La Push, Washington to Portland, Oregon. 4th November 2018. (Trip summary and links to posts ..)
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La Push
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The half-buried log.
I got up very early in the morning in my last morning at La Push. This log was not far from my front window and I have shown the root end of the log before but not as full a view as this. Of course, this is nine years ago so what is there now might be quite different. After all, it was brought in from somewhere else in a storm. Must have been quite a storm.
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Birds in the sky.
The island in the background is the one between James Island and Little James Island – Very Little James Island perhaps?
How many birds in this image?
Quick…
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No, I didn’t count them either. CoPilot reckons 115 to 155. That’s not counting, though, that is a density estimate.
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Birds on the beach.
First Beach, James Island in the background. CoPilot reckons 30 birds, 18-20 on the sand and 10-12 in the sky. That’s way out.
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A juvenile Herring Gull.
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Lake Crescent
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Lake Crescent
I am now heading east from La Push on my way back to Portland OR. Lake Crescent is on the way.
On my planned route, I had intended a side trip to Cape Flattery, the north-west point of continental US. Not sure why I didn’t. Maybe I was running short of time or maybe the road was closed. Had I done so I might have learnt something of the archaeological site of Ozette, close to the current Indian village of Neah Bay.
In 1970, a storm uncovered the Ozette village that had been buried by a landslide around 1700. It was remarkably well preserved. There had also been other previous landslides there that buried villages, so the sites went well before 1700. The oldest finds were about 2,000 years old and there are middens in the area that have been dated to 4,000 years old. So it is likely the current Indian population has direct ancestors stretching back 4,000 years in the same location. They are also “the only group of US Indians who have the legal right to hunt whales” (The probably doesn’t include tribes in the Aleutians though). From 2020 (two years after I visited) there is a museum in Neah Bay that would be well worth visiting. BBC Article.
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Mt Walker Viewpoint
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Mountain view.
This is a fair distance from the previous image. We are now heading south beside Dabob Bay, about thirty or forty kilometres west of Seattle (19 to 25 miles). I have driven up to Mt Walker Viewpoint, which as you will see, provides some pretty spectacular images.
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The dark line of pines contrasts starkly with the valley clouds an the mountains beyond.
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Definitely logging clearfell rather than farm land.
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Looking across Dabob Bay
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Imperious snow-covered peaks, perhaps Mt Deception and Mt Mystery.
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Mountain trees and clouds.
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A distant mirage.
Could it be an Indian village that has grown wealthy on casinos? Let me consult the map. No, it’s Seattle.
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Patterns on the water.
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Right Smart Cove.
We are looking south and a little east, a distance of about six kilometres. The houses are not farmhouses and they have no road access. The long structure on the right is probably a barn, with a variety of objects inside including what may be some hay bales.
This was taken with a Fujifilm X-T2 and a 100-400mm lens at 400mm (600mm full-frame equivalent). All the images except one from the viewpoint were taken with this lens.
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Patterns in Nature.
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A wider view.
This is the only image from the viewpoint not taken with the 100-400mm lens; rather a 10-24mm (wide angle). Right smart Cove is near the middle of the image, just to the right of the round point, partly hidden by a wisp of cloud.
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DosewallipsRiver.
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Enigmatic boat.
I have left the viewpoint and am now driving south, past Right Smart Cove and just past Black Point. The stretch of water is called Hood Canal, though it’s a natural waterway. The boat appears to be owned by someone called Pat who likes rioting or considers himself a riot. It may be a fishing boat because there appears to be a net stored at the side of the boat. There’s a massive empty dingy on the back. There are night lights mounted above. Perhaps it’s for operating in a salmon farm. It’s the wrong period to be taking people seized by ICE, putting them into the dingy and throwing them out into the sea.
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A photographer at the roadside, possibly Greg Scott.
I pulled up at the bridge over Dosewallips River because someone was there taking a photograph. I wondered what he was photographing.
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Dosewallips River View.
This is the view I probably would have gone straight past had I not seen the photographer.
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Hello Again
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I’ve been publishing this Blog for sixteen years. For the first fifteen years I averaged 23,000 views per year and the highest year was 32,000 in 2015. Then last December for some reason views took off. So far this year (near end of May) I have had 82,500 views which is about ten times the average. Many people are landing on the Hello page, so I have revised it and improved the appearance. Should you be interested, you can click here or use the menu at the top.
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