Seeking Sun

We did it!  We are now two officially certified Wilderness First Responders.  An intense nine days to be sure, many many acronyms remembered, two exams passed and a bunch of new friends made.  Pretty awesome.  Oh, and we are much better prepared to assess, identify and stabilize life threatening injuries and illnesses in the wilderness.  Win!

Western Washington in late late spring can be a very wet place.  It is probably pretty wet most of the time actually and I think we were fairly lucky with the weather we had to deal with.  Our first rain didn't come until Friday night/Saturday morning, luckily this was the day of our night scenario so we had planned to drive in anyway - we were even smart enough to pack up the tarp before bed so we wouldn't have to deal with so much wet gear.  Then Saturday night we were offered an indoor place to stay which definitely made life that rainy night much easier.  It continued to rain on Sunday night, but after exams were done on Monday it started to clear a little while we had a celebratory lunch.

Now by 'clear a little' I mean it wasn't actually raining at time.  Our gear was wet and we desperately wanted to find somewhere dry so that we could dry out a little.  Unfortunately the weather forecast for pretty much all of Washington wasn't going to cooperate with us that easily.  We needed to head south although we weren't in a rush but we were tired so that's the direction we went.  We skipped on the first two campgrounds we stopped at - Washington likes to turn a lot of 'stands of old-growth forest' into state park campgrounds.  I'm sorry, but the last place we want to be when it's cold and raining out is in a dark, damp forest.  We ended up heading towards the coast and stopping at a county park with a little less forest and a view over the ocean.  It wasn't raining when we pulled in so we got dinner sorted and camp set up without too many issues.  And then it rained most of the night.  We slept in and managed to wait out the rain this time, though we did make a smart decision to pack down and move out fairly quickly because yep, it started raining again.

The view over Astoria

The Astoria Column

We were in desperate need of some sunshine.  Headed in to Oregon and stopped for a wander around Astoria and climbed up the tower.  Oregon must have been happy to see us because while we were there the sun came out.  Yay!  Continued South along 101 - the Oregon Coast Highway - with gorgeous views, stopped at Cannon Beach, a cute little coastal town, and then by 5PM we found a state park where the sun was shining, right next to the beach.  Popped the tent to dry, pulled everything out of it and had all our gear dry and sorted out before the sun went down.  A sunset we made a point of watching!  We feel so much better now and the forecast for tomorrow is pretty good too.

The Oregon Coast Highway

Sunset at Nehalem State Park

In The Middle

Wow, 10 days without a post.  Woe is me.  Let's just say we've been busy!

After waking up to a chilly, wet day in Idaho at Massacre Rocks State Park, we found 'Register Rock' which is one of several rocks where Pioneers on the Oregon Trail carved their names.  Unfortunately, probably because of only a few ignorant people, the entire rock had been caged off but it was still pretty cool.  The weather was crap so we got back in the Jeep and drove.  All the way through Idaho and into central Oregon.  We had last minute called relatives in the area to see if we could visit - for me, the first time meeting more of the extended American family.  So we stopped in Burns for some excellent company and Zuppa Toscano.  We had a great time and it would have been nice to stay longer but there were places to go.

Headed North to one of our favorite places: Bend, OR.  It was our anniversary after all and we could do as we pleased.  Stopped in at our favorite place to shop - REI - and ran into an old friend from California who we discovered had been living in Bend for the past 2 years.  We were getting hungry so we found a tasty cafe (Chow - as recommended by the shoe girl at REI) and had a yummy late brunch. After filling our bellies we made a dizzy beeline for Portland to run some errands, and then up to Vancouver to drop-off/pick-up some stuff from our storage unit.  By the time we had fished random items out from the boxes we could actually get to in the unit, it was getting late.  The weather seemed it might be turning from a-ok to somewhat worse as we headed up to Battle Ground Lake State Park while darkness crept in.  J worked in the dark with a headlamp switching our bike tires while I cooked some Salmon steaks and broccoli for a late anniversary dinner.

We woke in the morning to rain.  Steady rain.  The first rain we'd had the whole trip!  Our attempt to wait it out while sleeping did not pay off so we ended up breaking camp in a hurry and getting out of the rainforest!  The Jeep was still filthy from the days in the dust so what else would you do on a rainy day?  We headed for the DIY car wash.  Luckily these operations are under cover so we could stay (mildly) dry while we power washed, soaped and rinsed the car.  We then took our time with dust cloths and wet rags to try and remove some of the dust from the interior surfaces.  The difference was amazing!  Not quite perfect but much better than it had been.  From Battle Ground we headed North through Washington through torrential-can't-see-the-road-can't-hear-anything rain and when the sun poked it's head out an hour later we pulled into a rest area.  A beautiful rest area at that.  Moisture from the downpour was steaming off the pavement a pretty picture highlighted by the sun.  We took a break to enjoy the sunshine, J worked on replacing the tires of the second bike while I brushed my teeth, popped the tent to dry, fielded all the questions and comments from the passers-by and made some lunch.  It's amazing how many comments we get on the roof tent - a lot of people have never seen anything like it apparently.  (Obviously they've never been to an Overland Expo, there were 100s of them there!)  Once we were dried out and fed, we continued North, stopped in at REI once again (just because) and then headed on to my dear friend's place in Bellevue.  After 5 years or marriage, we only thought it was right to celebrate with our one and only guest/witness :)  We had also received some fabulous news while driving through the downpour - our new niece had arrived!  Welcome to the world little EJ!!

