(no subject)
Went camping up near Mt. Rainier this weekend. Nice camp grounds - very green and foresty, with a medium creek/tiny river flowing through the campground.
Saturday we spent driving around Mt. Rainier National Park. Wasn't sure we were going to actually see the mountain itself because of clouds, but we got lucky and the peak blew clear right as we were driving past one of the many view points.
Mt. Saint Helen's was Sunday's road trip. Alas, this time the clouds did not part for us, so we didn't see the summit. It was only the very tip that was hidden behind the clouds, though, so we got to see most of it, and honestly, it's just amazing to see some of the damage done *and* how much the place has recovered after only 30 years. We could still see the bleached white bones of the trees that were knocked over like so many toothpicks, but there was a lot of new growth, and even the fallen trees that made for such a dramatic picture back in the aftermath of the 1980 eruption are a lot fewer than they used to be. The snow pack up there is so thick and heavy during the winter (one of the broschures claims around 680 inches on average, but we pretty much agreed it had to be a typo - 680 in = 56.6 feet = 17.3 meters, give or take. I suppose we could be wrong, though, not being from the mountains ourselves) that a lot of them got squished into the ground, which upped decomposition and pretty much hid them from sight. There are plenty still visible, mind (and yes, there will be pictures later), but the forest has recovered pretty darned well. The trees they replanted once the dust settled are already at least 20 feet tall, and there's all sorts of cool stuff to see all over the place.
Seriously, if you all ever get to Washington, check out Mount Saint Helen's National Park, because it is *amazing* and awesome no matter how cold and windy it is! Which it was. Very windy, if not technically 'cold' - temps were in the 40s, but the winds were *harsh*. As myself and Beth commented as we were climbing up to "Windy Point" view point (about an 8th of a mile and 420 stairs straight up. My calves are not at all happy with me today), thank *god* for hoodies!
There was also this *huge* flee market/swap meet in a little town called Packwood about a 10 minutes drive from where we were camped. It happens twice a year on Memorial Day Weekend and Labor Day Weekend, and the thing is *massive*. Picture a tiny little town/village of maybe 1500 people during the off season, and twice as many during the summer - big enough to have it's own tiny convenience and/or grocery store, but not big enough to have it's own school or even an "Unincorporated" sign on the edge of town (not that I saw, at least).
Now, picture every little road and side-street in that tiny little town packed with almost wall to wall tents selling *everything* you can possibly think of - log furniture, antiques, All Things Artsy, shoes, t-shirts, sweatshirts, bags, luggage, pretty little knickknacks made of crystal and glass, leather work, and any kind of food you can think of - if you can sell it, it was being sold at that swap meet. We were there for two hours on Sunday morning and an additional hour and a half Sunday afternoon, and we saw *maybe* a quarter of all the booths. Apparently it's the biggest flee market in Washington State, and it definitely lives up to the name. I bought a poncho with a hood, Beth a found a few of those pretty laser-carved crystals to give out as Christmas presents, and Walt was only along because he was in the car and out voted when we drove through. The dogs had a blast, though, and I rather enjoyed it myself.
One minor downside of the weekend - last night our camp stove gave up on us, so no hot water for coffee/hot chocolate, and no cooking of the breakfast we brought along with us for this morning. Also? Last night it raaaaaained, a slow, steady rain that lasted almost an hour and a half and soaked everything we left outside - including the chairs. And though it didn't seem to get super cold last night (I think we were hovering around the lower-to-mid 40s over night for both nights at the campground), the additional of Wet And Not Warm made me really rather regret that we had no hot beverages to look forward to when we got up. It did stop raining before we got up, though, so hurrah for not having to tear down camp in the rain.
Another annoyance was that the campground we were in also didn't seem to have any showers, so by day three we were all feeling rather grubby, but it was still fun.
I also totally drained my camera battery dead with all the pictures I was taking. Not sure what the final count ended up as (probably around 150, but I can't check until I charge my battery and/or transfer the pictures to my computer), but there are a lot of them and I shall post all of the good ones in Facebook and some of the highlights in LJ as soon as I find the motivation to actually do anything.
