Humes Ranch Hike

This was absolutely a perfect day in the Pacific Northwest with temperatures in the upper 60s, sunshine and bright blue skies.  We could not have asked for a better day for our hike upstream along the Elwha River.

We jumped in the car with Tony and Diana this morning and made our way up the narrow, single-lane gravel road all the way to the end.  We made one  stop along the way at Glines Canyon Dam.  Gene and I had seen it earlier in the week, but wanted to share this beautiful spot with our friends.  This dam, along with another one closer to the mouth of the river, is scheduled to be removed in 2011.  This major project being undertaken by the National Park Service is an effort to restore the entire Elwha River to the spawning salmon.

Goblins Gate, a slot canyon

By connecting the Geyser Trail and the Elwha River Trail we were able to create of loop for our easy to moderate 6.5 mile hike.  We started high above the river, then dropped down several hundred feet for a mile or so along the bank of the river, then back up to the Humes Ranch.  Mr Humes and his brother and a cousin came out from New York heading to Alaska during the gold rush.  They stopped here for the winter and never left.  The house has been restored by the park service and it is a popular place for a lunch break as we soon found out when we were inundated by several hikers also looking for a lunch spot.  After a refreshing break, we continued our gradual uphill climb back to the truck.

Humes Cabin

As luck would have it, we met a ranger who spent several minutes talking with us about the Humes’ brothers and shared pictures of the homestead as well as visitors to the area around the turn of the last century.  Apparently at that time, this was the main climbing route up Mount Olympus and Mr Humes  and others led hikers up the mountain.

Besides all this information, the ranger also gave us information on the best places to get Dungeness Crab and blackberry milkshakes.  It didn’t take us long to decided a blackberry shake would be just the ticket to round out our otherwise perfect day.

A llama pack just returning from a trip

We are going to give our feet and knees a break tomorrow and take the opportunity to launder the hiking clothes.

Hurricane Hill Trail

Today, we spent with our friends, Tony and Diana.  We drove up Hurricane Ridge Road to the top for a short hike along the top section of Hurricane Hill Trail.  It was mostly cloudy today so we didn’t have those expansive views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca that are so thrilling.  We were, however, sort of sandwiched in between a couple layers of cloud.  As a result, we had a brighter day than the gloom at the lower elevations.

Our wildlife sightings included marmot, deer, and a wonderful buck.

The best part of the day was sharing it with friends.  We strolled along at a very leisurely pace talking and laughing.  Nothing could be finer.  And the great thing is we have another hike planned for tomorrow.

Tending Peanut

The Peanut was greatly improved this morning and seems to be feeling better as each hour passes.  He still has “sick eyes”, but he is eating, drinking, and beginning to act more like himself.  He is not well, yet, but is definitely on the road to recovery from whatever seemed to have been his problem.

About mid morning the phone rang and I was quite surprised to learn it was the vet who had attended Peanut yesterday.  She was just calling to see if he had made any improvement overnight.  How nice.  It did, however, confirm my impression that she thought he might not make it.  The call was thoughtful, never-the-less, and we really appreciated the gesture.  In all my years with pets, I have never had a vet make a follow-up call.  Kudos to Dr. Gordon at Blue Mountain Animal Clinic.

Not wanting to run off and leave the sick one alone, we opted to hang around the old home fires today.  Having done most of our chores yesterday, other than a load of laundry, we have had the day to relax.  Our friends, Tony and Diana, came over about mid morning to pick our brains about where to find what around town.  I guess in RVing circles, if you are parked some place for 10 days you become the “expert” on the area.  I’m not sure they got the information they were seeking, but we sure had a good time talking and laughing until early afternoon.

If the Peanut continues to improve, tomorrow we will be out and about again.

Cat Emergency

Peanut is fine, but we had us a real cat emergency yesterday.

