It is my great honor to introduce my wonderful siblings, Brendan and Chelsea, for anyone who doesn’t have the privilege to know them personally. They both helped contribute to this blog post, Chels gave me lots of edits and reminders of details I’d forgotten, and Bren even submitted this excerpt:
“Truly the adventure of a lifetime. So grateful to have been able to share it with my favorite adventurers. The pace was pushed. Endurance was tested. Bloblins were faced. So many highlights its tough to choose. There’s nothing like seeing Jefferson Pine at the top of Sentinel Dome. Or caving through Ape Cave for hours with no supplies thinking it was going to be 15 minutes. Crater Lake was truly magical, and not just because it housed Wizard Island and a Phantom Ship. After a grueling trek to the summit, Chelsea found the Dragon Tree. It looked remarkable like a long skinny Chinese dragon. We even took Targaryen pictures riding the reptilian tree. A surprise highlight was going to sleep in the tent only to be serenaded by a group of nearby campers belting out a beautiful version of A Whole New World. Guys and girls, and great voices all around. Was fitting for the journey. So much amazing wildlife. Elk, deer, lizards, frogs, crabs, whales, sea lions, a dragon kite, elephant seals, otters, banana slugs, anemones, chipmunks and pikas in the rocks, all kinds of cool birds both around the water and soaring through the mountain peaks. Even caught some pics of an indigenous snow bunny on a boulder at the base of Lassen! (special thanks to the lady that brought her bunny from VA). So many beautiful wildflowers and cool trees as well. Other favorites included Fort Clatsop and The Devil’s Punchbowl rock formation. Nothing could compare to the Oregon Dunes though. Watching the windswept sands race across the beach at sunset transported us to another land. 4 wheeling the dunes was truly intense and crazy fun. Easy to see why people camp out there and ride all summer. I wholeheartedly plan on returning. On the other side of the spectrum was the campfire dinners. So nice to enjoy bacon dogs and cooked peppers and eventually s’mores just like we did as youngins with our parents and friends. There is definitely a simplicity in van life and camping that we all really enjoyed. Special shout out to Whitney, Mason and his family for our mission briefing, Game of Thrones finale, amazing food and great company. They even told us where to find the storied bridge troll of Seattle. Thanks to Amy for the best cupcake in all my days. All the strangers we encountered were wonderful as well. Good, helpful people all around. So lucky we got to share this experience. As one of my favorite teachers used to say, it will be emblazoned on the fleshy tablets of our minds.”
The three of us enjoyed a wonderful week at Ocean City, Maryland with our extended family before flying together from Baltimore to Seattle, where The Red Rover awaited us!
Our first stop was at the famous Pike’s Place market in Seattle. Arts and crafts, loads of fresh seafood, and a wall completely covered in gum and designs people have made from gum!
Second stop was a troll under a bridge, wait what? Seriously, check it out! A giant troll sculpture built under a neighborhood bridge. Chelsea’s friend Whitney and her boyfriend, Mason, and their super cool dog, Beans, welcomed us into their Seattle home for the evening and cooked up a feast on the grill in the cool Northern air.
Early morning we hopped on the Edmond-Kingston Ferry across the Puget Sound and drove towards Olympic National Park. A huge, scenic drive took us to the top of Hurricane Ridge for alpine views, then we continued all the way to the coast, to an area of the beach dubbed, “Hole-in-the-Wall”.
Cool temperatures accompanied our hike up the beach, full with gear for the night. Waves crashed to our left, black sand and rocks crunched under our feet, piles of driftwood laid to our right, and large sea stacks broke the horizon.
We set up camp amongst the driftwood, tended a small fire, explored the coastal formations, ate dinner, and watched the tide come in as we slipped off to sleep.
Waking up to that view from your tent and eating breakfast on the beach was even further enhanced when a sea otter swam along side us for about 10 minutes on the walk back to the van!
Further along in Olympic National Park, we stopped into The Hoh Rainforest area for a hike amongst huge trees covered in hairy mosses that dazzled the forest floor with soft light, The Hall of Mosses. Brendan’s eye even caught a pack of elk laying along the river as we made our way back to the highway!
During our trip research, we discovered a random, un-named attraction along the Kalaloch Beach. A resilient tree is maintaining it’s grasp along the coast, despite the shore having been eroded away below it, resulting in an epic tree cave of sorts! We even felt like it resembled Brendan’s tattoo!
