Just Like That, Only Different

La Push is the furthest northwest we were going to stay, so Sunday we made a day trip to the furthest northwest location in the lower 48 - Cape Flattery and Neah Bay, WA. 

Most of the roads in the area run through the Olympic National Park/Forest so the default is OMG-beautiful everywhere you go. Trees, rivers, meadows, ocean, wildflowers, history, lakes - all of it is everywhere up here. And it is always different.

Another beautiful drive

So the drive to Neah Bay is all that. Just like what we've seen, and like nothing we've ever seen before.  All of Neah Bay is Reservation land. I'm not sure how that works inside the national park, I should probably look it up.

Unlike La Push though is the requirement for a recreation pass to be there. Signs tell you they are available everywhere. Until you drive all the way out to Cape Flattery and there's no place to get one, and you need one to park and take the trail to the cape, and you really don't want to come back and find your vehicle gone (not likely, but possible) so you call it "close enough" and turn around and drive back. And pay for a pass at the local eatery.

Neah Bay has an interesting mix of campgrounds including a big field along the beach where mostly tents and a couple smaller trailers are planted where they landed, with extension cords running across campsites and roads connecting to a couple power poles. Mostly young families and younger singles - it looked like they were all having fun. Nearby is a 10-FHU-site park with small cabins, also very close to the beach.  In town are two small parks with FHUs on grass fields.

The good size harbor on the Strait of San Juan de Fuca is "just around the corner" from the Pacific Ocean. It was hard for me to make sense of which water was which!

Neah Bay where the Pacific meets the Strait

Neah Bay Harbor

We've seen other areas of the Strait. This is a very different place. Rocks of different shapes and colors and sizes along the mud flats of low tide, under an umbrella of light fog, gave this "beach" a very other-world feeling. And then we heard it.

The blow of a whale spout! Bill saw it's back first so we knew where to watch. I was pretty sure I couldn't catch it with the camera, and didn't want to miss it, so I just stared. There! Another blow and the shiny black skin just whisking the surface next to the rocks. Amazing. Powerful even in the brief glimpse.



Low fog obscured the Canadian coast

No running on this beach

Amazing rocks

And just beyond these - was the whale!

Seiku is east of Neah Bay and looks like a cute little marina town. We drove down to take a look.

What we found was the most bizarre assortment of boats and RVs. Everywhere. Boats in the water and on trailers. RVs in every spare spot, on every level of the terraced little town. RVs with boat trailers. I think there are three "official" RV parks and then there are "sites" along the water and in parking lots along the small main road. I've never seen anything like it (again).

Boats tucked in every where

RVs tucked in everywhere

RVs and boats on four "levels" of town



Back to Forks with the only consistent cell/internet coverage to check in with family and load a couple more books on the Kindle, then home for the night.

Monday morning was chilly and overcast as we headed for the Hoh Rain Forest. Yep, there's one of those here too!

Just 25 miles south on Hwy 101 (we've now covered all but 112 miles of it) we turned inland. And the sun came out bright and warm. Didn't feel very rain-foresty.

Sunny rain forest

The Hoh River is the only one not closed in the area, and we were happy to see a sign for public fishing. Happy to have the Jeep as well, finding our way to the river's edge over more of those gnarly rocks. River Rock. It really comes from rivers!

It's a river of milk. Milky water. It's weird, and very beautiful.

Glacier flour is filling the river due to the unusually warm temperatures, turning it a unique silvery, blue-gray. This place works really hard to make sure every day is unique.

Hoh Hoh Hoh

A couple and their two sons were tent camped with their boat and had caught a good size steelhead the night before, and soon after we arrived a guide and two customers launched a small boat, so we figured there must be fish here.

Bill saw a couple rising in the area, but neither he nor the boys in the boat pulled in anything. The rocks on the river bottom did manage to pull in a couple lures and sinkers though :-(

Again, we would have missed this beautiful spot if we weren't looking for fish so it wasn't a wasted effort. And a camera and a good book make any spot a good one to hang out.

Rockhound

Love having our America the Beautiful Pass. The VC at this end of the rain forest is very small with a couple of exhibits on the fungi and other flora. We read about the forest, but with a full parking lot, many people on the trails, and no dogs allowed, we returned to our auto-hike of the area.

Hoh Rain Forest

Just outside the park is a cute little stop called Hard Rain Cafe. In addition to the café and store are about 8 RV sites. On grass and not looking too level, some had FHUs and others just W/E. There were a couple tent-only sites. It's one of those places that never show up on a search engine, are very close to cool stuff to see, and that we'd definitely stay at if we knew about it. Make a note.

Sasquatch hangs out here after a day on the river. A fine endorsement.

Tessa and I spent some more time playing on the beach when we returned. We'll miss having it so close to home.

"Can't we stay forever?"

At the same time we are happy to be returning to the equally beautiful Lake Crescent area.  Life is definitely good on the road.