Redwoods 2014

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Nanette Harter

We reached the California Redwoods on Friday night July 25, 2014. The first campground we tried, Jedediah Smith State Park, was not only completely full but it was $35 a night! Welcome to California! The ranger was very helpful providing us with a list of the Redwood campgrounds and marking the nearest ones. We found a great little spot in Florence Keller County Park, a second growth redwood forest, five miles north of Crescent City (and only $10 a night!) We decided to treat ourselves to a seafood dinner now that we were on the coast but so did all the other tourists on their summer vacations. The few places we tried had very long waits. We settled on a Mexican restaurant that had some good spicy seafood entrees. 😉 This was the first time we had ventured into a Mexican restaurant since our bad experience in Eastern Washington. Being able to eat Mexican food again was one of the good things about being back in California!

Crescent City

We cut over to the coast as soon as we could upon entering Crescent City and drove along Pebble Beach Drive. We came to a beautiful spot to park overlooking Crescent Bay at Brother Jonathan Park. The bay is full of small rock islands with the largest containing the picturesque Battery Point Lighthouse. We watched whales swimming beyond the rock island as we visited with a few locals and visitors also enjoying the view. We returned to the overlook after dinner to enjoy the sunset over the bay but by dark we were settled into our tent among the redwoods.

“The first American to explore the [Del Norte] country overland was Jedediah Strong Smith, for whom the Smith River is named. In 1828, Smith and his party of trappers traded with Native Americans, came upon Lake Earl, and camped at Crescent City.

In 1848, Major Pierson B. Reading discovered gold on the Trinity River, and by 1850, northwestern California was teeming with miners. The town of Crescent City was established in 1853 by J. F. Wendell … Crescent City became a bustling shipping and trade center, catering to and supplying the miners. … [T]he area experienced a boom in settlement as a result of lumbering activity that followed the mining industry … To facilitate the use of Crescent Bay as a harbor, the Battery Point Lighthouse was erected in 1856. It survived the 1964 tsunami …

On, March 27, 1964 the Good Friday [Alaska] Earthquake (measuring 9.2 on the Richter scale) set in motion a tsunami down the west coast of the U.S. Crescent City was struck with four waves destroying hundreds of buildings (including most of the downtown area) and killing 12 people.” History of Crescent City

Redwood National Park

A bright sunny Saturday morning greeted us as we drove out of our shaded forest campground. We arrived at the Redwood Park Information Center in Crescent City just as it opened. We had located it the previous evening but it was already closed. There were numerous brochures for us to collect while we waited our turn to speak with the ranger. We asked about the best driving routes, hiking areas, and any waterfalls.

The National Park and three State Parks protect much of the state’s last remaining old growth redwood forests. A great number of people worked to protect these redwoods from falling to the ax. Logging felled many of the most ancient of trees, but I continue to be impressed with the dedication of early 1900s conservation visionaries who recognized the importance of protecting this heritage. Many individuals used their own funds to purchase land to protect it from logging and later donate it to the Parks.

“Paleontologists Henry Fairfield Osborn of the American Museum of Natural History, Madison Grant of the New York Zoological Society, and John C. Merriam of the University of California at Berkeley founded Save the Redwoods League in 1918. The League was formed as a nonprofit organization dedicated to buying redwood tracts for preservation. Through donations and matching state funds, the League bought over 100,000 acres of redwood forest between 1920 and 1960.” Redwood Area History

The park brochure notes that of the estimated original 2 million acres of coast redwood habitat, only 118,000 acres remain of older and old-growth redwoods (that’s only 5.9%).

The Indigenous People

“The native people of the North Coast region have made the redwood forests and associated ecosystems their home for thousands of years. … Prior to Euro-American contact, American Indians had adapted well to this environment. Their profound religious beliefs, extensive knowledge of the natural world, languages, customs, and perseverance continue to be a source of admiration for other cultures.

American Indians in the region belonged to many tribes, although no one tribe dominated. Indeed, the concept of “tribe” does not describe very well the traditional political complexity of the area. There were scores of villages that dotted the coast and lined the major rivers; each of these villages was more or less politically independent, yet linked to one another by intricate networks of economic, social, and religious ties.

… Efficient and reliable hunting, fishing, and gathering methods were always paired with a deep spiritual awareness of nature’s balance. Traditional homes of the region’s American Indians usually were constructed of planks split from fallen redwoods. … A house was understood to be a living being. The redwood that formed its planks was itself the body of one of the Spirit Beings.

Once gold was discovered along northwestern California’s Trinity River in 1850, outsiders moved into the area in overwhelming numbers. The initial contact with native peoples was gruesome.

The newcomers pushed the American Indians off their land, hunted them down, scorned, raped, and enslaved them. Resistance – and many of the American Indians did resist – was often met with massacres. Militia units composed of unemployed miners and homesteaders set forth to rid the countryside of “hostile” Indians, attacking villages and, in many documented cases, slaughtering men, women, and even infants. Upon their return, these killers were treated as heroes, and paid by the state government for their work.” Text based on Living in a Well-Ordered World NPS Redwoods History

The past treatment of indigenous peoples by “newcomers” has often been appalling, and I can’t say we are any better today trying to impose “The American Way” on other cultures. I want to end on a more positive note so I will add a quote from the next section of the NPS History: “Despite the dreadful history of the past 150 years, the American Indian community of northwestern California has persisted. It has, in fact, done more than persist. Whether in politics, art, religion, or any other area of life, the community exhibits great variety and astounding vigor.”

