Thanksgiving 2014: Crossing the Columbia

Crossing the Columbia

November 24, 2014

Soundtrack:

• The National -- Trouble Will Find Me
• Steve Martin & Edie Brickell -- Love Has Come for You

Lincoln City, OR to Kalaloch Lodge, WA on Highway 101 is an incredible stretch of road.  Some of it borders the ocean, but most of it is inland a bit.  It's two hundred fifty miles of rain forests, marsh, rivers and wetlands, with the biggest towns along the way being Astoria and Aberdeen, homes of The Goonies and Nirvana.

Garibaldi, OR

Tillamook Bay, OR

The little town of Wheeler sits on Nehalem Bay.  It looks like a good place to do some kayaking.  I'm making a note of it for my next trip up the coast.

Nehalem Bay, OR

Nehalem Bay, OR

Nehalem Bay, OR

Manzanita, OR

I stopped at Cannon Beach for a closer look at their Haystack Rock.  Pacific City also has a Haystack Rock.  After careful consideration I've decided Pacific City's Haystack Rock is the real one.  Cannon Beach is going to have to change the name of their big rock.  I propose Big-Assed Rock as the new name.  I'm sure they'll be getting right on that.

Cannon Beach, OR

Crossing the Columbia in Astoria is something I look forward to on the 101 drives.  That bridge is so iconic to me, and the mouth of the Columbia is extraordinarily wide at that point.  Granted, it's not as pretty the Golden Gate Bridge or the Newport Bridge (does that one have a name?), but it might be my favorite bridge on 101.  Well, you know, after the Golden Gate Bridge and the Newport Bridge (or whatever it's actually called).

Willapa National Wildlife Refuge, WA

I blew through the Oregon portion of the drive because I wanted to spend some time at Willapa National Wildlife Refuge in Washington.  Turns out, most of the refuge is only accessible by boat.  So much for that idea.  There's a nice little interpretive art trail next to the visitor's center.  It's a short walk on a curvy wooden platform through a little section of the reserve next to the parking lot.  It was nice, but I'd been hoping to see some wildlife.  No such luck, at least not without a boat.

Willapa National Wildlife Refuge, WA

I usually look for nice scenery to display on this blog, but there's a lot of clear-cutting along 101 in Washington that still goes on today.  Logging in general isn't what it used to be in Oregon, so I don't tend to see it there and I think clear-cutting is illegal now in California.  I'd sure like to see Washington enforce selective logging as the only option for the timber companies.  I'm sure it's not as cost effective as clear cutting, but the lower impact on the environment should be the primary consideration if you ask me.  Obviously, as an occasional tourist I don't have much of an investment in this issue.  I just hate seeing what clear cutting does to the land, which takes decades to recover.  Come on, Washington, how about it?

Clear cut forest along Highway 101, WA

I stopped to photograph some geese somewhere along the highway.  They suddenly took off all together, honking and flapping as only geese can do.  I thought I'd startled them, but then a bald eagle buzzed them and I was off the hook.  That eagle joined a couple of others and flew off into the hills.

Canada Goose -- Highway 101, WA

I reached Kalaloch before dark.  It was raining pretty hard but I was able to find a campground that was fairly well covered by trees, so I set up camp for the night.  It got dark quickly, so I made a fire, ate dinner and had a drink.  It was still a little early, but I was tired so I decided to call it a night.  I was just falling asleep when my wife called me.  She though I was drunk, but I told her I'd only had one drink (true) and was falling asleep.  She laughed and asked me if I knew what time it was.  It was 6:30.  It didn't matter, I went back to sleep after the call and didn't wake up until 8:00 the next morning.  Yeah, I guess I was tired.

Kalaloch Lodge, Olympic National Park, WA