Rolling Along With The Reynolds

Jim and Cindy's Adventure Blog traveling all over the USA

Tag: sand

Sleeping Bear Dunes

SLEEPING BEAR DUNES NATIONAL LAKESHORE. Epic!
* Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive was a gorgeous ride through the forest. It’s a pretty one lane one-way 9 mile road. 🌲🐿️
* We conquered the Dune Climb; a 1.5 mile strenuous hike in desert-like conditions to Lake Michigan.
          At another dune spot, they give stern warnings not to go down if you don’t think you can get back up. A call for recue is going to cost some big bucks. Didn’t stop several groups from doing it though! (took ’em about 2 hours to get back up).
* Picnicked out on the Good Harbor Bay Beach. 🧺

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Sleeping Bear Dunes pics (Album 2023-17)

 

So much to do, so little time.

 

Note: Two photo albums in this post!

We’re on the bottom loop of Hwy 101 in Hoquiam/Aberdeen Washington. It’s bittersweet, knowing that this stop is the last one for us on this trip in the beautiful state of Washington. Since we arrived on Friday, and Caleb only 2 hours away, we met halfway in Olympia for a yummy Mediterranean dinner with he and a few more friends. Caleb then spent Saturday and Sunday with us, yay!

 

* At the Campground, we hiked a cool trail along the Hoquiam River and discovered an old railroad track used to transport harvested timber from boats (pic above).

* Revisited the Quinault Rainforest, this time with Caleb (and hiked a few new trails). Of interest is the Lake Quinault Lodge. Built in 1894, it’s seen a few more builds over the years (the lodge itself was rebuilt due to a fire). Back in the 1920’s, there was a dance pavilion on a barge. Imagine people dancing the Charleston, the jitterbug, the black bottom and others. The Lodge welcomes folks to come on in and take a self-guided tour of the place, and it’s nice that they had a brochure noting 13 different highlights about the place and it’s history.

* Caleb drive us over to Montesano Satsop Business Park for a surreal up close view of two nuclear reactors built in the 70’s but never completed construction.

* Visited the southern beaches on the coast (Ocean Shores, Copalis, and the planned ‘Truman Show’ feel of the Seabrook community. At Ocean Shores, the wide hard packed sand is much different than the rocky islands and log jammed beaches to the north, and you can drive your car directly out onto the sand (similar to Daytona Beach FL), which is exactly what we did! The weather at the time though was super misty/foggy, which gave the scene a surreal look to it.
Also popular recreation on the beach, in better weather, includes horseback riding on the sands, and kite-sailing.
* Aberdeen is the next town over from Hoquiam, but they are so close you can’t really tell when one stops and the other begins. It’s larger in population, so it was a nice change of pace to go into the “city” and enjoy a Mexican dinner. It’s also home to the late Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain (and the town makes sure you know this with its “Welcome to Aberdeen-Come As You Are” entrance sign on the bridge). We made sure to make a quick stop at the Kurt Cobain Memorial Park –  I found a painted rock there, that had a FB group invitation on the back of it: the R.S.W.K. (Rockin’ Spokane With Kindness) group; they paint inspirational quotes on them and drop ’em in cool places around the Pacific Northwest. I have the rock tucked away and am contemplating where I’ll eventually relocate it to (it may make all the way back to Florida). Fun!

Last stop in WA pics – Album #48

Quinault Rainforest; 2nd time with Caleb (album #47)

 

 

 

 

 

Beach Day!

     The Kalaloch area offers a sampler of the variety of coastal habitat protected in Olympic National Park, from sandy beaches to rocky headlands. Olympic National Park protects over 65 miles of coastline. This safe haven also extends beyond the water’s edge. The marine environment and offshore islands are protected in partnership with three national wildlife refuges and the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. The Sanctuary extends 20-50 miles offshore and 135 miles north to south!

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         The Kalaloch (pronounced “Clay-lock”), specifically Beach 4, offered an expansive sandy beach. Getting down to the water from Hwy 101 road was quite a hike, but certainly worth every huff and puff. At the end of the trail, you encounter a bridge to get you over the creek, but you must still climb over the rock formations (knotted ropes bolted into the rocks helped scaling the walls). 
        We intentionally timed our arrival to coincide with low tide. I took the GoPro down to the water with me, and shot some footage underwater – so cool to see little fish, sea stars, sea urchins and sea anemones. 

Beach Day pics (album 46)

 

        Warning signs are abundant, and rightly so; there’s lots down here that can put oneself in a fatal situation. “Beach Logs and Riptides Kill! Powerful waves can roll and tumble logs. Do not play on beach logs, especially when the tide is high. Riptides are also dangerous. Swim at your own risk“.  It didn’t hold several surfers back however. They came down the trail at the same time we did, assessed the waters and took off to dress into their wetsuits. They were already in the water before we finished our short hike down the beach to the tide pools. The dramatic surf was one to keep an eye on while out on the rocks/tidal pools. Strong undertows and currents were already forming as high tide was coming in to peak in six hours. It’s no joke to be cautious out there.

 

 

Beach Day pics (album 46)

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