Hikes

We drove down Highway 101 along ocean vistas, through forested sections and the flats of Klamath River basin before reaching the turn off to the recommended Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway. The Parkway took us through a dense section of old growth redwoods in the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. It was amazing to drive and walk among the tallest trees in the world.

We decided on several shorter hikes rather than one long one to see more variety. The first stop took us just a short way off the parkway when we saw the roadside sign for Corkscrew Tree. Many redwoods grow somewhat twisted but this was the crookedest I had ever seen! Next stop was at Big Tree! The sign in front says Height 304 ft., Diameter 21.6 ft., Circumference 68 ft., and Estimated Age 1500 years! We continued hiking beyond Big Tree on the Cathedral Trees Trail enjoying being in the in the majesty of the forest.

Our next hike was to Trillium Falls, a 10-foot cascade flowing over rocks covered in deep-green moss. Quoting from the Trailhead sign, “The trail leads you through the misty hallways of an ancient redwood forest. Along the path, families of Douglas-fir, western hemlock, and Sitka spruce reside beneath the shade of the world’s tallest trees.” The trailhead overlooked Elk Meadow, where we paused for a snack watching a herd of Roosevelt Elk graze.

“Redwood Parks is home to a subspecies of elk known as Roosevelt elk (Cervis elaphus roosevelti). Herds of these magnificent Animals once ranged from San Francisco Bay to Vancouver Island, British Columbia and east to the Cascade Range in Oregon and Washington. … By 1925, the number of Roosevelt elk in California had dropped to as few as 15. One of the last elk herds was located in Prairie Creek State Park. Fortunately, protection of the habitat in the park and surrounding areas has allowed the California Roosevelt elk population so rebound to more than 1,000 animals.” NPS Elk in the Redwoods

The Avenue of the Giants

We continued driving south on Hwy 101 and stopped at the village of Trinidad for lunch. Our hostesses and servers were all college age and I realized we were near Humboldt University where I did my six week science program during one of my high school summers. I have very fond memories of this area.

“Trinidad is a seaside town in Humboldt County, located on the Pacific Ocean 8 miles north of the Arcata-Eureka Airport and 15 miles north of the college town of Arcata. Situated directly above its own natural harbor, Trinidad is one of California’s smallest incorporated cities, (with a 2010 population of 367) and is noted for its spectacular coastline with ten public beaches and offshore rocks. These rocks are part of the California Coastal National Monument of which Trinidad is a Gateway City. This natural landmark is joined by three additional marine landmarks – the historic Trinidad Head Light, the Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse, and Humboldt State University’s Fred Telonicher Marine Laboratory. Fishing operations related to Trinidad Harbor are vital to both local tourism and commercial fishery interests in the region. In addition to its coastal assets, the city honors and works to protect its Native American cultural and historic heritage.” City of Trinidad

We chose to travel down the coast route on our way to LA specifically to drive the Avenue of the Giants because we had missed it last time we drove Hwy 101. “This world-famous scenic drive is a 31-mile portion of old Highway 101, which parallels Freeway 101 with its 51,222 acres of redwood groves. … The Avenue of the Giants is surrounded by Humboldt Redwoods State Park which has the largest remaining stand of virgin redwoods in the world.” AvenueoftheGiants.net My suggestion is if you are driving up Hwy 101, it is worth taking the exit to travel State Route 254 (old 101) for the drive through patches of redwood groves along the route, but I wouldn’t go out of my way specifically to make it a destination, especially after we had just driven the densely forested beautiful Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway!

Reading the drive guide, the best hike for our time sounded like the two-thirds of a mile Rockefeller Loop in Rockefeller Forest. In this short distance, 17 of the world’s tallest trees are found according to the brochure. I have to admit that standing at ground level and looking straight up, it is hard to tell that one of the redwood trees is that much taller than the next one! It was a well-trodden wide path through the grove and served a nice place to stretch our legs.

Mendocino

We continued south and decided to take Hwy 1 to Mendocino for our last night of camping. Mendocino was always a favorite getaway weekend destination for me when I lived in the Bay Area. The campground we found even had showers! We cooked our last dinner on our camp stove and settled into to our sleeping bags after the sunset pink tinge had left the high overhead clouds.

The usual morning fog greeted us as we enjoyed our green matcha tea and granola, packed the car, and headed into town to walk the Mendocino Headlands coastal bluffs. I highly recommend a previous Mendocino Coast webpage from a trip we took February 2007 because the lighting conditions resulted in prettier pictures on that visit.

“Mendocino Headlands State Park with its unique blend of gentle trails, rugged coastline, secluded beaches and timeless history surrounds the picturesque Village of Mendocino on three sides. Miles of trails wind along the cliffs, giving the casual explorer spectacular views of sea arches and hidden grottos.” Mendocino Headlands SP

“Mendocino, the only town on the California Coast that is designated as an Historical Landmark. Established in the 1850’s, the architecture is reminiscent of Maine with its grand Victorians and quaint Saltbox cottages.” Mendocino.com

I had no idea until I was reading some websites about Mendocino that Murder She Wrote was filmed in Mendocino County and that “Cabot Cove” is actually Mendocino Village!

“Mendocino was discovered by mistake. Scouts were sent to salvage the remains of the Frolic shipwreck. By the time they arrived, the ship was demolished by the sea, but they noticed the huge redwood trees and [the logging began.] …Their mill set-up at Big River yielded 1 billion board-feet of timber during its 50-year run. Almost all of which was used to build San Francisco, and rebuild it again after the Great Earthquake and Fire in 1906.” Mendocino.com

Looking to the hills around Mendocino today, there is no evidence of the once lush redwood forests that covered the coastal mountains. After walking the bluffs, we drove to Café Beaujolais brickery for a bakery treat, but the bakery is no longer there, just the restaurant. We found a busy bakery café on Langsing Street for a mid-morning snack before taking to the road again.

