travel Archives - Page 9 of 13 - ETB Travel Photography

Day 271 – Olympic Loop (Part 2)

Day 271 of a Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

Mount Walker

We started out the day taking a four mile dirt road up to the Mount Walker Viewpoint. There is both a north and south viewpoint. On a clear day, the Seattle area, Mount Rainier (the highest peak in Washington), Hood Canal with one of the longest floating bridges in the world over tidal waters, Mount Baker, and several other peaks in the Olympic Mountains are part of the scenic panorama. Today, however, fog was the only view. Mount Walker is home to a handful of caches though, so we picked up a few before bouncing back down to Highway 101.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

Day 269 – Olympic Loop

Day 269 of a Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

Well, my first day on the Olympic Loop Tour was a memorable one, though not in a very good way. VANilla carted us several miles down a gravel road to the Staircase Rapids Nature Trail, a four mile path that follows a cascading Skokomish River. It turns out, the hike was in the Olympic National Park, where dogs are not allowed on the trails, and this morning I really wanted to include Petey on a walk. Therefore, we turned around and stopped at Lake Cushman State Park for a trek to the summit of Mount Rose.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

Day 268 – Magnificent Mount Rainier (Part 2)

Day 268 of a Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

I’m sitting here writing my post on Sunday, September 11. I generally write them the day of or the day after despite it sometimes takes even longer to get them posted to the Internet. My regular readers have probably noticed that I always write the post as if I am writing it the “day of”. Today, I have to say that I just noticed I
mistakenly deleted all of yesterday’s photos this morning off my SD card. The card was full and for some reason as I started my hike this morning, I thought I downloaded yesterday’s photos. This event capped off a remarkably crappy September 11 which I will post tomorrow.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

Day 267 – Magnificent Mount Rainier

Day 267 of a Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

Mount Rainier

I think we drove close to seventy miles through farmland and along the Naches River which runs through the trail laced Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest before we climbed over Chinook Pass and rounded the bend for a magnificent view of Mount Rainier. The ice-capped Mount Rainier, a dormant volcano, stands at 14,411 feet and towers over everything around it; lakes, evergreens, meadows of wildflowers, and additional peaks.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

Day 266 – North Cascades Loop

Day 266 of a Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

After tooling around the Town of Winthrop, which looked like it had been preserved since the late 1800s, though the old-fashioned facades were erected in 1972, we turned south to Cashmere to complete a loop drive.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

Day 265 – North Cascades Loop (Part 4)

Day 265 of a Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

Gorge Powerhouse

Our first stop of the morning was at the Gorge Powerhouse which was a pleasant surprise. The powerhouse was originally completed in 1924 and expanded in 1949. The first surges of electric power sent to Seattle via the Skagit Hydroproject were from this powerhouse.

With four turbines which require a dam and the river being diverted through a tunnel to generate enough pressure to operate them, the powerhouse provides enough electricity for over one million 100-watt light bulbs. The 1960 dam, 300 feet high and 670 feet long, replaced a 1923 rock-filled timber crib dam and a 1950 masonry dam.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

Day 264 – North Cascades Loop (Part 3)

Day 264 of a Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

I missed my turn back to the campground last night and forgot to mention the yard art I found. This house was complete with a tiger, bald eagle, moose and a zebra just to name a few. There were so many, I can’t recall them all and they were big! Anyway, that was my evening entertainment before I turned in.

Gun Battery in Fort Ebey State Park

This morning I went on the greatest walk with Petey in tow. We followed a ridge trail through Fort Ebey’s forested hills and looked out on the water with a mountainous background as ships sailed by. Along the way to Partridge Point Beach, we stopped to explore the gun battery constructed in 1942.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

Day 263 – North Cascades Loop (Part 2)

Day 263 of a Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

Well, I felt like I had an extremely busy day to write about, but now that I have skimmed through the pictures I didn’t go many places. It must have been the holiday traffic and the wait for the ferry that took up a few hours of my afternoon.

Wallace Falls State Park

This morning I took about a 4.5 mile hike in Wallace Falls State Park. It was cool out and VANilla had a shady parking spot, so Petey got to wait for me. I normally take him on dog friendly trails, but I’ve been subject to dragging him midway through the second mile. Thank goodness I left him to rest, the trail had quite a bit of elevation change.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

Day 262 – North Cascades Loop

Day 262 of a Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

Petey and I went on the neatest hike this morning. It was so unsual, interesting and scenic. To get to the trailhead near Stevens Pass, VANilla took us through valleys of fruit orchards, followed alongside the Wenatchee River, and climbed a 4,000 foot pass before turning onto a gravel road which took us four miles to a parking area at the old town site of Wellington.

The trail runs along the old Great Northern Railway passage still marked with mile post numbers representing the distance from St. Paul, Minnesota. We walked about 1.5 miles to mile marker 1712 where we found a cache to complete finding a cache in each of the lower 48 states. Along the way we walked through a concrete snowshed that stretched nearly 2,000 feet and was somewhat eerie.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

Day 259 – In Flathead Indian Country -Part 2

Day 259 of a Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

Petey and I pulled into a campground at Seely Lake late last night and spent part of the morning chatting with the campground hosts who were from Huntsville, Texas. They were staying through the Labor Day holiday weekend and then touring around the northwest before heading back to the hot south for the winter.

After catching up with my fellow Texans, Petey and I began our next scenic drive through Flathead National Forest along Route 83. We headed north on the Seeley Swan Scenic Drive to Holland Lake. Holland Lake covers 400 acres and includes several trails, a 41-site campground, and a day use area. The recreational area provides visitors a plethora of activities from hiking to waterskiing.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!