Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Happy International Cat Day!
Who knew?? August 8th is International Cat Day! Well I didn’t until I was reminded by my fellow bloggers! And so I couldn’t let the day go by without sharing pictures of my favorite felines: Tiger and Benji, who went from this:
to this:
Aren’t they handsome boys?
So Happy International Cat Day to all cat lovers and their feline friends everywhere!
~ Susanne
Mora and Rialto Beach, Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park spreads over the Olympic Peninsula in the northwest corner of Washington State, almost a million acres of protected wilderness, with mountains, forests and the wildest coastline in the contiguous United States. A designated World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve it attracts visitors from around the world. It also attracts us locals and we visited again this summer, this time camping in a remote section of the Park at beautiful Mora.
Mora Campground
Located next to the Quillayute River, and a mile from Rialto Beach, Mora lies deep in old growth forest, dripping green and gorgeous and that’s where we parked our trailer the first two nights. Mora doesn’t take reservations but we got there early in the week and easily found a spot. You may be surprised to hear it cost us a measly $10 a night to camp. Yes, true. Already a bargain at $20 a night, it’s only $10 for those with a Senior National Parks Pass. Money well spent, I think.
Quillayute River
The Quillayute River is only four miles long, formed by the confluence of the Sol Duc and the Bogachiel Rivers, before it flows into the Pacific Ocean. We stopped by the river on our way to Rialto Beach and I felt transported to an earlier time, almost expecting to see Native Americans in traditional garb, fishing, and weaving baskets from cedar bark. In fact the Quileute Indian Reservation is home to the Quileute tribe who’ve lived in this area for thousands of years. The village of La Push is its largest community and sits at the mouth of river, just south of Rialto Beach.
We visited instead with a family from France, who had stopped to take pictures of the eagles.
They also pointed out this resting seal to us, a real treat!
Rialto Beach
We discovered Rialto Beach on our trip to the park last year, but I was impressed all over again with its rugged beauty, offshore sea stacks, and the size of the giant drift logs and standing ghost trees on the beach.
I asked Bob to pose in front of one of the logs for scale and he obliged.
Then while he fished in the surf (catching only seaweed) I walked a mile up the beach to get a closer look at some sea stacks.
On my walk I saw what looked like a giant tarantula but was another tree stump, not completely bleached of color yet.
Though it was cool and overcast, it was a refreshing change from the dry heat we’ve had in the Seattle area most of the summer. We did find blue skies on our visit to La Push and First Beach the next day and on our hike to Third Beach; more to come on that in a future post.
~ Susanne
Can We Come Too?
‘Hey Benji. What are you doing there?’
‘Waiting for you Sue!’ he replied.
‘On the trailer step?’ I asked.
‘Yes!’ he said. ‘Tiger and I talked it over and we want to go camping with you. I thought this would be the best place to wait so you don’t forget us next time.’
‘That’s right,’ Tiger replied. ‘And I think I’ll just stay in here till we go. I’ve been checking it out and it will work perfectly.’
‘There’s lots of room for all of us,’ continued Benji. ‘I can sleep here in the corner. Tiger can have the floor. You won’t even know we’re here.’
‘Nice of you to give the floor to Tiger, Benji. Anyway we’d love to take you but you wouldn’t enjoy it, trust me. Remember how much you hate riding in cars? This would even be worse!’
‘Please Sue. We really want to come.’
”Sorry Benji. Even if you could handle the ride – which I don’t think you could – what would you do at the campground? I couldn’t let you out or you might get lost. (Or even worse – there are bears out there!) And you and Tiger would get on each other’s nerves all cooped up in here!’
‘Well you have some valid points,’ he conceded.
‘Good. I’m glad you agree. You’ll be much happier at home. And anyway we’re not leaving again anytime soon. So why don’t you go out and chase some mice?’
~ Susanne, Tiger & Benji
Breakfast with a View at Kalaloch
I just returned from a few days of camping in Olympic National Park. It will take me a while to sort through the pictures of our adventures at Mora, Rialto Beach, Third Beach and the Hoh River Rainforest. Stay tuned for those to come. In the meantime, I thought I’d whet your appetite with pictures from the end of our trip, where we stopped for breakfast at Kalaloch Lodge, before heading back home.
The breakfast and views were incredible.
~ Susanne
Another Sunrise at Mt Rainier
I already posted about our first trip in the r pod to Silver Springs Campground, but I can’t resist sharing another picture of those lovely springs and a side trip we took to Sunrise.
The campground is close to Mt Rainier National Park so one day we took the drive along the White River to one of its most popular destinations, Sunrise.
On the way to the top, we stopped by Sunrise Point and enjoyed a nearly 360 degree panorama of the Cascade Mountains.
Continuing up we arrived at the Sunrise Visitor Center, at 6400 feet, the highest point you can reach in the park by car.