Photo Credit: Neil Rhoads, Roosevelt Elk by Mat Honan

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Crater Lake 2014

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Nanette Harter

All warm from soaking in Umpqua Hot Springs at dawn on the morning of Friday, July 25, we drove a short distance to Crater Lake National Park to have our breakfast.

We still have the receipt showing we entered Crater Lake north entrance at 10:01 on 7/25/14; it is taped to the Crater Lake National Park map. 😉 We opted to take East Rim Drive around the lake which is slightly longer but I don’t think I have ever been on this side of the lake before. All along the crater rim road there are incredible views of the nation’s deepest lake—1,943 feet at its deepest point. We stopped in a pullout overlooking Steel Bay to make our breakfast tea. There at 7000 feet, we fired up our propane burner to boil the tea water and sat on the rock wall looking out over the sparkling blue lake.

Crater Lake’s caldera was formed 7,700 years ago as Mt. Mazama collapsed forming a deep crater after the volcano violently erupted. More information about the geology can be found at nps.gov Crater Lake Geology brochure and Crater Lake geology feature facts.

Park History

“Local Native Americans witnessed the collapse of Mount Mazama and kept the event alive in their legends. One ancient legend of the Klamath people closely parallels the geologic story which emerges from today’s scientific research. The legend tells of two Chiefs, Llao of the Below World and Skell of the Above World, pitted in a battle which ended up in the destruction of Llao’s home, Mt. Mazama. The battle was witnessed in the eruption of Mt. Mazama and the creation of Crater Lake.

The Klamaths revered the lake and the surrounding area, keeping it undiscovered by white explorers until 1853. That year, on June 12, three gold prospectors, John Wesley Hillman, Henry Klippel, and Isaac Skeeters, came upon a long, sloping mountain. Upon reaching its highest point, a huge, awe-inspiring lake was visible. “This is the bluest lake we’ve ever seen,” they reported, and named it Deep Blue Lake. But gold was more on the minds of settlers at the time and the discovery was soon forgotten.

Captain Clarence Dutton was the next [white] man to make a discovery at Crater Lake. Dutton commanded a U.S. Geological Survey party which carried the Cleetwood, a half-ton survey boat, up the steep slopes of the mountain then lowered it to the lake. From the stern of the Cleetwood, a piece of pipe on the end of a spool of piano wire sounded the depth of the lake at 168 different points. Dutton’s soundings of 1,996 feet were amazingly close to the sonar readings made in 1959 that established the lake’s deepest point at 1,932 feet.

William Gladstone Steel devoted his life and fortune to the establishment and management of Crater Lake National Park. His preoccupation with the lake began in 1870. In his efforts to bring recognition to the park, he participated in lake surveys that provided scientific support. He named many of the lake’s landmarks, including Wizard Island, Llao Rock, and Skell Head. Steel’s dream was realized on May 22, 1902 when President Theodore Roosevelt signed the bill giving Crater Lake national park status.”
— Provided by the National Park Service on Oregon.com

Hike to the Pinnacles

We stopped at many of the overlooks to view the lake and various named geological features such as Pumice Castle, Sentinel Rock and Phantom Ship. Fun fact from the NPS website: “Seven different trees live on Phantom Ship, an island in Crater Lake. There are also colonies of violet green swallows, and several varieties of wildflowers and lichens living there.” There was a variety of park hikes listed in the guide and we settled on an easy one mile walk to the Pinnacles because of the unique description: “The Pinnacles are ‘fossil fumaroles’ where volcanic gases rose up through a layer of volcanic ash, cementing the ash into solid rock.” The softer loose ash has eroded away over the years leaving the chimneys and spires lining the side of the canyon. The trail goes right to the park boundary. A sign in front of a 10 foot constructed stone pillar said this trail was the original east side entrance to the Park where Teddy Roosevelt would enter on horseback. The wood pole still projected out pillar near the top where it would have held the National Park sign.

The Depths of Crater Lake

“Beneath Crater Lake National Park lies a reservoir of restless magma. … In the summers of 1988 and 1989, a one-person submarine made 47 separate dives to the bottom … [the] purpose was to collect data on the lakes’ hydrology, biology, and geology, and to resolve a controversy over geothermal energy development that was brewing on the borders of the national park. … [The Deep Rover submarine was flown in by helicopter onto the lake. Three men alternated dives into the darkness.] What they found was surprising—and spectacular. Colonies of yellow-gold bacteria grew in vast, puffy mats, often around pools of aqua-blue water. Probes inserted into the bacteria mats registered temperatures as high as 66°F, much warmer than the surrounding 38°F lake water. … “Bacteria were not the only life forms found to be thriving at great depths in Crater Lake. A variety of worms, insects, and tiny crustaceans were spotted as well. Although not dependent on the hydrothermal vents, they were remarkable for their ability to tolerated the extreme water pressures found in the lake’s deepest basin 1,943 feet below the surface. Some were also notable for their life history. Adult flies of the genus Heterotrissocladius, for example, drop their eggs into the lake. The eggs sink slowly to the bottom, hatch into larvae, feed on lake floor sediments for perhaps two to three years, swim back up to the surface (pupating along the way), then emerge as winged adults. Two to three days later, the adults lay eggs and die, and the cycle starts again. …
[T]he sub visited only 2% of the lake floor. Many secrets surely remain in the dark, water, depths of the collapsed volcano.” Crater Lake Visitors Guide newspaper Summer/Fall 2014

Neil and I have always loved diving and were very intrigued by the exploration of the Crater Lake floor. The National Park Service Crater Lake website has some cool pictures of the Deep Rover and the crater bottom:

The Crater Lake National Park aquatic ecologist (since 1985), Mark Buketnica, was one of the three men making the scientific dives in the Deep Rover. Bukentnica published an interesting first hand (human readable) article on the Crater Lake Institute Nature Notes “Why Enter a Sleeping Volcano in a Submarine?”

