We shot back down to Canon Beach (beautiful well kept town) to see the famous haystack rock and scour that beach (very RV unfriendly town).
Then it was North to Washington, where the atmosphere seemed to suddenly change to a little more depressed and industrial area. On 101 The houses and towns are not as well kept, there is a lot of logging, some old port towns, run down, aging brick buildings, paper mills, etc.. The beaches were skinnier, the roadsides were dirtier, and there was more and more obvious evidence of clear-cut logging.
For our one last visit to the coast, we stopped at Ruby Beach, just west of Olympic National Forest. It did not disappoint. an eerie mythical place with piles of driftwood like I have never seen before. It was the end of July and crowded, some people tent camped right on the beach (You have to walk down a trail to get there).
We made it up to Olympic National Park, and made camp in the Hoh “rain forest”; Beautiful mosses, and old growth tangled trees. A land where trees grow out of trees and moss and ferns replace grasses. The yellow sunlight sprinkles through the dense canopy of trees, and everything is green. I found it very difficult to capture the “mood” of this place on camera. The colors just don’t get captured correctly with digital.
A campsite visitor, who appeared to be a “regular”; more comfortable and relaxed than many of the human visitors to the campground.
The back doors of the van were wide open and Jennifer and I were doing something in the Van, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw what appeared to be a very large horse butt walking down the road..
I Started on a painting sitting beside the river near the van.. The finished painting, can be seen here:
https://www.scottspaintings.com/blog/2018/12/ho-rain-forest/
SUNDAY JULY 22nd
Sunday Morning I walked the Mosses trail with Jennifer, probably the most lush forest I have ever experienced in my life.
Then we headed over Sol Duc on the northern side of the Park, and got yet another “last available” spot in a national forest campground. In this case, it was a handicapped spot. Being friendly, and taking a minute to relate and get to know camp hosts (and ALL people actually) is very beneficial.
We Hiked the Sol Duc Falls trail, and came back and enjoyed the Public Hot Springs. I managed to lose Jennifer’s wedding ring, and two other sentimental pieces of jewelry that I was keeping in my pocket. I’m guessing they hooked on my car keys, and I flipped them out on the ground getting in and out of the Van. We checked the obvious lost and found places, and no one had turned them in..
