Jen Comes to Visit

Long time no see, how's it goin'? After finishing up my job on the Olympic Peninsula and driving across the country back to the homey east coast I'm ready to deploy my next set of pictures. These are all from two trips Jen took to come see me. The first batch (from the second trip) are of Victoria, Canada on Vancouver island in British Columbia. Following a brief spot of trouble getting through customs (the guy thought I had pot in my bag for goodness sakes), we enjoyed a day and a night of northern hospitality.

This was our hotel, the Laurel Point Inn.

The Parliament building was gorgeous... Victoria is apparently the capital of the British Columbia province.

So the rest of these are from the first trip when Jen and I gallivanted around Seattle and explored the wilderness coast of Washington at Ozette.

They sell all sorts of pretty flowers at the markets.

Outside the first Starbucks.

The famous fish throwing joint.

The infamous gum wall.

Lots of creativity is needed to get the gum up on the higher levels.

The Seattle public library (Central edition) is really spectacular... Google it and see.

Mt. Rainier.

From the Space Needle.

Lake Washington...

...is a bumpin' spot in the Summer time.

So that will be it for my Washington state pictures... it was a blast while it lasted, but I had to come home eventually. Anyway, the rain is the real deal.

Cheers!

Bogachiel Spike #3

Becoming to far for the mules to schlep in from the side we've been coming in on the whole summer (20 miles or so at this point), this time around we came from the other side, where we only have to hike about 5 miles to our campsite. The difference now is that we're camping in the forest rather than on a gravel bar, in part because the elevation is much higher and the river is gorged.

Camp life doesn't change a whole lot, though the bugs are a tad bit more annoying. But, when I have my fantasy football magazine and a hoodie, even horse flies and mosquitoes couldn't bother me. Hiking in we also get spectacular views of Mt. Olympus, as you can see above.

What's also nice about the higher elevation is that the berries are darn tasty... red huckleberries, blue huckleberries, mountain blueberries, salmon berries... all superb.

It's well worth it to hold off eating and stick to picking for about five minutes, because then you get a handful like this that you can stuff your face with...

Bacon, mmmmm...

This is the shelter at 21-mile (that's the name of the campsite) that was destroyed recently... too bad we won't have enough time left this year to rebuild it.

So because we are so efficient at our work we got a "scouting day", during which we can go whichever way we choose to search for "work"... or some good views...

I chose to head off by myself for a 20 mile round trip to Bogachiel Peak, a celebrated knoll that's situated super close to Olympus. Reaching 5474 feet, its a haul to summit, but the sights are well worth it. From the top you can see the Bailey mountain range, Olympus, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the Pacific Ocean, and the 7 Lakes Basin at its feet.

That's the Hoh River down there... one watershed over from the Bogachiel River watershed, where we're workin'.

All told I hiked 61 miles in 8 days... so I'm going to go lie down now.