“Another interesting discovery was the presence of discrete pools of saline water on the lake floor that had a distinct blue color. The first “blue pool” discovered was named Llao’s Bath by Jack Dymond, after the legendary spirit of the lake. The pool resembled an oblong bath, 10 to 13 feet long and 3 to 5 feet across. It appeared to be elevated on one side by precipitates, and was surrounded by golden-colored bacteria. This pool and others like it are composed of hydrothermal water with salt content as much as ten times higher than the surrounding lake water. The presence of the salts makes the liquid in the pool heavier than lake water, and the pools appear blue because of the optical properties of the chemically enriched fluids. …

We were surprised to find another area of hydrothermal activity below the Palisades along the northeast caldera wall during one of the dives. Small stream-like features originated from underneath boulders or rock outcrops along the base of the caldera wall. The stream-like channels were two to three inches in width and equally as deep. Although no flow was observed at the time, the channels formed networks which exhibited classic erosional flow patterns. The channels were lined with brilliant gold bacteria and often terminated down slope in a series of blue pools. Twenty or more pools with associated islands, embayments, and delta-like features were observed in an area approximately 160 feet wide and 320 feet long.” “Why Enter a Sleeping Volcano in a Submarine?”

The US Geological Survey has interesting shaded-relief bathymertry images of the lake floor and more detail about the lake and caldera formation. USGS Crater Lake, Oregon Overview and USGS Shaded-relief bathymertry image of Crater Lake

California Ho

We left the park on the south road and then drove west crossing over I5 at Grants Pass as we headed to the California coastal redwoods. We were angling our way south planning to take the coast route the rest of the way to LA.

Photo Credit: Neil Rhoads, NPS, USGS

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Umpqua Hot Springs 2014

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Nanette Harter

We set out on the road again for our last week of the summer trip. We left Mailea’s on Thursday afternoon, July 24, and drove south through Oregon in search of another hot springs on our way to Crater Lake and eventually the Redwoods.

Umpqua Hot Springs is located inland in southern Oregon near the northwest approach to Crater Lake. We found the turn off and drove a few miles on a National Forest dirt road before reaching the gravel parking area for the trailhead and undeveloped campground. The trail to the hot springs is a .3 mile side trail off the North Umpqua River trail and the description is “short but steep.” That describes it exactly! After crossing the solidly constructed bridge over the North Umpqua River (with a colorful parrot belonging to one of the campers gracing the bridge entrance), we started climbing up a STEEP slippery trail and I was very grateful for the hand rail that had been installed. We topped out and walked a level dry pine needle covered path before we descended slightly to the springs.

We had read that the hot springs consisted of a series of travertine lined natural pools but in person it was impressive to see these naturally formed little hot tubs created from the minerals in the water cascading down the hillside. The only man-made structure was a deck and roof built over the largest pool. It was a handy spot to put our towels and bags as we moved among the different temperature pools and soaked away the miles.

“Situated on a clifftop perch, Umpqua Hot Springs’ view of the North Umpqua River below is one of Oregon hot springs’ most memorable. It certainly adds to the soothing pleasure of soaking in this spring. There are two to three oval pools for soaking above and behind the main, covered pool. The larger pool is tub-like due to the minerals from the spring creating a travertine mound over the centuries that caps the cliffside. The main pool exists sunken into this travertine stone with the view opening like an ampitheater to soakers. The upper, smaller pool is 4 by 5 feet and 112 degrees F; the lower, larger pool is 5 by 8 feet and 110 degrees F. Both pools are 2-3 feet deep and floored with coarse sand.” OregonHotSprings

Hot Springs Geology

“Volcanic activity that formed this area within the High Cascades less than two million years ago is still cooling. Here, molten rock just a few thousand feet below the surface transmits heat upward through solid rock, heating the ground water that has penetrated to that depth. Hot water then forces its way up through fissures and fractures to escape to the surface, forming hot springs. Extremely hot water dissolves large amounts of silica, a common component of volcanic rock. These dissolved silica minerals are deposited as water flows over the surface and cools. Over thousand of years the deposits have accumulated, building the hot springs mound that overlooks the North Umpqua River.” From the information sign at the Trail entrance.

There were a few other groups enjoying the pools with plenty of space for all of us to have a private pool. We stayed until the daylight was waning and hiked back before darkness overtook the trail. We wanted to camp nearby but the undeveloped campground was full of loudly partying groups so we decided to drive on. About ½ mile away was a great spot by the river but two tents were already there. Neil asked if they minded if we camped nearby and they were fine with it. We finished setting up the tent in the dark with our headlamps. Good thing we were getting to be old hands at setting up camp. We were asleep soon after and have no idea how late our neighbors stayed up enjoying their fire.

We woke with the sun and hopped in the car back to the hot springs. Only one couple was there that early (the campground partiers were probably still asleep, yeah). We soon had the pools all to ourselves and watched the sunlight light up the forest trees as it topped the mountain. Thoroughly toasty and buoyant of spirit, we went back to pack up the tent and were on the road before most campers were up.

