Camp Orcas Island

We had two great camping trips this year at two new spots in WA.
The first was earlier in June and we made reservations for a spot at Moran state park on Orcas Island. I had purchased a deal for a private sailing trip for 6 out of Deer Harbor so combining that with a weekend of camping seemed like a great plan, and it was!
Dayne would be flying out after work to meet us Friday evening, but Matt, Jen, Gary, Elisabeth and I got up early and drove out to Anacortes to catch the ferry. We grabbed our spots in line, made up some bloody Maria's and watched the pretty morning mist clear off the water.




Our camp site was great but it did come with built in exercise equipment, whether that was a bonus or not we still haven't decided. The site was up a relatively steep hill, great for privacy and the glutes. It also came with a tree swing, great for, well just great!




We did a bit of exploring down by the lake, had a little hike, and generally just chilled out for the afternoon.
Dayne arrived at the "airport" which consisted of a small field landing strip and not much else. Watching the pilot climb out of the window to then open the hatch and release his passengers was enough for me to know that I probably wouldn't be taking one of those anytime soon.




The next morning we drove to Deer Harbor to Classic Daysailing and boarded Captain Ward Fey's sailboat which seated the 6 of us and him cozily. He gave everyone a little job to do; handling the tiller, pulling the lines, watching for logs, and soon we were sailing out of the harbor. It was a spectacular morning, clear, sunny and warm! We spotted a huge bald eagle perched atop a pine tree watching us, a few others riding the wind currents, a big osprey in it's nest, and a half dozen seals.




We brought a nice picnic breakfast on board, complete with mimosas, and had a fantastic 3-hour tour. We even sailed right past our friends house on Crane Island. I'd absolutely recommend Capt. Ward!
After we docked, we headed into town for some lunch before heading back to our campsite. Wanting to take full advantage of the stunning weather we blew up our dingys and put in on the lake, paddling around for the afternoon with some rosé.
The next morning we packed up camp, drove up to Mountain Lake and put the boats in again. Cue more rosé.




A relaxing picnic on the lawn while waiting for the ferry and great views on the ride ride back to the mainland were the frosting on top of a fab camping weekend!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Pitch a Tent!

Summer in Seattle means time-to-go-camping! Last year we only got out twice, but both times were awesome.

The first camping trip we did in July. Dayne and I headed out to Lake Quinault and the Willaby Campground. Neither of us had been before and it ended up being a great choice, we just loved it out there! The campground is so green and lush and right on the lake. We found the best site, down a set of steps and completely private from the other campsites, but the whole campground seemed very nice.

The area has lots of hiking option ranging in difficulty and distance. The trails go through amazing forests of huge, old growth trees, as well as next to the lake shore, over waterfalls and past the Lake Quinault Lodge. You can see the largest spruce on one trail, and the largest cedar on another. It's all really beautiful.

After a morning of hiking, we inflated the raft and went for a float on the pretty and serene lake in the afternoon. We saw others fishing, paddle boarding and boating.

Our second trip last summer was back out towards Salmon la Sac for a group camping weekend. This time Jen and I weren't as lucky and all the sites were booked by the time we arrived. We scrambled around with Gary and Elisabeth and finally crossed the river and grabbed an unofficial site. It ended up being great because 1) there was a fire ban and you just can't sneak a tiny fire while in a regulated site and 2) it was during the Perseid meteor shower and without lights or neighboring campfires we could see an amazing site!

The weather that weekend was so hot that we all took our rafts to Lake Cle Elum and spent the entire day floating and swimming in the lake. I can't remember the last time I swam, not just waded around, in a lake and it was awesome. We all felt like kids again!

Next weekend will be our first camping trip of the season, bring on the s'mores!

Lake Quinault camping photos here.

Summer Camping

Oh summer I miss you and you've only been gone 1 week! As with every year, a weekend favorite of ours is to go camping. This year we broke in Dayne's new tent down at Moss Creek Campground which is basically across the river and up in the hills from Hood River, OR. This is a long drive for a Friday after work (6 hours with traffic!) but we had a reservation so we didn't worry about rolling in after dark. It did lead to the "I can't wait to see this in the light" situation that we've had so many times in so many places. This turned out to be a very pretty (and quiet as the weather had threatened to be horrible) campground.

 

Saturday was gorgeous so we jumped in the car and headed across the gorge and up to Mt. Hood. We'd never been and were interested in seeing the Timberline Lodge. Built in 1937 the lodge really evokes that rugged PNW feel. The mountain and the surroundings are stunning! Sunny summer day and snow on the ground? Cool!

As we enjoyed a bit of happy hour back at our campsite later we saw and heard an owl in the trees above us and then a deer walked thru the grounds by our site. Yeah! Wildlife spotting :)

Our plan was to visit Mt. St. Helens the next day on our drive home but the torrential rains finally arrived so we skipped the "two mountains, two states" plan.

On our second camping trip friends Matt & Jen came along and we picked the much closer Cle Elum River on a hot sunny weekend. Jen and I went out earlier in the day and landed a nice camp spot right on the water. The boys arrived in time for happy hour.

We spend most of Saturday on the "yachts" floating around the river, spying herons, ducks and huge osprey.

And of course no trip to Cle Elum is complete without a stop at The Brick in Roslyn, WA's oldest continuously operating saloon complete with running spittoon. Roslyn has a little farmer's market on Sunday that we hit on the way out of town also.

Back at our waterfront site we watched the sun set and fended off the mosquitoes, Matt especially put his foot - or should I say thumb- down on those little pests and then watched as the sky filled with stars!

