbing down to the lake shore at Cleetwood Cove (a 700-foot descent) and the other to Plaikni Falls.

The snow gets deep here. Look at 6' Bill near the snow plowing posts.

A good day. Now we are off to the coast.

Washington – Whidbey Island

Like in 2014, we first camped with our new trailer at Deception Pass State Park on Whidbey Island in Northwest Washington. Whidbey Island is connected to the mainland by a series of bridges, which Barbara checked out while Bill checked out the trailer.

Barbara revisited the Maiden of Deception Pass Totem Pole with different images on both sides.

front and back of totem pole

Then she explored the Rosario Head peninsula. A couple called to Barbara and said “Want to see some eagles?” “Yes!” So she climbed up to a small ledge next to their Labrador Retriever, Max, where she watched two eagles for a while. Here is one of them. Spotting special birds always reminds Barbara of her mom, a lover of birds.

Although we expected typical rainy weather, the skies were clear and the sunset beautiful.

mountains on the Olympic Peninsula on the horizon

(one of Barbara’s favorite places)

You might be able to make out a man in the picture below on the shore and his dog fetching a stick in the water. Barbara had a brief chat with him. He recently moved to Whidbey Island choosing it over San Juan Island (on the horizon). We have friends who’ve resided at both.

The best part about being on Whidbey Island was spending a little time with Judy (“Wise Wanderer”).  Judy told her daughter she was visiting with letterboxing friends from the East buying a trailer in British Columbia and her daughter asked “Didn’t I hear something like this before?” Judy said, “Yes. It’s the same couple.” And the daughter said, “Why do they need two trailers?” HaHa. Good question.

At any rate it was great to see Judy again and have a redo of four years ago:  letterboxing amidst the mossy forest of big trees, hosting our first dinner guest in our trailer, enjoying yummy pie for dessert (Thanks, Judy!), and sharing about faith and family. We are blessed to have Judy as our friend!

Washington – Escape-a-Roo 2

We settled into a campsite for a couple days giving ourselves a chance to adjust to our trailer. We moved in, checked the systems, and made some modifications.

Want a tour? Admittedly it looks pretty similar to what we had before. Here is the outside at its first campground.

We ordered a few different features than the last time. You notice the alloy wheels and darker upholstery, but it also has thermal windows, dual batteries, and 2 solar panels.

Here’s the kitchen.

Here is one of Bill’s modifications – a trash can and homemade mount salvaged from our old trailer then adjusted to fit the new trailer.

There are a number of little things that changed since the 2014 model year. Now a medicine chest in the bathroom is standard. Woohoo!

Bill checked everything. It was all good but the kitchen lights flickered when the water pump cycled, which would induce optical migraines for Barbara. Hmmm… Should we go back to Canada? Bill was able to contact the manufacturer, who gave Bill a way to rewire those lights on a different circuit. They also said they’ll change their wiring in the future. So we think the trailer is good to go.

Our mascot is back.

The PCT hikers we met a few days ago asked what we were going to name our new trailer. We are thinking about calling it Escape-a-Roo 2.

British Columbia – A New Trailer

We arrived in British Columbia a day early giving us a little buffer if we had a delay getting across the country and a day to rest and catch up while we still had good internet. The next day we went to Escape Trailer Industries.

We went over the trailer and then had our orientation, which was actually different than four years ago. Now rather than having the orientation in the trailer, they have a room in their building set up with all the systems.

While we were looking over the trailer, the owner came up to us and told us that he heard that someone bought our old trailer and was trying to repair it. Wow! (To see what happened to our trailer back in April click here.) We couldn’t believe it. It makes us smile to think the trailer may have a little more life in it.

In the meantime, they adjusted the hitch. Then to simplify customs, they drive the trailer to the US where we meet them in a parking lot just over the border.

Bill & Barbara with their new Escape 19

Then we settled in to the trailer at Deception Pass State Park in Oak Harbor, Washington north of Seattle.

Washington – That Dam Tour!