Photo Credit: Neil Rhoads

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Brambles and Springs 2014

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Nanette Harter

After our wonderful couple of days in Seattle, we began our trip down the West coast Tuesday morning, July 22, 2014. We didn’t have far to drive before reaching La Center, Washington, where we planned to stay with Mailea a few days. Mailea is living at the farm her mother and step-father recently bought for their retirement years. We want to thank Jamie and Michael for their hospitality allowing us to stay a few nights with Mailea. Most recently, the farm belonged to a horse trainer and has a great horse barn, training area, and pasture. Before that, it was a blackberry farm! The blackberry bushes still line the edge of the property and are working to take back some of the pasture. 😉 We took the walking tour of the farm’s 18 acres with Mailea. Near the house, we admired the huge garden where she had just been weeding and building brick borders. We picked cherry plums and blackberries to munch on as we walked around the property but couldn’t reach too far into the bushes because the bramble thorns were very sharp. The property backs up to a wooded creek of cedars and old growth Douglas fir; it was like entering a fairy land with the old trees, ferns and the moss covered ground. We could partially see the beaver dam on the creek but we didn’t get up close to it.

La Center

After lunch, Mailea drove us to the small town center and we walked through Stern-Wheeler Park and out to wetlands along the East Fork of the Lewis River. It is interesting that Ari and Eric live on the Clark Fork River and just north of one of the Lewis and Clark expedition winter camps and Mailea lives on the East Fork of the Lewis River and north of the Pacific winter camp of Lewis and Clark expedition!

The indigenous inhabitants of the La Center area are the Cowlitz Indians and they were peaceable with the white settlers moving into their territory in the mid 1800’s. They stayed out of the Indian Wars of 1855-1856 with the promise of a reservation by the U.S. Government. The Cowlitz Indians were largely displaced by white settlers and then were left landless by the unfilled promise of a reservation.

All the quotes in this section are taken from the La Center – Thumbnail History on HistoryLink.org (The Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History)

“The word “Cowlitz” is believed to mean “capturing the medicine spirit,” a reference to a rite of passage in which young men would remove themselves to sacred points along the Cowlitz River on fasting treks, communing with the spirit world. Some sources hold that Lewis and Clark “discovered” Cowlitz at Fort Clatsop in 1805, but others disagree, and it appears [geographically] unlikely. … Although they were inland, the Cowlitz did not escape the epidemic of “intermittent fever” that began ravaging coastal tribes in 1829, a pestilence that is believed to have been imported on an American ship, the Owyhee. By the time the disease burned itself out in the early 1840s, it had decimated the Native American population of southwestern Washington. The total Cowlitz population in 1800 was estimated at 80,000; by 1860, the estimates of the surviving Lower Cowlitz ranged from 150 to 350.”

“Chief Atwin Stockam sued the federal government in 1906, seeking to recover several pieces of land for his tribe, and this was the opening shot of a series of legal battles that ebbed and flowed for nearly the next 100 years. Throughout the twentieth century, the Cowlitz carried on a lonely battle for recognition, always opposed by bureaucrats and sometimes opposed by recognized tribes that feared a Cowlitz gain might be their loss. Finally, after decades of struggle, in January 2002 the Cowlitz, now 2,400 strong, were granted full recognition as a tribe, and they set about putting together a reservation.”

The first white settlers arrived in 1850 when the U.S. Congress “gave away” the land to encourage settlement of the western United States. The area was heavily forested and the rivers became the highways since there were no roads. In the days prior to deforestation the rivers flowed deeper and straighter.

“For most of the 1800s, rivers were the primary means to travel into the interior of Western Washington, and it didn’t take long after settlement began for commercial vessels to penetrate the lower reaches of the East Fork of the Lewis. In the early days, river traffic consisted of bringing people and supplies into the area and shipping agricultural products out. The boats, all steam-powered sternwheelers, … started running up and down the river, stopping at each scattered homestead to trade. It was not long, however, until the potential of the area’s vast timber resource was realized, and logging became the area’s first real industry.”

A series of sternwheelers have run the East Fork of the Lewis River beginning in the 1850’s up until 1931. The town is proud of its steamboat heritage naming the downtown park Stern-Wheeler Park and putting a Sternwheeler Gallery on the town website. An informational sign in the park describes the sternwheelers. A side bar highlighted Captain Minnie Hill who was the first female west of the Mississippi to receive the master’s and pilot’s license. It was issued to her in 1886 at the age of 23 years old. “Captain Minnie Hill’s skill was so impressive that when she took the pilots exam she was awarded a lifetime license, a rare feat. This is despite the fact that her husband, also a steamboat captain, claimed the exam she was given was more difficult than usual due to a desire to fail her for cause.” Bellaonline.com

“For reasons that are no longer apparent, the site of present-day La Center was first known as “Podunk,” a name that may not then have had the negative connotations that it has today.” By the time it was incorporated in 1909, the name was changed to La Center to covey the town’s role as a center of commerce for Lewis River trade.

After our afternoon exploration, Mailea cooked us a great dinner utilizing fresh produce from the garden and then we enjoyed a relaxing evening around a fire in the fireplace. Neil misses fireplaces in Hawaii so he was happy it was a cool enough evening to light a fire!

Bagby Hot Springs

We were back in in hot springs country! Neil read about Bagby Hot Springs last time we were in the area but we weren’t able to get there that time. What we read was the water is hot and the bath houses well maintained and best of all not chlorinated or treated water. Oh, did I mention we bought a Northwest US Hot Springs book before we left Maui and referred to it as we drove to see if there were any hot springs close to our route? We left that book with Mailea for her and Ari to explore more hot springs in their area. Bagby Hot Springs is in northern Oregon a couple hour drive from Mailea’ and is located on Forest Service land and maintained by the National Forest Service. The bath houses were built by volunteers over several years beginning in 1974. It is an easy mile and half hike through beautiful forest to the hot springs area and clearly popular even mid-week in rain because the parking area was completely full!

