September 2001
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September 2001
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!!!Technical Malfunction!!!! We don't know what happened to our photos taken during this time period. All the photos taken somehow got corrupted and we couldn't download it to our computer. So there won't be any pix (we might scan some in later) of this time frame. SORRY!!!!! 09/01/01: Glacier NP continued. Today we woke up to the smell of wood burning, however, the sky seemed a little clearer. We drove to Many Glacier area of the park next. We arrived at the campground all fresh from a token operated shower the night before. I look forward to going to Japan with their group bathing. Right before we went to shower, a truck load of Asians, 3 women and 3 men, jumped ahead of us to shower. I don't know about the men, but it was funny hearing all 3 older Asian women shower in one small stall with one token worth 8 minutes of showering together. And the water was only luke-warm for them. I, finally, after a 20 minute wait took a shower. At first the water was luke-warm, then it turned FREEZING. Great, just my luck, no more warm water. Well, shortly after, it turned HOT! Awesome, I was the only person that got hot water out of the last 5 people showering. 8 minutes was long enough for Glenn and I to scrub all the dust off, soak in the hot water, and wash some of our clothes. Yes, we are reduced to washing our clothes in showers!!! How European. After reserving our campsite, which was tucked away in the woods right next to the mountain, we went on the REDROCK Falls hiking trip. We were pre-warned by some SPOKANESE college boys the day before that Many Glacier has lots of bears. Great! That's the only animal besides elk that we haven't seen. So off we went on a beautiful hike, surrounded by Birch? Aspen? Beech? trees. We are not ECOLOGISTS, we don't know the difference. It was 7 years ago that Glenn and I took the ECO class at UIC. So after dropping the CANON, and thinking that it was a goner thank god it was saved by the lens filter, we headed into the woods. It was a nice hike that would take us 3 miles round trip. Nice work out. The trail was different than the others. More "new growth" trees and bushes were in this area replacing the centuries old cedars. We continuously smelled smoke and saw the sky all, for lack of a better term, smokey. As we were walking, a snake, a big one, like, like the Sear's Tower, attacked me, yeah, yeah, attacked me!! Glenn claims it was a harmless teeny garder(?) snake. Anyhooo, it was damn big to me. I hate snakes. I should have known our day was gonna get better. We got to Falls, and true to its name, it was red rock with multi-layered falls. It was screaming for me to climb it. So I did. Since the digital didn't pan out, we'll try to catch a Kinko's and scan in some of the photos. I know what you're thinking..." is this where Monika falls off and breaks something." Well, no, Glenn was the only one that almost got blown off the top of the Falls b/c of the wind. So we headed back to camp. Glenn was in front, and I was trailing behind, trying not to trip (and secretly looking for snakes.) I happened to look up for some reason, call it sixth sense, when I saw a HUGE, and I'm not kidding', BLACK BEAR only 10 FEET away. Just sitting there watching us as he munched away. I guess b/c it is close to hibernation season the bears almost eat 24 hours a day. They just wanna EAT! So I made a noise, no screaming b/c bears don't like it when people scream, at this point Glenn noticed him. We came to a dead stop, and proceeded to walk backwards slowly trying not to antagonize it. There was another couple behind us a ways who stopped also. The bear smelled them, and stood up on its back legs and we thought "This is it, he's either gonna charge us or he's gonna bluff us out." But he just sat right down and continued eating. At this point in time Glenn already had one hand on his camera and the other on the bear pepper spray. A whole group of us just sat there watching him eat for about 20 minutes or so, and then we left with almost a whole roll of film shot on him. We got it with the digital,too. But, well you know the story. We were so excited, but we had to warn the rangers b/c of how close the bear really was. It posed a threat. People with little babies were walking right into him. We then went to the campsite, and we decided we needed a bear, I mean BEER. So we went to the Many Glacier Store and got us some FAT TIRE beer (Jen we found Fat Tire on tap!!) It was damn good. We met some other folks just staring up into the mountains. Since we had nothing better to do, we stared with them. Actually we were looking for Grizzly bears. The couple we met are Steve and Amy from Minnesota, Ahhhh Ya Hey D'ere Guys! We had fun talking to the regulars about the bears. Unfortunately, b/c of the smoke, we think the bears all went to other areas. So sad. The conversation was real good though between the bear watching, the temporary rain drizzles, and the passing people who stopped and asked what we were looking at. Finally, when we all needed lights to see each other; we all headed back to our camp sites to bed in for the night. Two Medicine area was next on the agenda. 