After lunch, we took some of the short trails leading to close up views of the Mountain.
At Emmons Vista we had a good look at the largest glacier by area in the contiguous United States. Emmons Glacier descends from the summit into the White River Valley and is seen left of the triangular rock known as Steamboat Prow in the picture below. What looks like gray land where the White River emerges is actually the terminus of the glacier, where hundreds of feet of glacial ice are covered with avalanche debris from a rock fall in 1963.
More recently (just a few weeks before our visit), another icefall deposited huge chunks of ice on Mt Rainier’s most popular climbing route near Ingraham Glacier, reminding us just how volatile this mountain can be. Fortunately the climbing group that discovered the massive chunks of ice had started their climb later than normal or they wouldn’t have survived.
Happy to be viewing the sleeping giant safely from below. Or as safe as can be considering she is still an active volcano. Life is not without its risks.
~ Susanne
Benji and the Selfie
“Hey Benji, I’d like to practice taking a selfie. Can you help me out?”
“Sure Sue, what’s a selfie?”
“It’s when you use your phone to take a picture of yourself. It seems like everyone’s doing it and they look so good in the picture. My selfies look terrible.”
“Be happy to help,” he replied. “What can I do?”
“Well, you’re so photogenic, I thought it would be nice to have you in the picture. The idea is to look as natural as possible.”
“Sure,’ he said,’ how’s this?”
“Wow Benji, it’s perfect of you! But I don’t look natural at all, so I’ll just crop me out of this one. Could we try again?”
“Sure Sue. Sometimes a different angle helps to show off your best side. Here’s mine.”
“No kidding, Benji! That’s a great shot of you! But not so so good of me so I’ll just do a bit more cropping and get me out of there. You have time for one more?”
“Anything for you Sue. Let’s try the other side this time. It’s not my best, but maybe it’ll work for you.”
“You look good from any angle, Benji! I don’t know what my problem is. Maybe selfies aren’t my thing.”
“Aw come on, Sue, you’re too hard on yourself. What you need is confidence – we cats have confidence! You gotta look the camera in the eye! Like this!”
“Yes indeed, Benji! You do have confidence! But as for me, I think I need a lot more practice taking selfies. Thanks for the help anyway, but for now I’ll just take pictures of you. You’re still the photogenic one!”
~ Susanne and Benji
Optimism in July’s Garden
By this time of year my garden seems worn and spent and I sometimes feel it myself. It’s hot and it’s hot and there’s no rain in sight. The lettuce long since pulled, left an empty spot behind. The potato harvest is over and done and their droopy tops remain. Even the trustworthy raspberries are mostly forgotten and dried up. (I’ll spare you the pictures.)
But they had their turn! Look at what’s in color now!
Tomatoes plump and green as apples.
Baby squash starting to crawl.
Dahlias, proud in pink and red!
And lavender, oh so lavender!
Yes, there’s always room for improvement. More potatoes. Succession plantings to fill the gaps. All good plans for next year. But that can wait. For now, here’s to optimism in July’s garden.
~ Susanne
Garden Fossils
Resting in the shadows near the stream,
joined by friends
I notice ferns imprinted on rocks,
like ancient fossils.
~ Susanne
Tree Art and Sunset at Seward Park
We took a walk last night at Seward Park through woods of Douglas-Fir, lit up by Maple.
Near the lakeshore this golden Madrona was beautiful alone,
shortly before sunset over the lake.
~ Susanne
Tipsoo Lake at Mt Rainier
In my last post I told you about our maiden voyage in the R Pod, where we camped at Silver Springs near Mt Rainier. In this one I’ll share more pictures of the wonderful mountain scenery we enjoyed, starting with Tipsoo Lake.
Located 15 minutes east of the Silver Springs Campground this lovely subalpine lake is set in a glacier-carved basin at an elevation of 5,298 feet. Loved to death on summer weekends, we were fortunate to find it relatively unpopulated on a weekday, one of the benefits of retirement. We took an easy stroll around the lake and saw patches of snow and lots of wildflowers, including magenta paintbrush, and avalanche and glacier lilies.
There was also this view of Yakima Peak,
and of course, Mt. Rainier.
Then it was over Chinook Pass to check out the rivers on the east side of the mountains for future fly fishing trips. Douglas-fir was soon replaced by Ponderosa Pine and as the temperature increased we decided to cool off in one of the rivers.
Soon signs of civilization appeared and we stopped by the Gold Creek Restaurant for dinner. Thus, I was spared from cooking that night and I have to say it made me a happy camper.
Back over the Pass, and we had another view of Tipsoo Lake and the Mountain behind,
before arriving at Silver Springs Campground where all was quiet and peaceful at twilight.
The next morning after our campfire,
we headed to Sunrise for more views of Rainier and Emmons Glacier but lest I weary you with my pictures I will save that for another time.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 