It was a bit overcast on the day we drove to Mt. St. Helens, we had lots of scenic views, but never quite got to see the full rim of the volcano through the clouds. After realizing we were unable to secure permits to hike to the summit, we instead explored a 1.5 mile long lava tube known as Ape Cave. We scrambled around in the cold, dark underground for hours, through large tunnels and over jagged rock piles.
Our final view of the mountain crater was from a look-out known as Windy Ridge, and the name was fitting! We hiked up lots of steps in the wind and were greeted with a few slivers of sunshine in the distance, shining through the clouds, for a particularly scenic evening view of the mountainside.
Before long we had our evening camping rituals perfected. The tent popped right up as we all moved through our routine without instruction, flashlights at the ready, and ate dinner from the groceries in the van. I think we all enjoyed the simplicity and tranquility of those moments.
We crossed from Washington into Oregon via “The Bridge of the Gods” and began an idyllic drive down the Pacific Coast Highway! Our first stop was a feature known as “Thor’s Well.” A unique hole in the rocky shoreline, maybe seven feet in diameter, where the water rises and falls with the waves and produces a drastic drainage from 360 degrees! We timed it perfectly with high-tide so the effect was in full-force. Nearby, waves amplified up rocky corridors and exploded with salty spray upon slamming the sea wall with a thundering boom!
A few miles further South on the Pacific Coast Highway was the Sea Lion Caves. It was a little bit touristy, but it was neat to see over 100 sea lions hanging out at the waters edge at this unique location!
We finished our day on the Pacific Coast Highway at the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, the largest coastal dunes in America! We set up to camp nearby, then went to the ocean to watch the sun set over the crashing waves. Very windy on the beach, but we had phenomenal views on this preserved shoreline, simply incredible!
The next morning we rented sand boards, that’s right, it’s just like your thinking, snow boards for sand! At Honeyman’s Dune, we repeatedly walked up the 100+ foot dune, waxed our boards, then harnessed gravity to sail to the bottom! We all managed to pick it up well and Brendan even managed a nice jump!
After returning the sand boards, we ate lunch, then rented 4-wheelers to ride on the dunes. It may have been the most fun thing I’ve ever done! Right as we started, a fog blew in and it was very windy in the dunes, it seemed straight out of a Mad Max movie, a whole different planet, and just like Mad Max, there were practically no rules! Ride anywhere you want, up anything, over anything, through the grasses, huge dunes, 100’s of feet tall, and flooring it at top speed around these things! We all got stuck a time or two in the loose sand, but were able to lift them out with some teamwork. In a relatively flat area, I was following Chelsea and rode up a little ridge at top speed, I didn’t realize the opposite side was a five foot drop off until I was sailing through the air and the 4-wheeler was upside down behind me! I landed on my side a few feet away, happy it wasn’t a bigger drop. Bren, Chels, and I were able to flip it right-side up. The flag pole had broken off, it leaked a little gas, but it started right up! At the end of the hour, the rental guy didn’t even seem to care, it must happen all the time! We were all jacked up after the whole experience, what a blast!
From the coast, we drove four hours inland to Crater Lake, Oregon. Once we were close, we ate a scrumptious dinner at a resort with views of the sunset over Diamond Lake. We arrived to Crater Lake in the dark, but gazed into an incredibly starry night. We didn’t sleep for long, in hopes of catching the sunrise over the lake. We broke camp in record time at 5:30 AM. Remarkable views rewarded us for the early morning decision, despite some smoke sitting in the crater due to a nearby forest fire on the West Rim.
We bushwhacked up the side of the crater to the top of Llao peak for great pictures and played in a snowfield, sliding down on our butts and bellies!
There was even a tree that looked remarkably like a dragon, the curves, the wings, the face…it had it all, so of course we took turns riding it!
A few hours South of Crater Lake, we crossed into California and visited Lava Beds National Monument. Neat lava flows, and tons of technical lava tube caves to explore! We spent some time in one particular cave known as Hopkins Chocolate, named after the person who discovered it and the brown formations on the ceiling. A short hike took us out to Symbol Bridge and Big Painted Cave, to view a few Native American cave paintings.