Oh summer! Oh camping! Can't wait to do it again next year!

All camping photos here and here

Summer Camp

We don't camp like most other people, I know that. I come up with menus, Dayne makes cocktails and we go on easy hikes and nice drives. This year we added the comfort of a queen size Aero mattress. Damn I could live in the "wild" for a few weeks with our plush bed now!

A couple of weeks ago we headed out towards the Sunrise side of Mt. Rainier. It was an easy drive, through the cute town of Enumclaw and out towards Crystal Mountain Resort. We found a great spot at Silver Springs Campground, right on the mostly dry riverbed and not too close to other campers. Since it only took us about 1.5 hours from the time we left the house to get to the campground we had an entire day to explore so we headed out to Sunrise Visitor's Center with a picnic lunch.

The drive up to the center is breathtaking! Neither of us had been on this side of the mountain so it was all new to us. Amazing views of the glacier and the summit as well as surrounding peaks & valleys.

After checking out the very nice visitor's center we sat down and had lunch facing Mt. Rainier in the warm sunshine. We've been around the world and seen amazing sites but the site of that mountain up close and personal is always stunning!

After lunch we went on a easy hike on the Silver Forest Trail so we could see the wildflowers. I've never seen all the meadows full of wildflowers before and Dayne's aunt and uncle talk about how pretty it is so we were really happy to have such a gorgeous day to see them!

 

Purple, red and funny "Dr Suess" flowers studded the hills around the trails. And we only saw 2 other couples on the trail!

Our second day our weather wasn't as good so we decided to drive across the Chinook Pass towards Naches. Again the scenery up to the pass was amazing, until we entered into a cloud and Dayne had to drive 20 MPH! It was the thickest thing I'd ever seen and it got thicker and thicker as we went! When we got up to the pass the cloud was moving in and out. It was beautiful!

 

We stopped at a funny motel/restaurant called Whistlin Jack's Lodge for lunch and then headed back across Chinook Pass and then south across Cayuse Pass and up Rainier to the Paradise Visitor's Center- which is brand new and really cool. Unfortunately the clouds were so low on the mountain that even standing right at the lodge you wouldn't have known there was a mountain there at all!

On our way home the last day, we stopped at the Dalles Campground to look at the giant Douglas Fir that is over 700 years old and almost 300 feet tall. It's big, it's really big. And things like that amaze me because I always wonder how it didn't get logged, burned down or died of a disease. Think of the things that tree has seen over 700 years!


More photos from our camping trip are here!

Summer Camping!

We love camping! Especially when there are views like this all around. Each summer we try to set aside at least 3 weekends for camping and mark them on the calendar. They get moved around as the wedding, BBQ invitations and notices of visitors arrive. But we are still getting our 3 camping trips in this year!

This is gorgeous Lake Diablo, a result of Diablo Dam which was once the world's tallest dam. It is in the North Cascades and is surrounded by amazing glaciers and forest.

We left on a Friday afternoon and with traffic it took us about 4 hours to get up to our campground. But we found a great spot and set up camp before it got dark. Once that was done it was cocktail time!

The next day we drove around the area to check out Skagit dam, the town of Diablo (which you drive across the dam to get to), and hike around a bit. It is just gorgeous up in this area! As our campground was right on the lake there was the quick dip- but it was VERY quick as the lake is all glacier fed water....brrrrrr! As we left the area on Sunday we made a quick stop into a local winery- it's amazing how no matter where we camp we can always find a winery to taste in on Sunday coming home!

A few weeks ago we met friends from Vancouver Canada up at Mt. Baker and camped in the Silver Fir campground. Great area, right on the river but unfortunately it rained the whole time! Our friends had arrived to the grounds first and had brilliantly got us a site that even though it was pouring rain there was so much tree cover that we could all sit out around the fire. But it was chilly and there would be no hiking. That just gave us all a chance to relax and catch up, chat, have camping cocktails & make nice meals together!

And our final camp trip of the summer was last weekend. We headed out to Lopez Island which is part of the San Juan Islands. Unfortunately the trip started out a bit rocky as on of the ferries that service the islands was down so they had been running a full load behind all day. That meant that even though we were there for the 6:50pm ferry we couldn't get on until the 9pm. Yikes, that is a bit of a wait. Lucky for us we were one of the first to make it to Charlies restaurant and grab a seat in the bar for a few beers and some chowder- others who came in behind us were not so lucky.

We got to the camp site well past dark but had a reservation so no worries. And it was so quiet when we came in that we drove right past a doe grazing on some bushes and she just looked at us and didn't move.

The next day we drove around the island, stopping at Agate Beach but not finding any agates, then on to Shark Reef Park. We did a very short hike up to the bluff and had a picnic lunch overlooking the channel where the Victoria Clipper comes through and a large rock of seal lions were hanging out! One even was swimming around in the water below and it was clear enough to see him twisting and gliding.



We also stopped in the only real town on the island for much needed camping provisions- Us Magazine, a lemon and a bundle of firewood :)

Last stop of the day was at the cute little Lopez Winery for some tasting and a walk through the gardens and vineyards.
All day long we could see 2 large eagles flying around- quite gorgeous. And at night with no city lights anywhere around the stars were amazing. We even both saw the same shooting star!
The next day after we thought we were so early getting to the ferry dock (an hour early!) we found out that we might not make the 12:30pm and could have to wait until 3:30pm. Luckily we were in the last 6 cars they let on board- phew! now that would have been a LONG wait.
Pictures from Lake Diablo are here and pictures from Lopez Island are here