Ft Stevens and back to Cullaby

Yesterday I made the trip up to Fort Stevens State Park and had a long hike up the beach and then inland to a bike trail and back down to my car. There is so much to see here I think it would take me several weeks to see everything. This first picture is what is left from the wreck of the Peter Iredale where I started my hike.



There are seven miles of bike trails in the park. I hope to come back for a bike ride soon. Here is a sample of the bike paths.



Today I returned to Cullaby County Park. I went out on the lake with my Sea Eagle inflatable kayak and had a very enjoyable day. It was very cloudy so the pictures did not come out as well as I liked but here is one.



I am running out of days here and I have so much more I would like to do. Guess I will be busy next week trying to get everything done.

Laundry and apples

Took a day to get things done. Started the day out with doing my laundry. After that I dried some apples in my dehydrator. I was running low on my dried apples which I like to take with me on day hikes so thought it would be a good day to stock up. While the apples were drying, I went into town to pick up my mail I had sent to me. I found the post office with no problem and my mail was there waiting for me so that worked out good. I was just kind of lazy for the rest of the day. :-)

Pictures

I have added all of my Ecola State Park photos to Winkflash. To see them, go to http://dorothysie.winkflash.com/

Ecola State Park

Yesterday I drove to Ecola State Park and hiked the Clatsop Loop Trail plus part of the way over Tillamook Head to Seaside trail. I highly recomment the Clatsop Loop Trail for its scenic views and wonderful vegatation. This area has lots of huge Sitka spruce trees some estimated to have germinated around 1615. They would have been about 191 years old when William Clark walked this trail. William Clark and a small exloration party walked this trail in January 1806, searching for a beached whale near present day Cannon Beach.

Here are some pictures of the views from the trail.



This Sitka spruce provides an ideal nest platform for the marbled murrelet - a rare seabird that likes to nest on big branch platforms. This tree once stood in an opening that allowed the branches to spread out widely until the other trees closed in. Now its branches must grow upward, making it look like a giant candelabra. I love seeing the ferns growing up in the trees.



This is called a "clothespin" tree. The nurse log the tree grew on decayed from underneath leaving a large open area.

A typical hillside:



Watch your head!



This little guy was walking along with me but he was too slow so I went on.

Hiking

Saturday I found a wonderfull county park near where I am staying. I spent a lot of time hiking the trails and checking the place out. There is a nice lake and I plan to take my kayak up there in the near future for a day on the lake.

I have been getting in a lot of walking both in town and on the beach. The weather has been rainy and windy but not too cold so I have been ignoring it. :-)

I have also been starting to wash my motorhome. Yesterday I washed half the roof. I plan on doing a little bit at a time between the rain showers.

On the road!

I finally got the Steer Safe installed and started on my trip. The RV handled just fine pulling up mountains and going down the other side. Here is a picture of where I am camped tonight.



Now I get to start my exploration of the areas around where I camp. When I left town, a severe thunder storm warning was being announced on the radio with possible large hail. It seemed to be coming up on the east side and I was slipping out the west side so I missed it. :-) The weather during my trip was fine but when I arrived at my campsite, there were really strong winds. The grocery clerk was saying the power was flickering and there were tornado warnings. The high winds only lasted a couple of hours and then everything settled down. Just had a rain shower go through but no more wind. It is a lot cooler here than in town. Feels good for a change.

It feels weird when I think about the fact that I have everything with me and I do not need to go back after a few days. I will be able to just keep going on and on. I always hated turning around and going back whether it was on a trail or a road trip.

Still here

Well, here it is, Wednesday and I am still not started on my trip yet. Still waiting for the Steer Safe unit to show up. If it doesn't show up today, I will seriously consider not getting it installed. I could get it installed tomorrow but that would mean a very late start.

So what have I been doing? Well, Monday nothing was planned so I spent the day running around and picking up some last minute things one of which was my mail. I also made a last trip to my storage unit to drop some more things off. After I finished all that I took a trip to Champoeg State Park and spent the afternoon there hiking and getting in a nice bike ride. The place was almost empty so it was nice and quiet. Here is a picture of a place I stopped and had a snack and read a bit:



Tuesday, the RV was in the shop in hopes the Steer Safe unit would come in. The kit for raising the back of the RV was in and installed. 2 inch blocks were put in which gives me an extra 4 inches of clearence at the back. The yearly refridgerator maintenance was also done. While all that work was getting done, I went to a local park and did a lot of hiking.

Today I did my 4 mile walk and am now waiting for a call to see if I need to take the RV in again. Hopefully I can get on the road tomorrow.