Lassen National Park was our next destination to the South. We managed to find some showers and laundry at a campground, so we took our time getting out in the morning. Lassen had beautiful forests and hills, but is also famous for the nearby volcanic vents and the massive volcano in the center of the park, Lassen Peak, which erupted just 100 years ago. A 2.5 mile hike up a a few thousand feet of elevation brought us to the windy summit and we enjoyed views of the lakes and forests below from the summit crater.
We even discovered an area along the summit crater where steam was venting from the mountain at 10,000+ feet, only slightly concerning!
Once down from the peak, we did another hike out to the Bumpass Hell area where a walk around the boardwalks revealed thermal vents, fumerals, and splattering mudpots.
In the small town of Mineral, California we found some very friendly employees at a general store/restaurant/campground who were willing to open the store up for us so we could buy supplies for bacon hot dogs and smores to cook over the fire, a feast for the ages!
It was another 300 miles South to Yosemite National Park, but all of the campsites in the valley had long been booked up, so we camped out at the Don Pedro Reservoir on the outskirts of the park instead. Swimming in the reservoir, we noticed quite a peculiar growth forming on many of the grasses around the edge of the water. Something of a jellyfish, ranging from golfball size, to larger than a basketball! Later research revealed that these were called Bryozoans. We had a relaxing evening at the campsite, lounged in the hammock, cooked hotdogs over the fire, then slept under the stars without the rain fly on the tent. After learning that Yosemite gets terrible traffic this time of year, we decided to wake up at 3:30 AM, in order to drive to the valley before traffic picked up. It was a beautiful sight to witness the alpine glow of the morning sun coat the famed granite walls of the Yosemite Valley.
We were graced by a few elk along the side of the car in the early morning hours.
Next, we exited the valley and drove around the backside of the ridge to a look-out known as Glacier Point for unbelievable views of Half Dome, the valley, and many different waterfalls. Unfortunately, Yosemite Falls, the highest in America, was dried up this late in the summer. Nearby, we hiked a few miles up a rounded mountain known as Sentinal Dome for 360 degree views of the park.
From Yosemite, we hauled West, back to the coast at San Francisco. Driving through town, we drove up a vertical wall, I couldn’t believe that the car wasn’t sliding backwards down the steepness of these roads. Once on top, we zig-zagged down the famous Lombard Street. A short few minutes later and we were driving over the Golden Gate Bridge! The nearby park afforded views of the Golden Gate, Alcatraz, and the ocean.
A thick fog rolled in as the sun set behind us. A great Peace Corps friend, Amy, even joined us for a few hours at the top, brought us a cupcake, and recommended a nearby campground, Bootjack!
It was a few miles to arrive at the campground, so by the time we got there it was completely dark out and we couldn’t locate the registration area. Fortunately, there was a young woman sitting in her car in the parking lot that we were able to ask for directions, she grabbed her lantern and skipped off into the woods with us lagging behind her. It turns out that she had forgotten her tent and was planning to sleep in her car, but as luck would have it, we happened to have an extra tent in the van! After a few minutes of following her in the dark, Brendan showed Chelsea and I his phone and it had s single word typed into it, so he didn’t have to say it out loud…”EARS.” I figured maybe she had some big ears, but as my headlight slowly panned up to her head, I was surprised to see six inch long, pointed elf ears. Now remember, this was in the middle of the night, in a strange campground, and she skipped through the forest by lantern as quiet as a whisper…I think all three of us considered for a time that perhaps, just perhaps, she was a real elf, a magical forest nymph!
In the morning, we were in and out of sleep around 6:00 AM and noticed that outside of our tent, the tent we had loaned her was neatly folded on the picnic table and she had vanished, leaving behind a thank you note and a stuffed octopus that she had knit, named Mulberries…now I believe in elves!
Nearby San Francisco is a grove of redwood trees knows as John Muir Woods where we were able to crane our necks at some of the world’s largest trees.
A bit to the North, we drove up the coast to Point Reyes National Seashore. We were unable to walk down to the famous lighthouse, but oceanside cliffs provided outstanding views and the area was teaming with wildlife: pelicans, sea otters, elephant seals, harbor seals, deer, and we even saw the spray from the blow holes from whales out in the ocean!
Our last night together, we drove into Sacramento and stayed in a hotel room for the evening. It was a nice way to pack up belongings, shower, watch the Olympics, and recap the many stories of our road trip! We loved sharing the tight quarters of three people living out of a small van and it is not a journey that we will soon forget. At 3:30 AM, I drove them to the airport and we said our loving goodbyes.
Joely the Goalie 