“Cedar logs have been hollowed to create 8-foot-long bathtubs at this rustic, free hot springs. Even if you don’t plan to soak, the trail here is a delight, leading through a towering old-growth forest along a fork of the Collawash River. Just don’t expect solitude. On weekends and all through summer the trail is heavily used and there’s a long waiting line at the bath house. Parking and hiking are free, but a private concessionaire charges $5 per person to use the hot springs.” OregonHiking

“To my knowledge, this is the most well developed of the free hot springs in Oregon. At 2280 feet elevation, the hot springs is managed cooperatively by the Forest Service and a volunteer group, the Friends of Bagby. Many call Bagby their favorite hot spring. The spring water is channeled by wooden flumes into numerous bath houses and private tubs. … From the source, the water is 136 degrees Fahrenheit. Wooden buckets, which can be filled with cold spring, water are available for mixing to achieve the desired temperature.” OregonHotSprings

We hiked through the moist forest passing many returning bathers as we enjoyed the beauty around us. We didn’t have to wait too long to get our turn in a round tub big enough for the three of us on the open platform. Everyone was very friendly and considerate. Once water logged and thoroughly toasty, we passed the tub onto the next waiting group.

Portland

We were ready for dinner after our hike and soak. For the last two weeks, we had been anticipating a scrumptious Cajun dinner ever since Ari and Eric had told us about the Cajun and Creole restaurant Mailea had taken them in Portland. They loved it. I didn’t know what a distinctive dining experience we were in for at Le Bistro Montage.

“Le Bistro Montage is located in what once was the home of the Royal Hotel, in the heart of the Central Eastside Industrial district. A completely unique dining experience awaits when you come in; linen-covered communal tables, custom art, a large selection of wine and eclectic décor is only the beginning. While you are here do not forget to try our famous macaroni, mouth-watering frog legs, gator bites and our homemade desserts. Make sure to ask your server to wrap your leftovers, and see what foil art masterpiece creature you get to take home!”

For dessert, Mailea took us to a new Portland ice cream shop Salt and Straw. A sample list of some of their flavors includes Double Fold Vanilla, Coconut with Petunia’s Salted Caramel Bars, Pear & Blue Cheese, Strawberry Honey Balsamic with Black Pepper, Honey Lavender, Arbequina Olive Oil, Stumptown Coffee & Burnside Bourbon, Cinnamon Snickerdoodle, Chocolate Gooey Brownie, Almond Brittle with Salted Ganache, Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons, Freckled Woodblock Chocolate. I can’t even remember what flavor I got but it was yummy! It deserves a stop next time we are in the area.

Bramble Pants

We stopped at a Portland sporting goods store that has a basement full of used merchandise for sale. While Mailea found a pair of cleated shoes for soccer, Neil browsed through the racks and pulled out a pair of pants saying Mailea needs these. I am sure I was giving him a strange look because I couldn’t figure out why she needed stiff waxy canvas pants? He said she needed them for protection from the thorns while picking blackberries. How brilliant! He showed Mailea and she tried them on; they fit her perfectly. The pants were labeled ski powder pants but now they were Bramble Pants!

A sunny Wednesday morning was an excellent time to try out the bramble pants. Mailea and Neil got suiting up for berry picking, including “wellies” (rubber boots), and I showed them my dad’s trick of hanging the bucket on a string around his neck so he can use both hands for picking the berries. They brought in a major haul and Mailea planned to dehydrate some for long term enjoyment.

As much as we wanted to stay longer with Mailea, we knew it was time to hit the road again to continue our drive down the west coast. It was sad to leave but least we left with full bags of fresh fruit to sustain us!

Photo Credit: Neil Rhoads

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Nature in the City 2014

Posted on February 22, 2015 by Nanette Harter

We had a wonderful few day visit with Helene and Timothy in their beautiful home in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood. Our only regret was not having time with their daughters, Shane and Talia, because the girls left very early Sunday morning for a multi-day rock climbing excursion. We were able to give them a hug on Saturday night when we arrived in our exhausted state from our day at North Cascades hiking, hotel searching, and driving. I’m sorry I wasn’t coherent enough to sit up visiting a little while. (Helene later told me the girls had a great trip and weren’t impacted by the Leavenworth wildfire that was still burning nearby.)

We woke up to a beautiful Sunday morning–well cloudy and drizzly but that is a beautiful day in Seattle isn’t it? After hanging out our wet tent and sleeping bags to dry in their spacious downstairs workroom/game room, we walked with Helene and Timothy from their house down through the lower edge of the Kiwanis Ravine on a foot path and across the Ballard Locks for brunch at the Portage Bay Café. During our wait for a table, we browsed the Ballard Sunday Farmers Market. It’s a weekly street fair and market stretching several blocks with local vendors and music. We sampled local artisan cheese and salami, as well as organically grown fruit and vegetables. We took home fresh blueberries and cheese for later. Yum! On the way back, there was a free Jazz concert starting on the open lawn area in the Ballard Lock Gardens. People were seated around in lawn chairs and the rangers offered folding chairs for those of us who hadn’t brought our own. Neil and I sat a while to enjoy the upbeat music until a water main broke in the ground below the musicians and they had to scramble to save their equipment as water covered their feet and started flowing in a river down the sidewalk. Eventually the stage was moved slightly uphill and they restarted the concert but by that time we had already started strolling through the surrounding botanical gardens.

