BYOL- Lights

Location_Mount St. Helens

Hiking_Ape Cave 5.12.12

Exploring_Olympia, WA
Kayaking_Tugboat Annie's

Lunch_Salami, Pepperoni, Cheese Panini

Dinner_Steak Tacos
Weather_72 degrees, Hot and Sunny


No camping this time.

Let there be light!

Saturday we went to Ape Cave located in the Gifford National forest, south of Mount St. Helens. Ape Cave is the first self-exploration cave that we have been to.  No tour guide, no lights, no hand rails, explore at your own risk.  It was very un-light-ening (its a pun, get it, yippy).   Ape Cave is a lava tube and the ground is made out of magma so it was very uneven and rough, and the upper section we hiked was 1.4 miles.  The cave required a lot of scrambling over the boulders that have fallen from the ceiling.  The cave's ceiling height ranged from 4' to 20' throughout.  Even with our lanterns, it was difficult to see our next steps.  We did not see natural light for almost an hour till we came upon a skylight in the cave.  We emerged from the cave through an opening in the ground. Overall, the caving experience was a-mazing (whaaaat?, another pun, bee boop).  

We also hiked the Trail of Two Forest.  One forest had a ghosts of trees that once stood here. As slow-moving molten lava cooled, it surrounded trees and began to harden. Because of the extreme heat, the trees burned to the ground, leaving hollow trunk-shaped holes in the now firm lava.  We crawled through a fifty foot lava tube that was formed by fallen trees.  It was quite narrow and painful on the knees.

One of my dream vehicle

Sunday, we explored our state capital, Olympia, Washington and went kayaking in the Puget Sound.  We rented our kayaks at Tugboat Annies.  They have a special where you can rent two single kayaks for two hours, with breakfast for $48.00.  Temperature was very warm and the views were picturesque.  We saw multiple cute seals pop their heads up from the water.  We later explored downtown Olympia where they had a farmers market and street vendors.  We found our dream vehicle, Motorcycle Sidecar!

What up Beaches!

Location_The Coast

Campground_Nehalem Bay State Park

Hiking_Oswald West State Park

Exploring_Fort Stevens State Park

Lunch_Chicken Pita Sandwiches, Gummies!

Dinner_Beef Kabobs, Corn-on-the-Cob, Couscous

On Saturday morning, we made awesome chicken pita sandwiches for lunch.  Unfortunately, we went off to wash the dishes, only 10 feet from our site, when a crow swooped down and started eating our sandwiches.  VP yelled Noooooooo, flapped his arms and ran after the crows.  We heard giggles from the surrounding campsites.  I think it is because VP was wearing a black hoodie and he looked and sounded like a crow when he ran after them.  We ended up sacrificing half a sandwich cause VP was worried we would get crow coodies.

For our hike, we passed the beach on our way up to Cape Falcon, where we saw a lot of surfers.  It is odd, but the surfers talk and sound the same.  It was a moderate hike, about 6 miles round trip with only 800 ft elevation change.  The hike was very muddy and VP was covered in mud up to his waist, jumping in every muddy puddle he saw, that boy is so silly.  The view was very pretty and serene.  

 

Beach at our campground 

  

 Wolf Pack Surfer Gang hangout

 

View from Cape Falcon 

Yippee ki yay mr. cape falcon

 

We were only suppose to pass through Fort Stevens State Park, but we ended up staying there for almost 2 hours. This is the first time I have seen VP so interested in history, I think it has something to do with forts and big guns.

This fort has awesome defensive capabilities...

hoot, hoot!

We went to the cute town of Seaside and found Goonies Booty at the gift shop. This is where we discovered that "The Goonies" was filmed along the coast of Oregon, mostly in the town called Astoria.  We passed through Astoria on our way home, but plan to come back and do the Goonies tour.  We plan on watching "The Goonies" before we go back.

Rig

I was helping a elderly couple move out of their apartment yesterday and the elderly man asked me, "Where's your Rig?"  I pointed to my Honda CRV, and he said "You have a very nice Rig, looks spacious."  I am enjoying the local slang.

Gorge-ous!

On our first weekend in Washington, we decided to visit our neighboring state of Oregon.  We were corrected by the locals of Oregon many times, that it is pronounced Oregun, not Oregone.  The locals were quick to point out that Martha has a thick Chicago accent and I am Asian.  

We made our home in Viento State Park Campground.  There, we met two wonderful couples from Portland, Mike + Karen and Mark + Dorothy.  We ended up hitting it off very well and drank heavily with them Friday and Saturday.  Heavily = 2 beers = Drunk like a Skunk.  We had a local beer called Full Sail IPA, very delicious.  They also introduced us to a drink they created called the KAM (Karen and Mike), one part Bourbon and two part Baileys Irish Cream.  When it comes to drinking, they had it down to a science.  We crashed at midnight, they ended up staying up till 2.  To put that in perspective, we were half their age.  The campground was adjacent to an active train track.  When the trains passed by during the night, I thought we were being abducted by aliens, loud noises, lights, and probing.

 

Viento Campground 

On Saturday we hiked the Coyote Wall.  We did not have a guidebook, so we followed instructions that I scribbled on a piece of toilet paper.  After 30 minutes, our trail map was used.  The route we were supposed to take was Moderate, 1520 elevation change, 5.8 miles round trip.  The route we ended up taking was Difficult, 1950 elevation change, 8.2 miles round trip, poops!  We felt it the next day for sure. 
Awesome camping, trails, waterfalls, local beer, winery visit, meeting new people.
It was a very successful first weekend.  Good.
 

 View of Columbia River Gorge

 

 Coyote Wall

 

Trail on Coyote Wall