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| Canoe |
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| Canoe |
Wanted yesterday to be a low key day, decided to take a drive along the Strait, traveling up to Neah Bay again then back down through Olympic National Park's Lake Crescent area and home. Didn't get going until noonish, delayed that long because of heavy fog. I found a neat web-cam sight on the internet that shows 12 locations around the Peninsula, showing real-time photos so we can check the weather prior to going. Comes in real handy because it may be very sunny and beautiful here in Sequim but fogged in and 20 degrees cooler by the ocean.
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| Watch Out for Traffic! |
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| Near Ediz Point - Fogged In |
We have to drive west into Port Angeles to continue farther westbound and when we got into Port Angeles I decided to drop down to the harbor and watch the goings on for a bit. We saw two canoes from the Canoe Journey coming into the beach. At this point there are over 40 canoes with another 30 joining up at the next leg, stopping at Lower Elwah Tribal Center just west of Port Angeles. The white canoe shown had 15 people - looking closely at it - many look to be just 14 (no younger according to rules). Fog was pretty heavy but could see Nippon's Paper Mill located right at the banks of the port and there were some very large freighters anchored out waiting to come in while another two were in port. The picture above - look closely and you can see a freighter in the fog to the right - ghostly. The Black Ball Ferry had just come in to drop off/pick up passengers headed to Victoria, BC. Found the road that goes out to Ediz Point and if we weren't snoopy, would have never known about this road. Had to drive right through Nippon's Wood plant - felt like my days at LTV Steel when I had to drive through the plant to park the car. Made me a little nervous.
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| Driving Thru Nippon Plant |
Still lots of fog so did not linger long, wondered how in the world the canoeist will traverse this Ediz Point on towards Lower Elwah's landing. Open water, was white caps, freighter and ferry traffic - very scary. And we have been in waters that had freighters crossing our path, on a sailboat, but to be in an open canoe, just pulling along, and some without a pilot (safety) boat. Wow. There have been two capsizes since the start, one canoe from Victoria, and the other from Seattle - thankfully no one was hurt, and they were rescued by the Coast Guard and able to rejoin the Journey the next day.
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| Beautiful Pillar Point |
Continued westbound and traveled a route that was not recommended to go due to heavy logging trucks using the road. Very twisty, turny, up and down, along the Strait, back into the forest, in fog, out of fog, passing trucks, thankfully none in front or behind us. Stopped at Pillar Point - a small state run park that is day use only and has a boat ramp. Very very pretty, fog lifting up over the point. The canoeist will stop here next after Elwah. Drove on into Neah Bay and stopped to get more smoked fish. If you have ever had fresh, smoked fish, it is to die for. We picked up a nice slab and then some that had been freezer packaged and drove on to Shi-Shi Beach - another beach on the Pacific Ocean known for it's sea stacks. But - the road was closed and we had to turn around. Came back to Neah Bay and parked at a public parking area looking out over the marina and ate our fresh fish. I don't want to leave this area - ever! Stopped at a lookout on way back near Sekiu - a pod of orcas were feeding off shore and we counted at least 5 coming up to blow. Still could see the fog as it moved northward towards Canada. So many campgrounds and many are full. Would love to camp near the water but it's a chore to get the RV here, only to bring it back when done.
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| Overlook where we saw orcas |
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