Great Blue Herons

Helene and Timothy’s home backs onto the Kiwanis Ravine blue heron wildlife sanctuary and we were able to watch parent herons bringing food to the young ones in a few nests visible from their expansive dining room windows.

“This park was named the city’s first Wildlife Sanctuary in 2010. It is home to Seattle‘s largest nesting colony of Great Blue Herons. The herons make their nests there from February through July or August each year; volunteers counted approximately 90 nests in 2011.” Kiwanis Memorial Preserve Park

During nesting season, houses adjacent to the ravine can’t do any outside construction nor any work that might disturb the nesting herons. Timothy told us these past few years the eagles have been voraciously raiding the nests for the new hatchlings and it was estimated that very few young survived the nesting season. Fewer numbers of Great Blue Herons returned to nest this year in the ravine; it seems they are moving their nesting area. We saw many herons and nests in the trees of Commodore Park, the canal-side promenade downhill from Kiwanis Ravine. Neil was able to get some good photos of them.

Hiram M Chittenden Locks

Monday, July 21, we woke to sunshine. While Helene and Timothy went to work, we did laundry, repacked the car, and did some route planning. For lunch, we retraced the same walking route to Ballard so we could feast at the Indian restaurant our friends pointed out the day before; Indian food is one our favorite cuisines. Walking back, we noticed the Ballard Locks visitor center was open and decided to look through the museum. The official name of the Ballard Locks is actually Hiram M. Chittenden Locks. They were built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers beginning in 1906 and are still operated by the Corps. Various Seattle locations were proposed and considered over the years for building the canal and locks (one proposal was to dig out a hill in middle of downtown Seattle.) U.S. Army Major Hiram M. Chittenden determined the current site of the locks was the best engineering choice and is credited with its innovative design. While we were browsing through the interesting exhibits, the load speaker announced a free tour of Gardens and Locks downstairs and we thought why not?

“Construction of the Lake Washington Ship Canal and Hiram M. Chittenden Locks was completed in 1917 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Connecting the waters of Lake Washington, Lake Union, and Salmon Bay to the tidal waters of Puget Sound, the canal and locks allow recreational and commercial vessels to travel to the docks and warehouses of Seattle’s busy fresh water harbor.

The complex of locks sit in the middle of Salmon Bay and are part of Seattle’s Lake Washington Ship Canal. They are known locally as the Ballard Locks after the neighborhood to their north. (Magnolia lies to the south.)

The locks and associated facilities serve three purposes:

To maintain the water level of the fresh water Lake Washington and Lake Union at 20 to 22 feet above sea level.

To prevent the mixing of sea water from Puget Sound with the fresh water of the lakes (saltwater intrusion).

To move boats from the water level of the lakes to the water level of Puget Sound, and vice versa.

A fish ladder is integrated into the locks for migration of anadromous fish, notably salmon. The grounds feature a visitor center, as well as the Carl S. English, Jr. Botanical Gardens.” Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, US Army Corps of Engineers

Chittenden’s ingenious design of the locks is what helped fulfill the above listed three purposes without complex engineering equipment. He also advocated the addition of the second smaller lock adjacent to the originally planned large capacity lock because he recognized the locks would be used for smaller pleasure craft along with higher tonnage commercial vessels. Using the small lock when boat traffic is low conserves fresh lake water during summer, when the lakes receive less inflow. The two lock design also allows one of the locks to be drained for maintenance without blocking all boat traffic. Our park ranger guide explained how the locks worked and how the design prevented the salt water from entering the fresh water lakes. Rather than quoting it all here, I recommend you read the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks Atlas Obscura link for a historical description about the need for as well the creation of the Locks.

Beside the two locks stretches the spillway dam which maintains the freshwater levels within a range of 2 feet for Lake Washington, Lake Union, and the Shipping Canal. The pedestrian walkway we crossed on our way to Ballard goes over the top of the dam and the lock gates themselves creating a walking corridor between Ballard and Magnolia and connecting the parks on either side of the canal. The Lake Washington Shipping Canal was built at the same time as the Ballard Locks. Commercial transportation is what drove the need for locks. In the 19th century, goods and raw materials transported from inland Washington arrived at Lake Washington on the way to Puget Sound. They need to be moved across the lake and then unloaded and moved across a section of land before reaching the docks on the Sound. I mentioned there were several locations considered to build a lock and canal. The current location of the locks requires shipping traffic to transition Lake Union before reaching the Lake Washington. The problem in the early 1900s was that Lake Washington was almost 9 feet higher than Lake Union. The opponents to the Salmon Bay location argued you would need a second set of locks between the lakes! Chittenden solved this by simply lowering Lake Washington 8.8 feet to the same level of Lake Union and building a level canal between the two lakes. It was an elegant engineering and commercial solution but had a drastic impact on the watershed:

“In 1916, Lake Washington is lowered 8.8 feet and the Black River disappears due to construction of the Lake Washington Ship Canal. … The lowering of Lake Washington and raising of Salmon Bay causes a number of changes to the watershed, the most dramatic of which is the drying up of the Black River when the level of Lake Washington drops below the river channel entrance [the natural outlet for Lake Washington]. As a result, the way water moves through the watershed changes drastically, with environmental and human consequences” HistoryLink.org

You can read the full article about the reshaping of the watershed and its impact at Washington State History HistoryLink.org. The article concludes “Like many large civil engineering projects in Seattle, the Lake Washington Ship Canal wrought enormous change to the landscape and to the lives of people who lived on the waterways affected by the project. It brought many benefits to the city, but exacted a large environmental and social price.”