After spending the next day doing some normal things like shopping with a friend, we headed north a bit more, making it into Larrabee State Park - our home for the next 10 days - around 8PM.  We set up a more elaborate camp, launching a tarp off the top of the tent over the back of the Jeep (our kitchen) to shield us from the rain which, in this area, is highly likely.  We got ourselves ready for our first day of school and went to bed.

So for the last 5 days, we have been up at 6AM, on our bikes by 7, riding for 45 minutes up and down hills on gravel and dirt trail, to WWU for our Wilderness First Responder course.  It has been pretty intense and every day we are tired body and mind.  Hopefully it will all be worth it!  Today we are on our break day and still have several chores plus study/revision to do.  A delicious lunch at Boundary Bay Brewery should give us plenty of energy to get these tasks done....

End of the trail

Two posts in two days!

Today was our last day on the UTBDR. We took it easy this morning after waking early from traffic noise. An extra long Dodge van had turned up in the night next door to us and as the morning progressed, 6 children between the ages of 2 and 12 and their youngish parents emerged. (More proof that a giant RV is completely unnecessary!) They definitely provided some entertainment as we breakfasted and started measuring up the Jeep and brainstorming solar panel ideas. The father was Captain of the ship and the oldest daughter co-captain while the mother acted the grumpy, self-absorbed, nicotine fueled Queen.

We eventually got on the road and quickly put 40 miles of tarmac through hills and fields behind us before we hit the dirt roads heading north through the Cache National Forest. Lots of quad bikes were out, some for fun and some from the surrounding ranches we were driving through. Saw lots of cows and at one point a huge herd of sheep and lambs in a little hollow with three RV trailers and two white dogs, who completely blended in, guarding them. There were several great views along the way and we traveled through some of our favorite terrain - pine and aspen woods with little flower strewn meadows and left over snow in between. Eventually we hit the highway again and our map indicated the route went underneath, through a tunnel which we quickly discovered may have been impassable with four foot high snow mounds inside! We knew we were coming to the end and my darling husband was not going to let a pile of snow stand in his way! Amazingly he, and the power of the Jeep, piloted us safely through and out onto the trail on the other side. We crested a few hills and finally came upon the awaited view of beautiful Bear Lake which signified the end of the route.

Bear Lake

We headed in to the town of Garden City for a celebratory lunch at La Beau's Drive In, including a famous raspberry shake (Bear Lake is known for it's raspberries apparently). Four miles further and we crossed the state line into Idaho. From the Arizona border traversing 800+ miles of dirt, dust, rocks, mud, desert, mountains and downed trees, we had finally made it to the northern border, in a very beautiful place at that. Gorgeous green hills, mountains, and potato fields, huge blue lake, and to top it all off, we were now on the Oregon Trail Scenic Byway ;)

Crossing the border

It's now time to start heading in a north westerly direction towards Washington for our next scheduled event. We have so far made it to Massacre Rocks State Park near American Falls, on the Snake River, a pretty place steeped in history which I hope to learn more about soon. It's hot (91F/33C) and windy but we found a sheltered spot and it's supposed to drop down to 50F/10C tonight. Should be a lovely night.

Back on track

Today we find ourselves in Wyoming. We discovered that the Utah Backcountry Discovery Route has 40 miles of trail in another state! Not sure exactly why they did that, but it is somewhat pretty - more rolling hills and pasture in this area.

Back to June 1st. We awoke suddenly to sounds reverberating through the Jeep, we made a loud noise and the sound stopped. We cautiously poked our heads out the windows, not knowing what we might see. Eight deer traipsed through the woods behind our campsite - we guessed they were our early wake up call! Once the sun rose a little more and took the chill off the air, I got up and made oatmeal, we packed up ready to go and then called relatives in Salt Lake City to arrange a visit.

We still had 100ish miles of trail to drive before we would cut across the state for another 45 miles to get to the city. Surprisingly we started spotting vehicles early on the trail, not really a common occurrence on most of the back roads we had traveled so far. Pretty much all of them turned out to be bear hunters armed with packs of dogs with radio collars. Apparently the dogs chase the bear up a tree then the hunter listens to their radios and once the bear is well trapped he wanders in and... Doesn't really seem all that sporting to me.

As we drove along we were lucky enough to spot a live one! He/she hurtled across the road and up over the hill about 300 feet ahead of us. They sure do move fast!

Eventually we made it to a highway near Kamas and from there made a beeline for SLC. It was bizarre being on a 6 lane freeway (past Park City / 2002 winter Olympics venue) and then on 4 lane city boulevards - after many days on dirt roads this was a bit of an adjustment!

Salt Lake is a pretty city which we explored a little the next day, lots of things happening and great community establishments that have recently opened. We had a great time visiting with family, listening to stories and just relaxing with easy access to a shower/bathroom and a real bed!

After a couple of nights rest we headed back into the mountains to rejoin the trail. Up through a myriad of lakes, aspen woods and out into pasture. By camp time we found ourselves many miles from National Forest or BLM land so we stopped in at the local RV park in Evanston. Not our ideal place to stay but it's cheap, clean and shady although somewhat noisy being near a railroad and the freeway. It's almost like being back in our apartment in Portland...