We stayed at a hotel on the eastern side of Washington and aimed to angle our way to a border crossing in the northwest. Our gps wanted to keep us on I-90 dipping south and then going through Seattle, which is what we did last time, but we decided to cut through the North Cascades.

This route also took us near the Grand Coulee Dam. Since we arrived just as the dam tour began we decided to take it. In retrospect that might not have been a “grand” idea…

Lake Roosevelt formed by the Grand Coulee Dam

The Grand Coulee Dam was a New Deal project meant to provide irrigation and power for Eastern Washington and is the highest capacity power station in the United States. Since 9/11, driving over the dam is prohibited. The post 9/11 tour doesn’t include the generators, only the pumps, but does go on the dam. The tour spent more time with a security video and elaborate screening than it spent in the pump room. Unfortunately our tour couldn’t go on the dam due to unexpected construction. Wish we knew that ahead. Perhaps the most interesting part of the tour was what a person on the tour pointed out - how they reconfigured the dam for the third powerhouse completed in 1974.

As we headed into the Cascade Mountains we picked up two hitchhiking backpackers. Come to find out this Ohio couple with trail names “Murphy’s Law” and “Scooby” had hiked the Pacific Crest Trail all the way from Mexico and are almost done with their trek. They had gone to town to resupply and needed to get back to the trail. They shared some of their story, like how they were camping in the snow.

Then we stopped at a couple of viewpoints in the North Cascades that we visited in 2014. We wish we had time to hike, but felt we needed to push on to Canada.

Pictures taken in 2014 and 2018 at the same spot, but different angle.

 

 

Washington Pass

After an easy border crossing, we arrived in Chilliwack, British Columbia at the end of the day.

Idaho – Coeur d’Alene

When we passed Coeur d’Alene on a previous trip, we were attracted to the area but had no time to explore. This time we planned to spend most of a day there. This charming city sits on the north shore of the 25-mile long Lake Coeur d’Alene in the panhandle of Idaho.

Mineral Ridge Recreation Trail

We started at Mineral Ridge Scenic Area and took the 2.8-mile loop trail. Barbara loves this type of trail – a gradual incline up switchbacks carved out of the side of the mountain. It saves on knees and erosion!

The trail zigzagged up to a shelter, followed the ridge with peek-a-boo views until arriving at an overlook of the lake and then zigzagged back down.

Bill took a spur trail to check out a tunnel made by prospectors.

Here’s the view from the overlook.

Tubbs Hill

After a picnic lunch, we headed to Tubbs Hill, a beautiful park in the city of Coeur d'Alene. It has a 2.2-mile loop trail circling a hill that juts out into the lake with views through the Ponderosa Pines and sounds of the waves hitting the rocks.

We came upon several California Quails on the trail that seemed to freeze in place. It’s cool to see a bird we don’t have in the east.

Just as we ended our hike we saw this sign.

Yikes!

Off to British Columbia tomorrow.

South Dakota & Montana – Long Drive & Short Stops

We delayed our start time on our longest driving day to go to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Visitor Center.

We visited there in 2014 and got to take a tour of the launch facility and see the missile silo, but the visitor center was under construction. So Barbara wanted to take a peek.

Dominoes-like slogan from launch facility door

We blew through the exhibit and saw their new video. Then we hit the road on our long drive. Prior to our trip we researched weather. We expected rain and cold, but were surprised to see a dusting of snow in western South Dakota.

 

The terrain in eastern Montana was a rolling brown landscape framed by an overcast sky. It's a big state without a lot of people. One of our church small group members said he wanted to go with us to Montana, and we want to assure him that there is enough room. :-)

Central Montana had more mountains, some snowcapped. The weather changed and the “big sky” showcased it all: ominous storm clouds, varying clouds, and sun. It was really a glorious sky. This picture doesn't quite capture it.

Later on we made a serendipitous stop at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. Custer's last stand was the last Indian victory in the Plains Indian wars. The park charges a fee, but we were able to use our National Park Volunteer Pass.

We saw the movie and monument. Wish we had more time, but had to hit the road.

Snow is forecast for tonight in the Rockies, so we're glad we're through.