Fish Ladder

The tour then moved onto the Fish Ladder. Major Chittenden proposed the building of a fish ladder as a part of the locks design (he was environmentally aware that the salmon’s natural migration route up the Black River to their spawning grounds was about to dry up) and the first ladder was completed with the construction of the locks.

“All fish, including endangered salmon, must pass through the locks, spillway or the fish ladder to move between Lake Washington and Puget Sound. In 1976, Corps of Engineers officials renovated and improved the ladder to reflect changes in fish conservation. Today’s ladder has 21 steps, or weirs, which allow the fish to swim upstream on a gradual incline. For many years the locks has been the focus of studies detailing migrating juvenile and adult salmon behavior.” Fish Ladder, US Army Corps of Engineers

An underground low light viewing room offers five large glass windows to watch the fish swimming upstream in an upper weir as they approach the fresh water end of the ladder. The room has excellent interpretive signage offering information about the ladder and diagrams of five salmon species you will most likely see through the viewing windows. Although we have visited the fish ladder viewing area in the past, our guide shared some great information.One thing we learned is the fish often mill around lingering in each weir. This allows their body to literally change its physiology adapting to the progressively lower salinity of the water above the spillway dam. In more natural settings, salmon migrating up unobstructed streams spend days moving from their adult salt water environment to the brackish estuary to the fresh water of their birth place allowing for a slow change in their physiology. The salmon migrating through the Locks fish ladder have a mere few hundred yards for their bodies to make the adaptation, thus they need to take it slowly. (Video 23 sec.)

A detailed discussion of the unusual and unique design of this fish ladder is at the link below:

“The fish ladder at the Chittenden locks is unusual—materials published by the federal government say “unique”—in being located where salt and fresh water meet. Normally, fish ladders are located entirely within fresh water. … The [first] ladder was designed to use attraction water: fresh water flowing swiftly out the bottom of the fish ladder, in the direction opposite which anadromous fish migrate at the end of their lives. … The Corps rebuilt the fish ladder in 1976 by increasing the flow of attraction water and adding more weirs. … A diffuser well mixes salt water gradually into the last 10 weirs. … The fish approaching the ladder smell the attraction water, recognizing the scent of Lake Washington and its tributaries. They enter the ladder, and either jump over each of the 21 weirs or swim though tunnel-like openings. They exit the ladder into the fresh water of Salmon Bay. … The offspring remain in the fresh water until they are ready to migrate to the ocean as smolts [juvenile fish].” Fish Ladder, Wikipeida

We had been wondering about large white tubes we saw extending from the spillway pouring out water from above the spillway dam. Our guide explained these “smolt flumes” were inserted into the spillway during spawning season to provide a safe route downstream for the smolt as they made their journey to the sea where they will live their adult life. They actually face upstream and swim against the current as they are carried backwards through the flumes. For scientific purposes the flumes have counters built into them so can keep track of how many smolt pass through. You can view additional photos at My Ballard and KelliTravels.com.

Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Gardens

The tour had begun inside the auditorium with a short video and introduction by the Park Ranger guide. As we exited the visitor center and walked toward the locks, we paused only briefly on the main path in the Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Garden for our guide to give us some history about the gardens and a few antidotal stories. “Carl S. English was hired in 1931 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to transform the gravel lot remaining from the construction of the newly completed Hiram M. Chittenden Locks into a grassy field which could be used for marching, training drills and public events. Instead, he took it upon himself to bring to life an elaborate, English-style landscape garden which today boasts over 1500 varieties of plants from around the world.” [You can read more at Atlas Obscura] The fun antidotal story I remember: No other US Army Corps of Engineers site has a “garden” and years into English’s work, a visiting superior found not a flat marching drill grounds but the sculptured landscaped garden. The superior ordered English to remove the garden and put in a large flat grassy field. English said he would be happy to comply but would the superior please communicate to the University that the garden was to be removed; the University had by this time established a curriculum for all its botany classes to do their field work at the gardens. And would the superior also please communicate to the numerous volunteers who had spent 1000s of hours helping create and maintain the garden. The superior backed down and the Ballard Locks is still to this day the only Corps facility that has a Botanical Gardens!

“This botanical garden is a tribute to the devotion of our first horticulturist, Carl S. English, Jr. During the 43 years working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Carl transformed the barren lawn, left after the construction of the locks, into a garden worthy of serious study.

Through his travels and correspondence with prominent botanists and with the assistance of ship captains returning through the locks, Carl collected specimens of trees and flowers from around the world. He brought about an amazing homecoming, the dawn redwood Previously known only as a fossil, it was discovered growing in China. Carl arranged to receive some of the first seeds ever shipped to the United States. Eight specimens grow in the garden today.

These lovely grounds are a masterpiece of horticultural splendor, combining the elegant lines and vistas of the romantic English landscape style with the original character of more than 570 species and 1,500 varieties from around the world.” Botanical Gardens, US Army Corps of Engineers

We had enjoyed walked through the lovely and colorful gardens the day before so didn’t miss moving straight on to the canal and locks. The free guided tour was fascinating and I would recommend it if you are in the Seattle Ballard area.

We topped off the day enjoying wine and pupus with our hosts in their garden, taking advantage of the sunny, warm evening and then shared a wonderful dinner together on our last evening in Seattle. Tuesday morning, once the Seattle rush hour traffic subsided, it would be time to head south and on to the next phase of our adventure.

Photo and Video Credit: Neil Rhoads

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Nan Harter

Sharing my adventures with family and friends

Tag Archives: travel

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