Majestic glacier-carved and glacier-fed Lake Quinault is surrounded by mossy old growth trees of the Quinault Rain Forest, one of only three temperate coniferous rain forests in the Western Hemisphere. The Lake Quinault area is home to some of the largest trees in the world. The Quinault Valley hosts the largest known western red cedar, …
Month: April 2024
We are finally n Washington! Most people don’t know where the Olympic Peninsula is so let me explain. The Olympic Peninsula is anchored by the majestic Olympic Mountains and bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the north and the Hood Canal to the east. It is …
Fort Stevens State Park has a really nice network of paved paths with a short section of trail. We camped in the park and took one morning to ride around and explore. This was more of a meandering ride that anyone could do. For thousands of years the Clatsop Indians lived here. In 1851 the …
Derek and I have visited Astoria several times back when we lived in Bend and it is always fun. This visit was no different. I craved fish and chips so first up was a stop at The Bowpicker. The Bowpicker is a converted gillnet boat that sits on dry land now in a little lot …
After leaving our spot at Cape Lookout we continued on 101 heading north to Warrenton where we are camping for a week to check out the area. Our first day was a trip north into Washington to tour Cape Disappointment. We stopped first in Cannon Beach to see Haystack Rock. First some quick facts. Cape …
Tillamook Cheese In 1984 renowned Canadian cheesemaker Peter McIntosh brought his cheddar cheese-making expertise to Tillamook County, where he taught the locals all he knew, earning the nickname “Cheese King of the Coast.” In 1909 several small creameries joined forces to ensure all cheese made in the Tillamook Valley would be the same high quality. Each …
Tillamook State Forest trails are probably closer to the Forest Grove part of Portland than the actual town of Tillamook but we made the drive to check them out. The Tillamook State Forest is a 364,000-acre publicly owned forest managed by the Oregon Department of Forestry. The area was extensively burned in a series of forest fires between 1933 and …
Cape Lookout Trail is a 5 mile roundtrip trek out to the tip of the cape. We are camping for a week at Cape Lookout Campground near Tillamook and did this hike one morning. The trail from the campground heading north up to the start of the Cape Trail is closed so we drove the …
As I mentioned before, there are so many features along the Oregon coast besides just sand and waves. One day we headed south from camp to check out a couple more coastal formations and we hiked up Cape Perpetua for a stellar view. Devil’s Churn This deep chasm exposes the shoreline’s volcanic history and shows …
The coast of Oregon has never been known for it’s mountain biking but there is some. Newport Trail Stewards, AKA NEWTS have been busy. We rode the Big Creek Trails one cool morning. The trails are located on city land, with the bike club building and maintaining the trails. The trails crisscross coastal forest habitat, …