09/02/01; Mile 2200: Glacier NP-Two Medicine Campground The drive to Two Medicine campground was fairly uneventful. It's located near south-east corner of Glacier NP. We drove through the valleys and through the Blackfeet Indian reservation; and had to occasionally dodge the random herds of free range cattle walking on or near the twisty road. Too bad the Scoob was loaded down and a bit top heavy from the cargo box; it would have been tons of fun hitting the twisters though the valleys!!!! The time here was mainly a recoup trip. We picked up some local soda and while I slept, Monika read her book. Like I said, pretty non-event full. We needed to rest up for the 10 hour drive to Seattle the next morning. Besides, our route going west on Hwy 2 may have been closed to due the Moose Wildfires which at that point had burned more than 40,000 acres, plus smaller fires were burning out west of Glacier too. 09/03/01; Mile 2650 Seattle, Washington With smoke in our eyes and lungs, we made it through Hwy 2 and the wildfires. There was a lot of low hanging smoke through the valleys and we actually passed by a temporary camp that was housing the firefighters; plus we saw a helicopter (Tomahawk?) rigged for water drops. The trip through eastern Washington was, well, a road trip through eastern Washington. We we looking forward to getting to Seattle and a hotel with real beds and running hot water. Things were picking up as we headed towards the Snoqualmie pass. We were making our way through the Cascade Mts. where low hanging clouds were just covered the peaks. We were actually able to see Mt. Rainier before we entered the pass; and we knew there wasn't too much more to go. C'mon, we've been driving for almost 9 hours already. Labor Day traffic was not too bad; and we finally entered Bellevue, drove through Mercer Island; and entered the outskirts of Seattle. We at this point we had no clue as to where to stay, so we kept driving into downtown; and driving until low and behold - the Seattle Needle was just ahead of us. It was about 8:30pm and we were tired, so we pulled up to a gas station to find a phonebook. There was a music fest going on but the name escapes us right now (now we remember...It's called the BUMPER SHOOT). A tired and hasty effort was made to find a place to stay. We decided on going back to Bellevue (east of Mercer Island) since it appeared that there we had a good chance of finding cheap lodging, er...wrong!! After asking around in Bellevue for room prices (over $90), we decided for that kind of money we would stay in downtown Seattle. No worrying about parking while we scoped out downtown. So, back through Bellevue, past Mercer Island, and into an "interesting" gas station. Monika went to find the number of a place - the Seattle Inn; which turned out to be 3 blocks from the Needle. The place was cheaper than in Bellevue but the phrase "expensive for a dive" comes into mind. Hey, it had hot running water, free continental breakfast, a bed, and in downtown Seattle. We were happy; so once in our room we ordered pizza and pop, and watched "Where Eagles Dare" with Clint Eastwood with drunk Seattlelites yelling in the background " Rock on Seattle!!". Fed and tired, we set in for a good night's rest. We had a Seattle to explore the next day!! 09/04/01: Seattle, WA After breakfast, we walked over the Seattle Needle; it was just over 3-4 blocks or so. We bought tickets to ride up to the Needle ($11/person) and Monika was not too thrilled about the ride up in the elevators. Glass windows covered about a half of the elevator so you could see out as the elevator rode on the outer side of the support for several seconds. This did not please Monika, even more so on the way down. At the observation deck were beautiful views of Seattle, Washington, and you could even make out parts of the Cascade Mts. It was a bit hazy that morning and it was tough to see Mt. Rainier. Finally back on the ground (Monika was REAL happy about that!!), we took the Monorail from the Needle into the heart of downtown. Interestingly enough, it took us the main shopping area of Seattle. A one-way ticket on the Monorail was $1.25/person and the ride takes less than 5 minutes; you only go about 2 miles or so. We had bought one-way tickets and figured we'd walk back to our hotel. We were hungry so we fetched some Thai food in the mall we were in. We did a little shopping and exploring of downtown. Monika got her hair cut at Gene Juarez; equivalent, Muk say better, to Mario Tricocci's in Chicago. As we walked back to our hotel; we went through Pike's Place Market. It a public market located on the waterfront where one can get everything from fresh flowers, fresh fruits, boomerangs, and handmade crafts. Once back at our hotel, we decided to go out to dinner since this was our last night in Seattle. We had read about a place that was the favorite 24-hour place for food by the locals - 13 Coins. It was only a 15 minute walk from our hotel; for about 13 of those minutes going to it was a steep uphill. Once we found the place, it's next to a Seattle newspaper building (I forget the name, sorry); we walked through the door into a beautiful wooden accented area with dim lighting. The booths were 3-walled with the wall going about 10 feet towards the ceiling. The coolest thing was that the walls were padded in deep rich black leather. The leather padding combined with the lighting and the look of the booths gave a bondage-esque atmosphere to the place. Hmmmm......reminds me of the first Sundays of the month at Dome Room; but I digress. Back to dinner; we had their Calamari Steak which consisted of a lightly breaded pounded flat squid mantle which was fried in butter. Yes, it was actually very, very good. Unfortunately, we never found out why the place was called 13 Coins; but there were 13 coins embedded in every table. With our tummies full we headed back to our room down via the "black diamond" hill and prepared for our departure to Tacoma the next day. 09/05/01: Mile 2674 - Tacoma, WA After having lunch at a brew pub near the University of Washington - Tacoma, we found a hotel in Fife, WA. This was pretty much a day to relax and catch up on the web site; we were about a week and a half behind. I got a REALLY short haircut at a local barber; and we planned our route and stays in Olympic National Park the next couple of days. 09/06/01: Mile 2781 - Olympic National Park