Peanut thinks the whole world should be us at 5 AM.  Well, maybe not the whole world, but at least his mamma.  I have no illusions that it is because he wants to spend a few quiet moments with me.  I know all he wants is someone to feed him and I’m the only one sucker enough to bow to his wishes.  Yesterday, when 5 AM came, he didn’t get up.  Since he has me so programmed, my internal clock said “it’s coffee time”.  Even when Gene got up at 6:30, Peanut still opted for the bed.  That was when we noticed he really didn’t look too good.

He wouldn’t purr and seemed like he could barely hold his eyes open.  We let him rest and went about our business.  Our friends and fellow travelers, Tony and Diana, were due at our campground later in the day, so I put dinner in the crock pot and ran the vacuum.  Gene went to the grocery for a couple items.  All the while Peanut was content to sleep.  He got up once to make a trip to the litter box, but that was the extent of his movement.

After lunch, we decided he must be a sick kitty.  We searched the internet for symptoms of feline urinary tract infection, since that is a common ailment in male cats.  He didn’t seem to exhibit any of those symptoms.  I rubbed on his head a little and noticed his ears were very warm.  Another internet search turned up a vet and off we went.

Now, Peanut is not fond of vets and he has a very long memory when it comes to bad things that have happened to him at the hands of a vet.  The cat seemed at death’s door until we went into the examination room.  He immediately went into attack mode and no one, not even me, could get near him.  They finally had to catch him in some kind of net contraption and sedate him.  He made noises we’ve never heard him make.  It was awful to watch and I almost cried, but if I hadn’t been afraid he was going to die, I would have just brought him home.

After he was asleep, blood was drawn and x-rays were done.  No evidence of anything that would make him feel so ill and have a temperature of 106.  The only indication that something might be brewing was a slight elevation of his white blood count.  Since he hadn’t eaten or drank any water all day, the vet was concerned that he might not eat or drink, so she injected some fluid under his skin to help stave off dehydration.  She also gave him an antibiotic to combat the infection which might have caused he white blood count to be high.  After a couple hours, we headed home with a very groggy cat and a bottle of antibiotic.

The sedative finally wore off enough for him to wobble, literally, to his food bowl in late evening.   About 11 PM, he decided he’d had enough sleep for one day and got up.  Gene and I, on the other hand, just had to crash.  We both got up several times in the night to check on him.  As far as I know, what time he didn’t spend turning over his water bowl, he just sat in the corner of the kitchen.

He’s not well, but he is greatly improved from yesterday.  He moves around on his own and he’s back to purring when you pet him.

As for our friends, we had a great reunion.  We haven’t seen them since Albuquerque, and it was great to spend the evening catching up.  They did the honors of putting Washington on our map.  They will be here a week, so we are looking forward to lots of laughs and together time.

Elwha Hot Springs

This has been one of the warmest days we’ve had since arriving in Port Angeles.  There has been a beautiful clear sky, as well, all day.  It would have been a perfect day for a great view from atop Hurricane Ridge.  However, the road up there is closed due to a slide which happened on Sunday.  The ranger told us it is expected to be reopened  tomorrow.

Madison Falls

After staying close to home and doing a few household chores yesterday, we were ready for a little leg stretcher today.  We started out doing a very short walk up to Madison Falls at the Elwha Valley entrance to the park.  It was a pretty little waterfall, but the most fascinating thing we saw along the way was a huge stump.  My kitchen is smaller than that thing.  Gene braved the spiders and got down inside to give an idea of how deep it is and he also stretched out on one side for an idea of how massive the tree must have been.

Our trailhead was 5 miles up a very narrow gravel road.  We got about half way up and decided we weren’t too keen on taking a chance of meeting oncoming traffic.  We turned around and headed back down.  We made one stop at the Glines Canyon Dam for a close-up look at Lake Mills.  It was beautiful and very peaceful in the early morning.

Lake Mills as we drove by in the early morning

Unwilling to risk the drive up the gravel road to the trail we had selected, we stopped at the ranger station for advise on other trails in the area.  The volunteer manning the office was very knowledgeable and almost too helpful.  He had many suggestions.  We finally decided on the Boulder Creek Trail which went to the Elwha Hot Springs.

