Seashore to Mountain Top

Aug 29, 30, 31

Monday along the Seashore

About half of our day’s drive up the Oregon Coast was through the Oregon Dunes National Recreational Area, over 50 miles of huge sand dunes, some reaching 500 feet and sprouting small forests.

Grandma likes to see light houses, and there are many on this coast.

At Cook’s Chasm, we watched the power of the ocean as it crashed into the rocky coast, filing basins and caves with foamy saltwater and causing a crevice to “spout” like a whale!

   

          We camped at Beverly Beach State Park, rated No. 1 in the state, and went south into Newport by car to find local flavor and the perfect sunset. The largest and most active port on the coast, it’s harbor is teaming with activity.

And we watched the sunset at Paquina Bay. 

Tues, Goodbye Pacific

 
 We have reached the turning point of our journey. From this point on, we will head eastward toward home. There are still things to see and places to visit, but we have seen the last of the Pacific Ocean for this trip.

Next stop is Mt St Helens.     

Once dubbed the “Mt Fujii of the US”, this once symmetrical mountain was devastated by a volcanic eruption on May 18, 1980.

The series of blasts included a landslide, an explusion of superheated steam and ash, and monstrous mudslides, all of which obliterated and change the landscape forever!  

Since then, many forests were replanted, largely by Weyerhauser, and natural regrowth is happening slowly.  

Since then eruption 30 years ago, scientists have been studying Mt St Helens carefully. Rapid growth of the lava dome within the crater, and a series of earthquakes, suggested a possible repeat eruption in 2004 which never happened. Instead, a second, larger lava dome started building beside the first. Another anomaly is the rapid growth of a glacier within the crater, while other mountains are losing their glaciers to “global warming.” So Mt St Helens can truly be called a volcano of fire and ice!

   

 Though the peaks of the crater are covered in clouds, you can see the front edge of the glacier and part of the lava domes in this picture.

Wed., Cloudy Peaks and Flea Markets

Mt Rainier , at 14,410 feet and capped with up to 25 glaciers, is the tallest peak in the lower 48 states. It is generally shrouded in clouds, and that was how we found it today.

At it’s base, the town of Packwood is known as the “Quartzite of the North” and when we arrived the town was filling with miles of vendors tents for the upcoming weekend’s giant flea market for outdoorsmen and junk collectors. Aside from the vendors, it’s a charming little town.

Major construction at White Pass slowed us down, and by the time we got out of sight of Mt Rainier, the weather cleared….just our luck! But near Clear Creek Falls, I got this incredible shot by scaling the rocky path….and returned to the RV feeling like I’d climbed a mountain!

Now we’re crossing the high desert on our way to Spokane for the weekend.