09/07/01: Olympic National Park, continued. The next day was spent exploring the hot springs and the area in general. There used to be a resort in the same area where the springs were located. About ten years ago, they closed the resort, pushed it into the hot spring pool; and covered everything in dirt, rocks, and trees. Yeah, my thoughts too - a landfill area. Surprisingly, if you didn't know any better; it was almost impossible to tell that any structures were there in the first place. Eventually though, the hot springs found their way through the mess and flowed to a nearby creek. People who hiked their way in saw the streams flowing from different areas; and created homemade pools to collect the hot spring water using the surrounding rocks and fallen timber. Some of these were nicely made and some had beautiful flowers surrounding them. These homemade pools dotted the trail and hillside; some were more secluded than others. Here are some pix of some, we had found a nice one about 15 feet above the trail on the hill and we spent some time there.
09/08/01: Mile 2941 - Road to the Pacific Northwest and Mt. Rainer We woke up and broke camp and went on Rt. 101 to continue
going west towards the Pacific Ocean and then south along the coastline.
We were bound for Mt Rainier. Here are some pix of us at the Pacific
Ocean. This was a sort of small accomplishment for us; some years ago we
had taken I-90 east to the Adirondack Mts. on the East Coast and now we have
traveled I-90 all the way west to the Pacific Ocean.
Mile 3090: Mt. Rainier
09/09/01: Exploring Mt. Rainier and the road to Mt. Saint Helens We started hiking in the Grove of the Patriarchs which consisted of an old-growth forest. Pine and cedar trees hear reach up to 300' tall and 1000 years old. The diameters of some of these trees were more than 10 feet and were just amazing. Here are some pix that show just how big these trees were:
We continued on to the Paradise area of Mt. Rainier. This was one of the closest areas to mountain and provided views of the Nisqually Glacier on Rainier itself. The road there provided some spectacular views. Take a gander:
We hiked around the Paradise area and saw a closer view of the Nisqually Glacier. On the way back to the car we came across a young fawn grazing just off the trail.
Mile 3237: Mt. Saint Helens National Monument I've first got interested in Mt. Saint Helens back in May 1980; yup, the eruption of a once dormant volcano that changed the lives of many. A friend of the family gave me a recent documentary on the volcano; and ever since then it was one of my personal goals to visit it. As we entered the monument (there were more roads with cliff drops on each side which Monika just loved); you were able to see Helens quite clearly. Even though I knew about the eruption and that the peak was more than 1000' lower after the blast; we were surprised at the view of it. The mountain looked liked someone/thing had torn off its peak with its irregular sharp edges. FYI, it costs $3/person for each center visitor center (3 total) and $3/vehicle for access to trail heads. You can get a pass for $6/person that gives you all area access all day but excludes the trail access. For $5/vehicle, your car gets all access to all trail heads all day. The pass is the best deal is you plan on spending the day visiting all the sites. We just wanted to check out the Johnston Visitor Center which is located 6 miles from the volcano. David Johnston was a geologist who was stationed 6 miles from the volcano and monitored the conditions of the mountain right up to the eruption. "Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it!" were the last words ever heard from him; sadly, his body was never found. Currently there is an inner cone created by lava about 900' high which we were able to see some light venting of steam and such. The visitor center has real-time seismographs that monitor the tremors at different locations. One monitors the heart of the inner cone; and it's a bit unnerving when you actually see small tremors occurring on the inner cone itself, and knowing that you're only 6 miles away. Here are some pix of the volcano and of the surrounding devastated areas that used to be lush forests. They resembled the brush lands of the Badlands since there were no trees higher than a couple yet as of today.
The visitor centers have many exhibits and a 20 minute film about the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens, but they also talk about the rebirth of the area after it. The area devastated by the eruption has become a living laboratory for scientists. Many thought it would be several decades before the area would recover, but were surprised that only after several years the land has began to heal. With that we hoped back onto I-5 and made our way to Portland, Oregon. From Helens it was only a 2.5 hour drive and we stayed just north of the downtown area.
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