Saturday we spent driving around Mt. Rainier National Park. Wasn't sure we were going to actually see the mountain itself because of clouds, but we got lucky and the peak blew clear right as we were driving past one of the many view points.
Mt. Saint Helen's was Sunday's road trip. Alas, this time the clouds did not part for us, so we didn't see the summit. It was only the very tip that was hidden behind the clouds, though, so we got to see most of it, and honestly, it's just amazing to see some of the damage done *and* how much the place has recovered after only 30 years. We could still see the bleached white bones of the trees that were knocked over like so many toothpicks, but there was a lot of new growth, and even the fallen trees that made for such a dramatic picture back in the aftermath of the 1980 eruption are a lot fewer than they used to be. The snow pack up there is so thick and heavy during the winter (one of the broschures claims around 680 inches on average, but we pretty much agreed it had to be a typo - 680 in = 56.6 feet = 17.3 meters, give or take. I suppose we could be wrong, though, not being from the mountains ourselves) that a lot of them got squished into the ground, which upped decomposition and pretty much hid them from sight. There are plenty still visible, mind (and yes, there will be pictures later), but the forest has recovered pretty darned well. The trees they replanted once the dust settled are already at least 20 feet tall, and there's all sorts of cool stuff to see all over the place.
Seriously, if you all ever get to Washington, check out Mount Saint Helen's National Park, because it is *amazing* and awesome no matter how cold and windy it is! Which it was. Very windy, if not technically 'cold' - temps were in the 40s, but the winds were *harsh*. As myself and Beth commented as we were climbing up to "Windy Point" view point (about an 8th of a mile and 420 stairs straight up. My calves are not at all happy with me today), thank *god* for hoodies!
There was also this *huge* flee market/swap meet in a little town called Packwood about a 10 minutes drive from where we were camped. It happens twice a year on Memorial Day Weekend and Labor Day Weekend, and the thing is *massive*. Picture a tiny little town/village of maybe 1500 people during the off season, and twice as many during the summer - big enough to have it's own tiny convenience and/or grocery store, but not big enough to have it's own school or even an "Unincorporated" sign on the edge of town (not that I saw, at least).
Now, picture every little road and side-street in that tiny little town packed with almost wall to wall tents selling *everything* you can possibly think of - log furniture, antiques, All Things Artsy, shoes, t-shirts, sweatshirts, bags, luggage, pretty little knickknacks made of crystal and glass, leather work, and any kind of food you can think of - if you can sell it, it was being sold at that swap meet. We were there for two hours on Sunday morning and an additional hour and a half Sunday afternoon, and we saw *maybe* a quarter of all the booths. Apparently it's the biggest flee market in Washington State, and it definitely lives up to the name. I bought a poncho with a hood, Beth a found a few of those pretty laser-carved crystals to give out as Christmas presents, and Walt was only along because he was in the car and out voted when we drove through. The dogs had a blast, though, and I rather enjoyed it myself.
One minor downside of the weekend - last night our camp stove gave up on us, so no hot water for coffee/hot chocolate, and no cooking of the breakfast we brought along with us for this morning. Also? Last night it raaaaaained, a slow, steady rain that lasted almost an hour and a half and soaked everything we left outside - including the chairs. And though it didn't seem to get super cold last night (I think we were hovering around the lower-to-mid 40s over night for both nights at the campground), the additional of Wet And Not Warm made me really rather regret that we had no hot beverages to look forward to when we got up. It did stop raining before we got up, though, so hurrah for not having to tear down camp in the rain.
Another annoyance was that the campground we were in also didn't seem to have any showers, so by day three we were all feeling rather grubby, but it was still fun.
I also totally drained my camera battery dead with all the pictures I was taking. Not sure what the final count ended up as (probably around 150, but I can't check until I charge my battery and/or transfer the pictures to my computer), but there are a lot of them and I shall post all of the good ones in Facebook and some of the highlights in LJ as soon as I find the motivation to actually do anything.