Back in the day, the Elwha Hot Springs (spa and resort, I guess) was a very popular spot with folks from Seattle seeking adventure, rest, relaxation, and the soothing mineral waters of the hot springs.  When rules and regulations changed in regard to water purification and safety in public pools, the owners abandoned the resort.  Later, when the federal government acquired the land as part of the park, they demolished all the buildings associated with the Hot Springs.

Today, the Boulder Creek Trail follows the old roadbed, mostly paved, to the Hot Springs.  There are seven small pools, some so shallow you barely get your foot wet.  The seventh pool is the best and it is deep enough to sit down in with room for six or eight people.  The whole area was quite crowded today.  I would have made a few pictures, but many of the folks were so scantily clad I thought is best not to.  Besides, you couldn’t see the pools for the people.  We found a spot for our lunch break then headed back to the truck.

Lake Mills from above

On the way home, we stopped at Observation Point which offered a great view of Lake Mills several hundred feet below.

Turnip Greens and Black-Eyed Peas

I’ve been a few places in my lifetime and I’ve eaten a lot of stuff from a lot of areas.  I enjoy Mexican, Italian, German, Thai, Indian, Chinese, and Greek foods.  But at heart, I’m just a simple southern girl and I can’t think of much better than fried chicken, meatloaf, or roast pork with turnip greens (or collards) and black-eyed peas, limas, or white beans.  A good chunk of cornbread would just put all that right over the top.

The RV lifestyle is a wonderful thing.  It has afforded us the blessing of being able to experience the various local cuisines of this great nation.  One of the real pleasures we get is going to the local markets and groceries and seeing the kinds of foods available in  the area.  On this trip, we have especially enjoyed the fresh seafood available in the coastal regions.  But as good as those regional specialities may be, sometimes I get a hunger for good old southern cooking.

Our regional specialities are not always available outside the deep south.  I don’t think there is a black-eyed pea in New England.  Those folks eat far too many potatoes.  They should throw in a few black-eyed peas just for good luck.  It is incredibly difficult to find turnip greens in North Dakota and they may be nonexistent in Alaska.  This is one of your basic health foods.  Perhaps the research team didn’t have turnip green in mind specifically when then said “leafy green vegetable”, but that is exactly what turnip greens are--leafy and green, the darker the better.  They’re health food.  Well, maybe not so much after they’re cooked to a pulp with pork fat back, but they were once leafy and green.

This RVer may have to consider the availability of certain southern delicacies and stock up before wandering off to the far reaches of civilization for today I was greatly distressed at not being able to find “the basics” at the local supermarket.

Barnes Creek Trail

We found a nice little hike for today.  Our trailhead was located behind the Storm King Ranger Station, only about 15 miles from our campground.  We got a relatively early start--so early, in fact, that it was still quite chilly out.  We started out with ear bands and gloves.

One of many small cascades along Barnes Creek

From the trailhead we followed Hwy 101 for about a quarter mile before we turned away from the road and into the woods.  After a mile, we came to the very popular trail to Marymere Falls.  Our hiking guidebook suggested we just forget going to the falls because they were always so incredibly crowded.  We didn’t want to skip them altogether, but we did save it for the return trip.  We continued to follow Barnes Creek for 2 more miles crossing Barnes Creek once as well as a couple tributaries.  Lucky for us, there were footbridges for crossing.  We found a nice spot by the creek for our break and a little time to bask in the glory of the creation before turning around and heading back to the truck.

A great spot for a break

On our way back, we stopped at Marymere Falls.  The falls did not have as much water in them as many of the falls we have seen lately, but they were very tall, plummeting some 90 feet which made them pretty spectacular.  However, the guidebook was quite right--it was very crowded.  There was one large group of older teenagers who appeared to be without adult supervision.  The guys jumped the fence and scrambled down the hill to get close to the pool.  Aside from it being obviously dangerous, they were also contributing to the destruction of the beauty of this special place.  Where are the rangers when you need one?

Marymere Falls

At home now and having had our showers, we are prepared to while away the evening in our recliners.  Ahh, life is good.  Thank you, Lord.